Category: Daily Living
Hi,
I was wondering when a totally blind person transitions to a new place of employment or a residence, how he or she gets around effectively? I am totally blind myself, but also have a moderately severe hearing impairment that causes me to have immense difficulty in judging traffic patterns, crossing streets, E.T.C.
Therefore, when I do not have the presence of an O and M instructor to help me, how can I problem-solve? Please factor in the hearing impairment as well.
Thanks.
I'm not sure about crossing the streets or traffic patterns, but when I used to change jobs, I would have an o&m instructor take a tape recorder with us, and record landmarks along the way. It proved to be a life saver many times after that instructor was no longer there. I used itfor such things as getting to my desk, going from my desk to one of the cafeterias, etc. etc.
If the recorder is not a viable option because of your hearing loss, a braille notetaker would work just as well, I'd think.
Hope this helps.
Bob
Hi. First off, I'm sorry to hear about your difficulty navigating around and learning new places in light of your hearing loss. I, too, suffer from a hearing loss, one that has become severe enough so that I no longer trust myself to independently cross major streets. I don't have any dealings with blind organizations or mobility instructors, but when I got my last job many years ago I brought a friend with me to my workplace after hours so that I could learn the layout of the hallways and locations of things such as restrooms, important sections, etc. Going in after hours meant that I felt more free to wander around and, yes, grope a little bit without the pressure of feeling like I was getting in the way of people during the busy working day.
Another thing because of my mobility issues is that I put myself into a position where I could succeed by moving closer to my workplace so that I could walk there without having to cross any major streets. This might be something you might want to consider if you plan on staying at your current job for a while.
I'll be retiring in a year or so and plan on moving to somewhere closer to my daughter eventually and don't know if I can get mobility services from my local blindness organization, but I've considered looking into that when the time comes. I don't know how much they can show me in the neighborhood because I'll still have the same issues with crossing streets that I do now, but I might at least give them a call.
Good luck to you. I can empathize with your situation and hope that you'll be able to find a suitable solution for the challenges you face. Best of luck to you.
Hello. O&M is something I highly enjoy and hope to take as a career, and I am always eager to help with situations such as this one. I have some suggestions based off of tips I have learned/heard about from friends and other people on here that have blindness and limited hearing, and I find this opportunity good to test critical thinking should I have a client in this situation.
One thing you could do is see if you could get a driver. I wouldn't suggest seeing if someone from the job could walk or drive you everyday unless you find yourself very close to the person, because they will either feel forced to help you, or they might not feel comfortable and they won't know how to handle it right, putting you in an uncomfortable situation. I know you go to school, so I'd suggest starting there and ask people whom you know and trust first.
If this is not comfortable, another suggestion that I have heard that can be effective is using a sign. I won't mention a name but there was a user on here who said he used a sign that said something like, "blind and deaf pedestrian, caution to drivers." Now, not everyone will pay mind to the sign, but I believe it will help people to look out for you and make sure you are safe. People may even be willing to help you cross streets. It might be uncomfortable, but when it comes down to safety, you have to ensure that you will get from point a to point b without putting yourself and other people at risk.
When it comes to traveling in unfamiliar environments, two things will make a big difference. First, make a starting point. That is choose a spot of reference that you know you will come back to no matter where you go, and try to remember where you go from this starting point. This way if you feel lost, you can back track and start over again. Secondly, try to figure out the route ahead of time, well in advance of you working and commuting from your starting point to the job and back. This will certainly reduce stress significantly, and it will ensure that you know where you are going. Don't be afraid to explore landmarks, and ask people what is around you. This will also help you if you think you are lost, because if you ask someone what you are by and they tell you you are by the Starbucks, and you've come across the Starbucks before, then you will remember where to go and get back on track.
I hope this is of some help to you. Good luck.
unlike the other posters I hate o&m I guess because I am so independent minded. I found that it was good to get down what sort of logic to use then soon my o&m instructor got in the way. I am scared of trains because of how she worded how I am not ready to ride them. she showed me the basics so I am. I just need to have the courage now. but as for streets I find that 411 or 311 is a lot of help. it's the citie's info line. ask them for routes, your bus company is also excellent for route help. have there nmber handy, and call them often. I also found logic and memorization really helps. here I have a few important sets of streets memorized. what clement street is next to oh it's right next to and parallel to California, and geary, Lincoln way is parallel and next to irving. helps figuring out routes. figure out landmarks by looking around, I don't need a instructor for that just a cane and logic one time I stayed in the vicinity after class and figured out where the room was in relation to everything. the stirs were right across and it was the last classroom on the most right. memorize all this.
As to the hearing loss. have no shame in asking for public, assistant. ask people get them to help you cross street
It's all well and good for those with really good memories. I know sighted people who could not do this. I take more time these days to learn new areas, because I just don't have that snap reflexive memorization ability anymore. Hard for a young squirt to understand and I'm only midlife, and not saying it's like people when they get older. But it is noticeable as a blind person. I was only frustrated by it until I sput away childish ways, like dogmas about blind independence, and learned to live wwith it.
