Hi Tamara :) More cities and urban areas are adding traffic lights that click or chirp when it's safe to cross. Japan beat us to it by at least 30 years by adding musical cues to their signals.
haha I always freak people out when I do that. It's dark and I'm moving around quickly while they are nervously stumbling behind me saying I need to slow down :P
I love how you explain the echo location for crossing the street and then you cross it when the hand is still red hahaha. Love the video though I was curious how blind people navigate and now I know!
I love your channel. Many of the techniques you use I have used all my life as well. no one has ever taught me. I’ve just adopted to my vision loss. I did try a guide dog recently, and it was so difficult for me. I had to return her. I’ve adopted so well on my own distress of trying to re-learn, tremendous . Thank you for sharing your journey.
Thank you! That's amazing! I'm so glad you found so many ways to adapt. It's very true that guide dogs are not for everyone. It's a very personal choice.
You talked about how you learned echolocation. Ray Charles used the same technique. He always wore hard soled shoes and walked in a specific manner because he could hear the clicks from his shoes bouncing off of objects.
I love your channel and I always learn something valuable when I watch any of your videos. I have had one guide dog and absolutely loved that method of travel. But I had her when I could still walk without the use of a mobility aid. My physical disability has changed since my guide dog days, and now my preferred method is a wheeled walker with a sighted guide. I will likely use a wheelchair in the near future. I have a question for you. Do you know of a school or training center for guide dogs who can work alongside wheelchairs? Any knowledge you can share would be so helpful. Thank you for this awesome channel and for sharing your experience!
Great suggestion. I am currently working on a video explaining echolocation better. It's challenging to ensure I get the audio right haha so it may be a bit, but I promise it is in the works. And heels make a wonderful secret accessibility tool :D
I think the scariest type of well-intensioned, but improper way of a sighted person trying to guide a blind person is when the sighted person puts their hand on your shoulder and tries to push you. I always correct this--gently, of course. :)
It’s definitely not an intuitive one for most people. Maybe it was easier for me since I come from a family of musicians and critical listening was a skill we really focused on growing up.
Echo location isn't something I got any sort of formal training in, but is something that I sort of just picked up over the years. I do also have object perception, which helps quite a lot. :) I don't actually have anything that people would call usable vision--I don't see shadows or shapes or colors, but the object perception is helpful. If someone were to put earplugs in my ears and then hold their hand up in front of my face, I'm still going to know it's there.
Great content thank you very much. Very helpful and informative. I was pretty much aware of most of These methods but it helped greatly to see them demonstrated and described very accurately. Well done!
I will sometimes tap my cane to just check something with echo location. I'm a 100% user of the constant contact method of using a cane. I don't like the two point touch method of using a cane. It makes my arm and wrist tired lol.
Just had to watch this again, really useful tips Tamara, Love the use of the sallad Bowl. As you mentioned, One can feel buildings and the sudden openings, inbetween. As I mentioned to you a while ago, we have in some places in Scandinavia pedestriancrossings, marked with an arrow on top of the crossing unit, a loud clicking sound, an increased clicking sound, to tell the blind person, its safe to cross, plus markings on the Side of the unit, to tell the blind user, how the lanes of traffic look. This sounds really Good, but whilst tenewing My navigation training. I found, that when these areas are faced with heavy traffic, of the audio clicking sound is low in the begining, then in heavy traffic, One cant hear it, as the sound is almost blocked out. What makes it difficult sometimes, when One has two or more of these crossings adjacent to each other, making it somewhat confusing in busy traffic. My hearing is Good, but so sensitive sometimes. Kind regards Tony from Scandinavia
Thanks Tony! I’m so glad you are enjoying this one. It’s one I’m very proud of. :)I definitely saw that email with the crossings you have in Scandinavia. It’s so cool. I wish we used that here!
