[blindlaw] Not Just Your Average Cane
Mark BurningHawk
stone_troll at sbcglobal.net
Mon Mar 29 01:07:19 UTC 2010
I brought up audible cross walks and currency changes not to debate
them, but to use them as comparisons. I don't agree with the NFB
position on those issues either, but that's another topic. :)
I guess what it comes down to is this: Do you use the cane as a tool
for better mobility, or do you use a cane to procure a handicap for
yourself? The "you" here being generalized. If you use a cane to
tell everyone you're blind and need a handicap, then by all means it
should be white and long and visible, etc. If not, use what works for
you. I realize that in a professional and pressure-laden field like
law, conformity is often quite useful, and I myself, being a creative
artist, writer/musician type, tend toward the individualistic and
character-expressive end of the spectrum. I, also having a severe to
profound hearing loss, might use a white cane precisely because of my
own arguments--that if I am using a cane, with my hearing loss, I want
to be recognized and noted for my own protection--because I know how
horribly I mobilize with a cane--my dog and I do GREAT, and I've often
considered customizing his harness a bit--with a mini-pack, for
example, for carrying small things, or whatever. The harness is also
eminently practical as a tool, as well. Still, one of my dogs, when I
lived in a rougher section of Boston, had a spiked leather collar on
him as well as his Guiding Eyes choke collar; I was into studs and
leather myself at the time.
That was my only point.
Mark BurningHawk
Skype and Twitter: BurningHawk1969
Home: Http://MarkBurningHawk.net/
Namaste!
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