I'll admit, my mind was in dizzying contortions when my house was full of furniture boxes and we were trying to set everything up, something that never used to happen to me. Sure, I made out fine, and all is well that ends well, but I'm not gonna lie to you: if it happens for me this way, and I'm just a average midlifer whose job requires heavy brain activity constantly, then what of a lot of other people less fortunate?
Again, my success has come from putting away childish things, like the independence dogmas blind people are often saddled and addled with.
Hello.
Not sure how relevant this topic is anymore, as it was started some 4 months ago, but I'll add my thoughts in to the mix anyhow.
if you have a friend who has an eye for landmarks, you could also use them to help you scope out routes from certain points, otherwise, if another sighted person is not around that you trust, you may need to at first consult with an O and M specialist. I think you have a notetaker, right? My suggestion, as this has worked for me in the past is to take that with you, and script out the route in such a way that it is meaningful to you. This is both to help you articulate what's going on around you and to also be a reference point in the future. I have scripts that I had written with a mobility friend of mine back in 2011 that I recently reused to get back to a place I haven't needed to since that time. Because I had the detailed script written, I was able to not only recall the route in my head, but also use the script for the places where my memory is foggy.
As far as crossing the street, my suggestion would be to use a street crossing card. This is usually a 7 x 9 or 8 x 10 card that says on both sides: "I am deaf-blind. Will you please help me cross the street? Tap my shoulder if you can help, I will take your elbow." Or something along those lines. There is also a small diagram of a person with a white cane grabbing the elboe of someone else and going across the street. Sorry, but if your hearing doesn't allow you to localize sounds in such a way that you cannot analyze traffic patterns, this is something you are just going to have to face up to. It doesn't make you less independent, in my view, it makes you a smart traveler. I would say it takes away from your independence if you do not make the choice to go wherever it is you wish to go. Yes, you're getting help across the street, but that doesn't mean the person needs to take you all the way to where you want to go. I travel all over the place and use this method all the time. I don't consider myself less independent because of it.
oh i've always wondered those who have good memory to make it easy. But i myself am struggling with mobility because want to be finally totally independent but navigation is more hard for me than anything. It's a shame, of course i'm not proud of it at all, and am working on fixing that everyday but i often get nervous when i can't memorize something even if i've practiced it 10 times before. I think, a good memory for navigation is a gift. I wish i had it too!
Thanks for your suggestions. I do use one of those cards.
I hope, as a blind man, I have not passed a deaf blind person by on a deserted street while they waited for someone to assist them, and they were left to wait another 15 minutes in the rain for the next person to pass by.
This thought just occurred to me as I read this thread again. A genuine humanitarian concern, I think.
Where do you get those cards? something like that would really assist me. Guess I could make my own, but I would imagine the professional ones would be printed so they'd stand out.
Hey Anthony,
I went online and tried a few Google searches even Boolean queries to see what I could find.
I find it unbelievable nobody seems to carry these. I was ignorant of the needs of deafblind people before this site, but it floors me that sites like MaxiAids and Independent Living don't show up in Google searches with any sort of search terms like Deaf Blind street crossing assistance, or deaf blind cummincations cards, anything like that.
The only citation I found without a link, was for Brailtalk, which has print and Braille letters, and a card stating you are deafblind and the other person is to put your index finger letter by letter so you can communicate.
I'm going to continue looking for you guys.
I do have a suggestion, and perhaps some of our crafters can help with this:
Why not a magnetic plate, some kind of metal sheet. On that, you arrange the letters (like the neon signs use) to say what you want. Place a plexiglass cover on that and you can hold it up to say what you want. This would be cumbersome to create but once done, you could set up the communications need for what you need, say, if you left a hotel room, needed a cab, or what have you.
The letters would have to be small enough (perhaps with Braille embossed as well), so the device would be portable and give you a character limit you could live with for conveying a message. But must be big enough that your average middle aged sighted person who needs reading glasses, and has trouble reading the tiny print that the young hipsters think is sooo cuuuute to create content with. Speaking of reading difficulties, we'd have to have really good contrast, again probably a negative image: bright colors over black, so if you end up in a poorly-lit area with someone who uses reading glasses, they can still read it without first having to fumble in the bag for the glasses case, retrieve the reading glasses, put them on, look at your sign, respond, take them off to look up at the street signs (or just peer over the glasses to do so), and so on.
Otherwise you would have to constantly be printing off cards to accommodate yourself. And I'm not sure how you guys go about that.
Again, I think the crafters on here could help. But it shouldn't be us, either engineering types like myself, or a crafter, without your input, seeing as we would end up with a product that is totally useless and you would feel like the product was created at you, not for you.
Trust me on this one; As a young engineer, I made some pretty stupid-ass decisions because it looked great from a logical problem-solving angle but no user would want it. We can't afford to do this, and personally, I'm getting a bit old for doing stupid shit like that anymore
We wanta get you a solution that actually works.