Safe Toddles Belt Cane Safe Mobility for Blind: Recent Episodes
Grace Ambrose-Zaken and Kelvin Crosby
Hosts Dr. Grace Ambrose-Zaken, President and CEO Safe Toddles non-profit and Kelvin Crosby, CEO Smart Guider Inc (aka Deafblind potter) discuss safe mobility for learners who were born blind and visually impaired. Our focus is on the pediatric belt cane also known as the wearable toddler cane. Episodes include interviews those who grew up without path information before belt canes were available. Also, orientation and mobility specialists and families using this innovative mobility tool with toddlers and preschool learners who are blind and visually impaired.
Born in 1953, she got the full crazy treatment growing up blind. Yet, somehow she came through it all very well adjusted-a working wife and mother she has the same desires as anyone..
Her life is one lived just before the technology boom hit – before ride-share apps and other helpful smart phone tricks. Take a trip back with a very smart tour guide – growing up blind and living your best life in the latter half of the 20th century.
She was pushed to be a free-range child until she changed schools, and the rules changed. She wasn’t given a long cane, but she was told to always use a sighted guide and never take the stairs. One summer after 8th grade she got “a taste of using a long cane for the first time” but she wouldn’t be allowed to use a long cane until High School. The fascination is how we get away with this, still today. Blind children still made to feel like something is wrong with them – but it’s the substandard tools that is keeping them from truly being equal.
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This was one of the very early interviews I had done. Twenty-five years ago, late one evening I sat down across the table in my Hunter College office with good friend, Mike Levy. He had come prepared with written statements of memories and family lore surrounding his travel. I would recommend this interview to every graduate student studying O&M. Mike was taught O&M in the eighth grade – using a very rote method of instruction. His answers and memories are incredibly insightful about growing up a star of the “no pain, no gain” early intervention for blind babies.
One can easily hold Mike up as a highly successful employed, married father of two – but there is no doubt the discussion of his travel is a very difficult one for him. He doesn’t like to be questioned too deeply about the meaning behind his memories. His narrative is, he possessed free, open, and no holds barred travel encouraged by his parents that made him the successful traveler he is today, but an adult who stays put waiting for a guide in a hotel room is someone who has had too many bad experiences to risk independent travel. He is proof positive that the “no pain, no gain” upside down childrearing methods caused deep wounds. It would take hours and hours to unpack the harm perpetrated on a human being wo wonderful as little Mike Levy who really is a superhero.
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If you know anyone who needs a belt cane - go to ObtainCane
This was one of the very early interviews I had done. Twenty-five years ago, late one evening I sat down across a table in my Hunter College office with good friend, Mike Levy. He had come prepared with written statements of memories and family lore surrounding his travel. I would recommend this interview to every graduate student studying O&M. Mike was taught O&M in the eighth grade – using a very rote method of instruction. His answers and memories are incredibly insightful about growing up a star of the “no pain, no gain” early intervention for blind babies.
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Thanks for listening! Please, leave us a review, ask questions and share with your friends!!
Please donate to help Safe Toddles Inc. achieve our mission to provide blind toddlers with a solution for walking independently with safety.
If you know anyone who needs a belt cane - go to ObtainCane
Judy is a poster child of success absent safe mobility. As a child, she had light and color vision – and that means she was mobility visually impaired. In the 1950s, she learned to use the long cane, but she wasn’t allowed to take it home until she was older. She didn’t really start using a long cane until grad school. She and her husband go on grand adventures around the world. He is a dog guide user and she a long cane user. Her fall into an open manhole is tough to hear – Judy is a delight. Yes, Judy proves that it is possible to grow up without safe mobility and be a highly successful adult– I’m just not clear why we ask this of our blind babies. But that's another story for another time.
This is a laugh out loud great interview –Judy describes her life as a blind traveler before smart phones –with a great story of how she used Atlas speaks an accessible computer maps to help sighted people.
I do have a hard time not crying when I hear how much she feels the ability to withstand pain marks the capacity of being a traveler. She said, "It just you don’t worry about getting hit. You don’t worry about falling down. I absolutely believe that one of the greatest survival—one of the things that, that spells how well a blind person does is how well—how able they are to tolerate pain." You might hear Judy and be inspired by how much a blind woman can enjoy life. I hear that too, but she also inspires us to provide little Judy’s being born today with a choice in safe mobility – to reduce the pain of blind travel.