@@UnsightlyOpinions Hi Tamara, really wish you could try One. They have a version, in the UK, I really hope to try, a pedestrian crossing, there. That has been adapted, for People, with impaired vision and that are totaly blind. I Will defently, tell you how it works, and is to use. Another thing, they have here, are a loud clicking sound, to some buildings to hospitals, and libraries, to help guide One into the building. Its really useful and helps with navigation. Maybe One Day, you are able to pop to Scandinavia, to get to try these, just let me know If you ever plan a trip here. I would gladly show you around, these. Kind regards Tony from Scandinavia
Sun blindness is a common problem. It’s something I’ve had my whole life. I can empathize deeply. It sucks that you have had so many injuries. I hope you find a good mobility solution that works for you. :)
What's even more annoying/scary is the shoulder grab and push that some people try. I always gently explain that trying to guide me this way isn't advisable because I will have absolutely no reaction time to stop or handle elevation changes; then I explain how to do proper sighted guide. What's even scarier, though, is the time a person grabbed my cane near the bottom while I was crossing the street, picked it up to about waist level, and started using it to guide me by pulling it like I was a dog on a leash or something. I was completely floored by this and had to firmly tell this person to let go of my cane and that I would be happy to take their elbow. I’m not exactly sure what happened after that because I don't remember. Anyhow, I'm not sure what happened to make the person do this--maybe I was veering? Still, that's a really crappy way to try and guide someone. Like, what the heck? who thinks that's acceptible? Sheesh!
Sure. I will be doing a video on this soon, but the gist is that I have light perception and sometimes movement and some shadows/shapes but it is very dependent on lighting. I don’t have any detail to my vision. Dim/dark I don’t see at all. Too bright I don’t see at all. It’s hard to describe but most of the time I’m functionally blind.
@@UnsightlyOpinions thanks for taking the time to explain. Everything you do is so detailed that I thought you had much more vision than what you just described. Looking forwards to watching that video.
Hi Tamara :)
More cities and urban areas are adding traffic lights that click or chirp when it's safe to cross. Japan beat us to it by at least 30 years by adding musical cues to their signals.
The best way to teach a sighted person to guide is to have them follow you through a completely dark room. It is our superpower.
haha I always freak people out when I do that. It's dark and I'm moving around quickly while they are nervously stumbling behind me saying I need to slow down :P
I love how you explain the echo location for crossing the street and then you cross it when the hand is still red hahaha. Love the video though I was curious how blind people navigate and now I know!
I love your channel. Many of the techniques you use I have used all my life as well. no one has ever taught me. I’ve just adopted to my vision loss.
I did try a guide dog recently, and it was so difficult for me. I had to return her.
I’ve adopted so well on my own distress of trying to re-learn, tremendous .
Thank you for sharing your journey.
Thank you! That's amazing! I'm so glad you found so many ways to adapt. It's very true that guide dogs are not for everyone. It's a very personal choice.
You are just gorgeous and you provide extremely valuable information.
You talked about how you learned echolocation. Ray Charles used the same technique. He always wore hard soled shoes and walked in a specific manner because he could hear the clicks from his shoes bouncing off of objects.
I still used two point touch. I also hold my cane off to the side so I don't jab myself.
I love your channel and I always learn something valuable when I watch any of your videos. I have had one guide dog and absolutely loved that method of travel. But I had her when I could still walk without the use of a mobility aid. My physical disability has changed since my guide dog days, and now my preferred method is a wheeled walker with a sighted guide. I will likely use a wheelchair in the near future. I have a question for you. Do you know of a school or training center for guide dogs who can work alongside wheelchairs? Any knowledge you can share would be so helpful. Thank you for this awesome channel and for sharing your experience!
Omg th s is all so smart!! Might learn to walk in heels now!!! The perks of being a woman!!!
Great suggestion. I am currently working on a video explaining echolocation better. It's challenging to ensure I get the audio right haha so it may be a bit, but I promise it is in the works. And heels make a wonderful secret accessibility tool :D
Great demo for the echolocation
Thanks! It's a challenging thing to explain on video. I'm trying to put together better examples for a future video right now. :)
I think the scariest type of well-intensioned, but improper way of a sighted person trying to guide a blind person is when the sighted person puts their hand on your shoulder and tries to push you. I always correct this--gently, of course. :)
100% agree. I do not like being ushered forward by my shoulders it feels like I could face-plant at any moment!
The echo location must be quite the skill set to develop. Awesome!
It’s definitely not an intuitive one for most people. Maybe it was easier for me since I come from a family of musicians and critical listening was a skill we really focused on growing up.
Echo location isn't something I got any sort of formal training in, but is something that I sort of just picked up over the years. I do also have object perception, which helps quite a lot. :) I don't actually have anything that people would call usable vision--I don't see shadows or shapes or colors, but the object perception is helpful. If someone were to put earplugs in my ears and then hold their hand up in front of my face, I'm still going to know it's there.
Great content thank you very much. Very helpful and informative. I was pretty much aware of most of These methods but it helped greatly to see them demonstrated and described very accurately. Well done!
