[nabs-l] The Importance Of Independent Travel

Thu Aug 28 23:02:34 UTC 2014

Yes. And I have to ask, Would we call somebody "super-sightie" because
they go places completely on their own, by car or on foot? I suspect
not, so then why is a blind person who does the same thing
"super-blind?" Why do we hold blindpeople to a different standard of
independence than the sighted?

Arielle

On 8/28/14, Steve Jacobson via nabs-l <nabs-l at nfbnet.org> wrote:
> Carly,
>
> As a blind person, I am aware and even concerned with how my actions might
> affect other blind people, and
> therefore do my best not to use help I don't need.  Having said that, my
> primary reasons for trying to travel as
> independently as possible have little to do with proving anything to anyone.
>  I wil readily admit that if someone
> more or less forces me to be assisted to do something for which I do not
> need assistance, I do feel moved to show
> them that the assistance was not required if the opportunity arises.  For
> example, if someone insists I take an
> elevator instead of the steps when the stairs are more convenient, I will
> probably push to take the steps since I
> know they won't be a problem.  I probably wouldn't do that with a heavy
> suitcase, though, but I might take an
> escalator.  I wouldn't do either, though, if I didn't feel confident that I
> could do it.  .To the greatest degree
> possible, I want to be in control of my own destiny.  I can't always have
> the control I want, but I work hard to
> have as much as is possible.
>
> Years ago I went to the airport to fly to Washington DC.  When I got to the
> counter and received my gate
> information, I asked for directions to the gate.  When the person behind the
> counter acted confused, I asked if he
> would just tell me which direction to go from the counter.  I was told they
> would get me an electric cart and that
> I should wait.  I was a little new to airport travel at that time but I
> asked again for directions noting that I
> did not need an electric cart.  To make this long story shorter, the person
> would not give me directions and
> refused to help me in any way except to insist that I wait for an employee
> with a cart.  Carts were apparently in
> short supply that day and I waited and waited, not feeling I should
> advocate.  Nowadays, I would have just picked
> a direction and asked someone else but I was too timmid then.  After
> repeated calls for a cart, one finally
> arrived forty-five minutes later.  When I got to the gate, everyone was on
> the plane and I just barely made it.  I
> decided then I was not going to be in that position again.  In addition,
> someone else had to wait longer for that
> cart, probably someone who really needed it, and an airport employee was
> tied up offering me help I neither needed
> or requested.  The more independently one can travel the more options they
> have, and the better it is for
> everyone.
>
> Traveling independently is an important part of most jobs.  By
> "independently," I don't mean that one never asks
> for help or even that we all have the same ability to travel.  However, I
> have meetings with other people I need
> to attend and I'm often the only one in my area of the building attending.
> If I want to be hired for a job, I
> have to be able to add as little extra to what I expect from my employer as
> possible.  Even though I'm a computer
> analyst, this means being able to travel around the complex I work in as
> independently as possible.  Could someone
> who has more difficulty traveling do the job I am doing?  Yes, they
> certainly could, but they might need to work
> out strategies that inconvenience their co-workers as little as possible.
> They would not likely succeed in the
> long run by grabbing the shoulder of "ol' sighty" out by the escalator.  At
> least a little thought needs to be
> given to the possible inconvenience of the person from who you are more or
> less demanding help.
>
> Finally, I have to say something about this superblind thing.  In my
> experience, this is a term used by people who
> want to remove all responsibility from themselves to be as independent as
> their abilities allow.  If you have an
> injury that prevents you from handling certain aspects of travel, that
> certainly has to be taken into account.  We
> are not all going to be the same.  But does that mean you should urge others
> to not strive for as much
> independence as possible?  That does not seem fair to me at all.  I knew a
> man once who told me that he didn't
> have to learn to travel independently because he had a wife and five kids