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If you know anyone who needs a belt cane - go to ObtainCane
In every accomplishment – the O&M instructor in me wishes more value had been placed on his safety. His life is filled with accomplishments and yet- all I can hear is just how freakin’ hard it has been for him to get around safely and he blames himself – not the inferior tools he’s been provided… He taught orientation and mobility (O&M) too – learn more about that in Part II.
Don McBride Recorded 8/28/99
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This week is a real treat- I found Don McBride’s interview, he was born in 1936. He is a great storyteller and gives amazing insight into what it was like to be blind child in the 1940s and 50s- he became blind at age 11, he attend residential school and so had certain advantages – but, there wasn’t white cane safety at the time and his older brothers were determined to toughen him up which included knocking his head into trees and poles with a warning he better play outside and well… This is part one of his interview
In every accomplishment – the O&M instructor in me wishes more value had been placed on his safety. His life is filled with accomplishments and yet- all I can hear is just how freakin hard it has been to get around safely and he blames himself – not the inferior tools he’s been provided… He taught O&M too – learn more about that in Part II.
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If you know anyone who needs a belt cane - go to ObtainCane
We are entering the 1950s with Frances who was born 1952 seven years after the first white cane was taught to a blinded veteran of WWII. She remembered knowing that she had to wait to learn to use a long cane once she became 15. This is a terrific discussion of her dog guide use and paratransit. If you’re curious about the reality of getting around while blind – Frances is fabulous-
After Interview Thoughts
In every way I asked, it was clear that Frances got around on the arm of someone else until she got her dog guide. There is nothing right or wrong with how someone moves about their world.
Everything you hear from Frances about long canes and her ability to travel as a child... her narrative, is "everything was fine". She could take or leave the white cane, she got around her neighborhood and school, except to cross streets, and mostly on the arm of a friend. An O&M instructor listening will hear the truth – others may be lulled into false sense that Frances was fine- or that she had a choice. She had none. She was denied all form of independent safety until she was 15. She was raised to go on the arm of another, go in groups, stick together. In 2024, I think children with MVI/B can be trusted to have more safety in their lives, from the beginning - would be best.
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If you want some assurances that growing up blind, waiting until school age to get the first long cane can result in a well adjusted, fully employed and outgoing adult- then listen to Taletha. She compares working with O&M specialists who were sighted and blind. Overall, she felt she should have had much more time with either one of them – she had a 3 bus a day bus route to school every morning – in Detroit. She described herself as someone who these days preferred para transit, “Because this is a dangerous, cruel, unsafe world we live in.” Her story of being picked up by a stranger after getting off the wrong stop…well, the reality is – we need to care more about safety for blind people in every way.
The kind of danger she reported, almost becoming the victim of a horrendous crime, is very different from the lack of safety growing up without an effective 2-step safety buffer before her earliest memories took hold. But, I ask us all, do blind people really have to be so tough to be accepted as independent?
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Patricia Montgomery is a terrific example of the seeds the world has sown. People with visual impairments are expected to be visually capable and blind people are expected to be treated as if they are sighted. Blindness and visual impairment are the most blatant form of stereotyping and marginalizing of a disability group out in the open. Consider the slur, ‘what are you blind?’
Being Blind is a reality for people, and it means they can’t see. It doesn't mean anything else.
But when you ask Patricia to describe her vision and then ask her about her travel and cane use – it sounds very conflicted.
listen to her story for consistency. In the case of Patricia Montgomery, she doesn’t know the name of her visual impairment. Her description of her visual functioning. I have good light perception. I can see how to get around pretty good. I have good, uh, color. I can tell color real good.
She got her long cane and her confidence without it only grew stronger. Yet, unfamiliar places (or perhaps lighting) hard to say – there are times she pulls out her long cane.
Is it the expectations of society, the limits of the white cane options or is it real – without the detail vision and reliance on color makes knowing if what is ahead is a drop off a puddle or simply a different floor color very challenging. A white cane cuts through all of the clutter and very simply and plainly says what it is – smooth surface, change in surface, drop off.
Why is it so important to walk around with less certainty for blind and visually impaired folks than sighted folks?
Perhaps sighted folks need to examine their expectations of blind folks – not one would expect a person who relies on a wheelchair to move about and ignore their need for a wheelchair in familiar settings.
