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My friend Susan who was born with retinopathy of prematurity and had 20/400 and 20/800 she is effectively mobility visually impaired – perhaps that cutoff is 20/500, so by 100 ? that’s a lot of stress. Susan and I met because she was the interim director of a program that I was hired to take over, she was the boss, and then I became her boss- e.

Susan’s life experiences are as a “high partial” someone considered having a lot of vision at the school for the blind, and not so much at home. It’s a tough place to reside. – I really think this interview is raw, inciteful and worth a listen.

Wow- she really never understood that it was her right as a human being to be able to feel safe – she began telling us that to get about she held her mother’s hand and she wasn’t allowed to travel alone until freshman in college or 16 -either way – all related to the other problem of her parents not wanting her to use a white cane – so as to attempt to conceal her visual impairment. That’s a rough way to grow up-

I wish we could all just allow blind and low vision human beings to feel safe from the start.

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For New Years Eve 2024 I’m bringing you one of my all-time favorite interviews- conducted November 1999, just shy of Y2K- blind travel was not for the faint of heart. Born in 1963 –he didn’t get a full-time mobility tool until his first guide dog in his second year of college. Sit back and relax – this is a good one

Mike’s honesty about the importance of mobility tools in his life is also filled with the push and pull of the lifetime of growing up with the philosophy that it shouldn’t be that hard to walk if you can’t see. Mike explained safe mobility has become to be the first and most important aspect of his life and his sincere wish is that everybody prioritize safe mobility for all blind travelers.

Happy New Year!!

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From 1999 – 2001, as a young professor I conducted over 100 interviews with employed adults with blindness. I was seeking insight into my profession from the everyday consumer – and I continue to learn and improve my practice by listening absent bias and judgement.

This week we have Barbara Hadnott Her interview was conducted November 21, 1999 – She was born blind in 1953 – Her life is a vivid picture of someone who is at home with the reality of growing up blind, being active, smart, accomplished and yet for the first 27 years never knowing what was in her next step before she landed on it –.

Barbara teaches us that to grow up being guided as a means of efficient blind travel is to accept to being guided as natural adult lifestyle. Yet, she felt able to finally break free once she got her long cane at age 27, and is seeking to become more self-sufficient. Let’s listen to a wonderfully fun and insightful interview Barbara

What an amazing story of triumph– in every other part of life, Barbara was a pioneer and a leader – except the one that was set for her by circumstances beyond her control- Growing up without any independent means to feel safe when walking independently.

Her life is a vivid picture of someone who is at home with the reality of growing up blind, being active, smart, accomplished and never knowing what’s in your next step before you land on it – It makes you prefer to walk with someone else, and all travel is with someone else. She can and does travel alone – yet this is not a competition – her life of having a guide for most travel was created from the ground up- from day one in her life. In 1954, when she turned one, there was no mobility tool available for one-year-old toddlers. Her parents never had a choice.

There is nothing wrong with a life tethered to others, I guess- except that Barbara urged parents to start their children with the cane as soon as possible. Which is now possible with the Pediatric Belt Cane.

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Please donate to help Safe Toddles Inc. achieve our mission to provide blind toddlers with a solution for walking independently with safety.
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