If you become blind, no amount of electronics on your body or in the environment will make you safe and give back to you your freedom of movement. You have to learn modern blindness skills from a good teacher. You have to practice your new skills. Poor teaching cannot be solved by adding beeping lights to every big Street corner!

I am blind myself. I travel to work in downtown Baltimore and back home every workday by myself. I go to meetings and musical events around town. I use the city bus and I walk, sometimes I take a cab or a friend drives me. Some of the blind people who work where I do are so poor at travel they can only use that lousy “mobility service” or pay a cab. Noisy street corners won’t help them.

If you want blind people to be “safe” then pray we get better teachers of cane travel.

I am utterly opposed to mandating beeping lights in every city. That is way too much money to spend on an unproven idea that is not even needed.

Donna Ring
 

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