Let’s listen to Patricia – I only wish I had the vocabulary to have asked more about her being a student at the segregated school for the blind in the 1960s.
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This is the soundtrack of the video posted on YouTube. It shows footage from 1960s and audio tape interviews of children born blind in the 1950s. Marcia new she was blind when she entered kindergarten. She noticed her peers ran around and she didn’t. Running without a two-step safety buffer is not recommended. A 1966 blind high schooler is shown being shadowed for safety by a sighted peer. This sends the same message- sighted kids are more capable. But that is only true because he uses his vision for safety. Give the blind child a white cane for safety and you even the playing field. A white cane reduces the need to stay close to the wall - to ‘hand trail’ for safety. The job of the white cane is to follow a shoreline, locate objects and drop offs before your feet do. I am Dr. Grace Ambrose-Zaken. I am an orientation and mobility specialist who has taught white cane travel for 30 years. I invented the belt cane so that blind toddlers could grow up knowing only safe mobility. Join me in making 2024 the year we understand that blind babies really hate running their bodies directly into furniture and walls. They would much rather greet the world with their two-step safety buffer between them and it. Safe Toddles invented a safety buffer that works best for blind babies – more white cane designs are needed.
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Maureen Moscato – a really good friend of mine – she is so funny. I found the original tape – It is worth a relisten!! She is much funnier than I am playing her!! Yay!!
Maureen is a real treasure – her stories reveal a woman who grew up in the school of hard knocks and her resiliency go her through – but if you’re interested in the pros and cons of dog guides, long canes, waiting for O&M to get out of the house and be independent and blind politics and ADA- this is a really great listen all the way to the end.
Maureen gives us a unique look inside the life of a blind woman, blind from birth– taxis don’t pick her up – she’ll see you at the taxi commission –
Listening to Maureen you realize- for her- there are no obstacles. She demanded equal access Niagara Falls and then gleefully left her husband, who has some vision, behind – in the mist.
Maureen dreamed of giving young children access to long canes – she said age 6, we say age 10 months. She is living proof blind kids can grow up without safe mobility, but why should we continue this barbaric tradition?
Safe Toddles seeks to end the barbaric practice of blind babies walking without a two-step safety buffer between them and danger.
And remember if you can go where you want to – please do so as safely as possible.
Help support Safe Toddles – to bring safety to the lives of blind toddlers.
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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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Marcia, born in 1950, is an example of what everyone would like me to understand – she is such a successful person (may she rest). Born blind she was an independent child – from her accounts she hated the long cane as a child, and she didn’t need it. This is the story that every parent wants to hear – that their child will grow up like Marcia – a successful teacher, married and capable of a full, rich life.
But I want to draw your attention to listen between the lines. She got her first long cane in 4th grade, and she hated it, the instructor didn’t relate to kids, and she didn’t understand why she needed it – You see as an 8-year-old she remembered walking alone pushing her toy baby carriage to visit the town. Yes, her dog was in tow and yes, her mother made her brother follow her, and yet – she is adamant that she was an independent 8-year-old who didn’t need a mobility tool.
But why? Why I ask is this the story we raised Marica to recite – what I hear is that yes, she did run into objects and people, that to stay on track she had one foot on the grass and one on the sidewalk, that as an adult she knew fear and doubt –
Like my Junior High gym teacher said to me when she found me smoking, just think of how fast you could be running if you never smoked. I ask – what more could Marcia have accomplished had she never had to make her way so precariously on her own, without an effective mobility tool – as a child. I believe her when she celebrates her life as one well lived and yet- as a child – she had no choice but to be exposed to these dangers and to learn to tough it out.
I will always be on the side of the vulnerable child – to advocate for effective tools.
Listen to Marcia – but hear her story with educated ears –
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Today I’m sharing the interview with Jerry, conducted March 11, 2001. He is visually impaired, but not mobility visually impaired, except at night. His experiences at night in winter snow demonstrate the resilience of mankind in the face of daunting odds, but also how alone people with visual impairments feel – never once had he considered bringing up his difficulties to a trained professional to seek out additional training and support or new tools to try and make his travel easier.
Jerry grew up with a visual impairment that he felt he was able to move about without a long cane and also benefited from the long cane, once he got one. He neve indicated his acuity - it was worse than 20/400 – or legally blind, and he had more difficulty at night. That he learned to use his long cane wearing a blindfold, did not ultimately seem to prepare him for night travel.