> and a secretary who worked for him.  I
> know for a fact that his secretary guided him to the men's bathroom.  If he
> had some sort of learning disability
> that made independent travel impossible, then I would certainly accept that
> he was managing as he could.  However,
> I also knew that he had rejected any attempts to teach him independent
> travel which was why it was thought it
> would be helpful for me to talk to him and show up at his office on my own.
> He lost his sight while holding the
> job he had and apparently managed well enough to keep his job, but he would
> have had a difficult time getting the
> job he had with his attitude.
>
> We are never all going to achieve the same degree of independence.  Further,
> interdependence is a part of any
> civilized society to some degree.  Still we will never achieve without
> striving.  We will never know what we can
> do without sometimes discovering things we cannot do.  Many of us routinely
> cross busy streets, but i'll bet there
> was not a single one of us who was not scared to cross that first street, or
> maybe the first dozen streets.  But
> if we had never taken that first scarey step, we wouldn't be crossing the
> streets we cross routinely.  Helping
> each other strive to achieve more helps us achieve more, but it doesn't mean
> we achieve everything for which we
> strive, but that's okay.  One very rarely ever achieves something by
> accident, though, one has to strive to
> achieve first.  I do not find the fact that there are blind people who have
> done things that I do not do as
> unsettling, rather it reminds me that there may be things I could do as a
> blind person that I simply have not yet
> discovered.
>
> Best regards,
>
> Steve Jacobson
>
> On Thu, 28 Aug 2014 04:45:01 -0700, Carly Mihalakis via nabs-l wrote:
>
>>Good morning,
>
>>Personally, I like to think of it as interdependent travel, recruting
>>your fellow man, and sort of directing him where you need to go.
>>Admittedly, this means of travel found me after becoming injured such
>>that I was unable to keep track of direction and what they call rout
>>reversal, became for me no more than a pipe dream.
>
>>In my experience, however, if you just let go of this idea that to
>>prove to Ol'Sighty of  blindness' being  what is it, little more than
>>a mere inconvenience, everyone must be some kind of super blink whom,
>>by simply waving his long, white cane can travel any course, under
>>any circumstances in pitch ocular darkness. Sure, this social
>>construct is certainly possible to live within and many people do it,
>>but not everybody is super Federationist blink!
>
>>After all, interpersonal contact, I believe, is more of a palpable,
>>alternative to demonstrating to Ol'Sighty things of which most of us
>>are capable, that Ol'Sighty might remember. I'm fond of iterating
>>that Ol'Sighty cares not about the means to which the blink reaches
>>the same ends, noticing only that, eventually he gets there. So, if
>>it becomes a matter of walking through an airport, say, to
>>demonstrate to Ol'Sighty ways in which most blinks can, and do
>>advocate for themselves, it may be a plausible course of action to
>>grab Ol'Sighty from one of the hoards that are invariably around and,
>>placing your hand on his shoulder, tell him where you need to be and
>>see if he can help you. Of course, should he be in a hurry you can
>>find someone else, but wait for an indication of said sighted person
>>being unable to help. It is in this way you can actually have a
>>conversation with a sighted person, maybe even exchange names?
>>Agreed, the super blink means of seamlessly gliding through a crowd
>>is intimidating, and not exactly if I may say so myself, realistic of
>>every blink. Let that go! Probably, you are not a super blink, at
>>least by their rigid standards.
>>for today, Car
>>408-209-3239
>>   :52 AM 7/16/2014, Roanna Bacchus via nabs-l wrote:
>>>Dear Students,
>>>
>>>I'd like to discuss another topic with all of you.  On Monday I had
>>>a conversation with my mobility instructor during my training
>>>session at UCF.  We were talking about the importance of traveling
>>>independently as blind individuals.  I got very emotional while we
>>>were having this conversation and began to cry.  Because I've never
>>>traveled independently in the community, I lack the experience of
>>>traveling on my own.  Can each of you tell me your stories about
>>>inarependent travel? Hope to hear from you soon.
>>>
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>
>
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