Thank you so much! I’m glad you found the video informative and accurate. :)
I love the idea about high heels! I could never imagine myself walking around and making clicking sounds with my mouth. 😎 ~Irina
Haha it’s a unique one. I’ve never heard anyone else do that. I don’t know if I could walk around making clicks either :-)
I always assumed that's why the old method had you tapping the cane rather than sweeping it
I will sometimes tap my cane to just check something with echo location. I'm a 100% user of the constant contact method of using a cane. I don't like the two point touch method of using a cane. It makes my arm and wrist tired lol.
Just had to watch this again, really useful tips Tamara, Love the use of the sallad Bowl. As you mentioned, One can feel buildings and the sudden openings, inbetween.
As I mentioned to you a while ago, we have in some places in Scandinavia pedestriancrossings, marked with an arrow on top of the crossing unit, a loud clicking sound, an increased clicking sound, to tell the blind person, its safe to cross, plus markings on the Side of the unit, to tell the blind user, how the lanes of traffic look. This sounds really Good, but whilst tenewing My navigation training. I found, that when these areas are faced with heavy traffic, of the audio clicking sound is low in the begining, then in heavy traffic, One cant hear it, as the sound is almost blocked out. What makes it difficult sometimes, when One has two or more of these crossings adjacent to each other, making it somewhat confusing in busy traffic. My hearing is Good, but so sensitive sometimes. Kind regards Tony from Scandinavia
Thanks Tony! I’m so glad you are enjoying this one. It’s one I’m very proud of. :)I definitely saw that email with the crossings you have in Scandinavia. It’s so cool. I wish we used that here!
@@UnsightlyOpinions Hi Tamara, really wish you could try One. They have a version, in the UK, I really hope to try, a pedestrian crossing, there. That has been adapted, for People, with impaired vision and that are totaly blind.
I Will defently, tell you how it works, and is to use.
Another thing, they have here, are a loud clicking sound, to some buildings to hospitals, and libraries, to help guide One into the building. Its really useful and helps with navigation.
Maybe One Day, you are able to pop to Scandinavia, to get to try these, just let me know If you ever plan a trip here. I would gladly show you around, these.
Kind regards Tony from Scandinavia
Also can you explain more about explication pls?
You are so much beautiful Tamara ❤️❤️❤️
Thank you. That’s very kind of you to say!
What a beautiful soul 😍
Thank you. That’s so nice of you to say! 😊
I’m not blind but some times I have to have someone guide me especially in the sun as almost all the time I’m blinded in the sun.
And I still walk in to stuff. I’ve slammed into car mirrors, poles, and other stuff
Sun blindness is a common problem. It’s something I’ve had my whole life. I can empathize deeply. It sucks that you have had so many injuries. I hope you find a good mobility solution that works for you. :)
I can't tell you how many times someone has grabbed my arm, or have seen other people's arms being grabbed like that it amazes me people do that shit.
It’s mind boggling for sure.
What's even more annoying/scary is the shoulder grab and push that some people try. I always gently explain that trying to guide me this way isn't advisable because I will have absolutely no reaction time to stop or handle elevation changes; then I explain how to do proper sighted guide. What's even scarier, though, is the time a person grabbed my cane near the bottom while I was crossing the street, picked it up to about waist level, and started using it to guide me by pulling it like I was a dog on a leash or something. I was completely floored by this and had to firmly tell this person to let go of my cane and that I would be happy to take their elbow. I’m not exactly sure what happened after that because I don't remember. Anyhow, I'm not sure what happened to make the person do this--maybe I was veering? Still, that's a really crappy way to try and guide someone. Like, what the heck? who thinks that's acceptible? Sheesh!
Can you please explain your vision ?
Sure. I will be doing a video on this soon, but the gist is that I have light perception and sometimes movement and some shadows/shapes but it is very dependent on lighting. I don’t have any detail to my vision. Dim/dark I don’t see at all. Too bright I don’t see at all. It’s hard to describe but most of the time I’m functionally blind.
@@UnsightlyOpinions thanks for taking the time to explain. Everything you do is so detailed that I thought you had much more vision than what you just described. Looking forwards to watching that video.
@@UnsightlyOpinions your vision is very similar to mine except sometimes I cannot even tell you if it is night or day it keeps me so messed up LOL
@@starjestis8293 I can understand that! I'd be completely confused sometimes without light perception. :)
Can't you see, I will pray that your eyes get light...❤️😘💞💞💞