Category: Let's talk
by Donna J. Jodhan
If you take the time to think about it, curb cuts can either be a blessing in disguise to many but at the same time it can also be a real curse to others. For many it is a welcome relief while traveling along the sidewalks, but for many blind and visually impaired persons it is quite the opposite. Shocker or shaker? Probably a shocker to the mainstream pedestrian but neither shocker nor shaker to the blind and visually impaired walking wounded.
For those emergency medical technicians, curb cuts represent a great alternative and time saver when negotiating sidewalks in a hurry. For a delivery person, it also saves time and energy when dragging heavy or clumsy packages. For those in wheelchairs, it is a real bonus and the same could be said for moms with strollers but for those of us who are unable to see these new wonders! It is not.
If a blind person is using a cane to travel then the picture is this: They have great difficulty being able to tell the difference between the end of the sidewalk and the beginning of the street. In essence, when they go to find a street corner, they find themselves not being able to tell where the actual street corner is and often time they find themselves wondering helplessly into the street. It was easy for me when I had enough vision to tell the difference but now that I am almost totally blind I often find myself hesitating whenever I feel the sidewalk sloping downwards as I approach a street corner. I am never sure where the actual corner is and in addition, I have no reference points to help me determine what ends where and what begins where.
I have had several clients and friends complain to me about this but what to do about it is very hazy at best. Curb cuts do indeed benefit more people than not so I do not think that too many of those in authority would be very willing to listen. So for the time being we may just have to put up with it all.
I'm Donna J. Jodhan your friendly accessibility advocate wishing you a terrific day. If you'd like to learn more about me, then you can visit some of my blog spots at:
Donna Jodhan! Advocating accessibility for all: http://www.donnajodhan.blogspot.com
Weekly Saturday postings on issues of accessibility: http://www.sterlingcreations.ca/blog/blog.html
blogs on various issues and answers to consumers concerns: http://www.sterlingcreations.com/businessdesk.htm
Huh? Wow. When I was about 10 or so in 1980 I was taught how to manage these and you can do it swinging cane, tree branch, fishing pole or other phallic device used for navigation. However your hind flippers tend to also alert you that you are going somewhat downhill, and often there is a groove there. If the supposed curb cut were flush with the street that might make for a problem, but then there wouldn't be a curb to cut in that instance.
Blind people, at least I have, also take strollers and shopping carts along with us. Only we pull them rather than push in front of us, or at least that's what I do. Curb cuts prove most useful as you can negotiate the curb this way with a fold-away shopping cart loaded down with a weekend's supply of food and the ever-necessary libations.
Activists saying stuff like this are what makes lots of us wonder if a. are they just weird, or b. are they just getting some strange effects from substances some of us haven't used in awhile. Either way it's hard to take someone like that seriously, and yunno what else, I don't blame the average person from feeling like "Boy, I guess we just can't do anything right, now can we?"
Ask any man who gets complained for not being there, then complained at for being there too much, and the list goes on. One thing that's hard to live with for people in general is the constant propensity to bitch by certain groups. Man when you got a whole group of 'em doin' it it's worse than a ton of jays stealing the bird feeder.
Oh and FWIW "bitch-bitch-bitch-bitch" is the sound a motor makes when something's not firing right.
She may be talking about a different curb situation. In my town they have some streets that the whole corner is flush with the street. Their is no little cut out to guide you it just feels like a big open area. It can be difficult if you are not use to it...
Snow flower, You could be right about a different style of curve cut. I wonder though, the author of the article says that she hesitates when the angle of the sidewalk begins to slope. Are there not other indicators perhaps? The sound of traffic, trailling the gutter or grass or the slopeing sidewalk as an indicator? I have seen what they call blended curbs. With a blended curbe there is no lip at the curbe, and sometimes there is no downward slope to use as an indicator either.
Overall, I posted this article without comment to see what sort of responce the article would generate. Personallhy, I agree with poster number two. The author did not explain if she was talking about blended curbe cuts. Here in the great down under, I but she woul hate it even more. The curb cut is not on a direct allignment with the cut on the other side of the street. If one alligns hime or herself with the middle of the curbe cut, one is heading for the middle of the paralell street. Well, at some crossings anyway.
Them's my thoughts,
N
Whoops, fingers and mind did not work in concert with each other, please forgive.