A preferred alternative is to actually teach someone with low vision at night, that way they experience the benefits of their vision and the challenges of having less information. Night blindness is much more pronounced in people with a visual impairment than people who are sighted – so under the same conditions of night time, sighted people are able to see more with less light than someone with a visual impairment.
Jerry is rightly proud of himself and what he is able to do- but in my estimation, he was never given the permission to consider returning to get more O&M to get additional support for these very challenging situations he finds himself in – nighttime, streets covered in snow banks, and perhaps implementing the latest technology (not an option when he was interviewed) but certainly in 2023.
The field of O&M is essential, but there are very few instructors, limited budgets and even less time and money spent developing new instructional strategies. So, Jerry breaks his cane in frustration, rather than pick up the phone and call for a refresher course. Why is that?
He continued to take public transport in his 50s and this puts him in places with unsavory characters – never thinking perhaps he should just find a way to get a car and driver – he has a good job– likely he could afford it…
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Today’s interview is with Kathleen, born in 1949 with retinopathy of prematurity. Her story life with this vision is one of living in the margins as far as getting services. She had no specialized services as a child, conceivably she was considered to have too much vision – she was not “legally blind”. She got her first cane at age 48 – for protection. She tells of many accidents that resulted from her inability to visually avoid obstacles in her path. Kathleen’s story is a story of low vision and some of the barriers to effective services that existed when she was growing up.
Her early experiences were of being shunned by her first-grade teacher who did not want her in her classroom, being left out of PE and games, and being restricted from playing by her family for fear she would break her glasses.
As an adult she began using a long cane and shared insights into how she was taught from the perspective of a professional in the field of blindness. But what she didn’t learn is perhaps more telling, her O&M specialist, because of her experience of being a driver, and skilled public transit user, did not work on orientation skills for when she was disoriented. Yet, she tells of multiple times when her vision caused her to be wholly disoriented.
Before her cane she had a lot of accidents that caused real pain and injury. Kathleen’s story is the story of low vision, she sought out her long cane for protection, but then stopped going on vacation tours because she didn’t want to be exposed as a cane user.
Long canes are visible and Kathleen’s story sheds insight into her journey of becoming aware of the need for a long cane, taking action to start using her long cane and still must battle the feelings and reality of being a white cane user in public.
A. But I feel like I’m just beginning to hit my stride. I’m just beginning to feel totally comfortable with this thing, you know. I can walk down the street, people don’t bother me, people are used to me.
A. People aren’t grabbing me anymore, you know. And I’ve had people come up to me and say, “you can see. You shouldn’t be using a cane”.
Q. Oh, really.
A. Yeah. People…some people have been outrageous. And, um, you know, I’ve, I’ve sort of…
Q. What do you say to them?
A. Well, um, at first, I said,
"Well, I’m…I guess I can see and I’m grateful for what I can see." Um, or I say, "well you don’t have to be totally blind to carry a cane". You know…
Q. Golly, I don’t know if I’d be so nice. [laugh]
A. Well, I haven’t been.
Q. "F.U." [laugh] and "get out of my way".
A. Well, there are times that I’ve waffled…
Q. You’d done what?
A. Hauled off and waffled people…you know, really gone after their ankles with it. Because people will see the cane and you know they see it and walk right into you. Like, they’re sort of testing you somehow. And I’ve just gone after their ankles. A couple…many…I can’t say a couple times, I’ve done it many times. So, yeah… Sometimes, I can be nice and sometimes I can’t. And then, um, I’ve decided that on Fridays…Friday afternoons everybody loses their mind.
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Gloria grew up with low vision, she couldn’t read street signs or see important details but moved about her world with her peers. She remembered having no difficulty getting around her hometown or otherwise, until she lost more of her vision when she was 40 years old. That caused her to lose her job and relearn how to get about places she knew well. It also brought her to a new profession.
Gloria’s memory of her companion encouraging her to use her cane as a turning point in her independence was sincere. She shared how difficult it had been to let go of the person she once was, and embrace the tools in her new life.
Her mobility instruction was for 3 weeks – it covered little apparently because she had no place to go- which makes no sense. How do you have a place to go if you have no ability to go there independently. She made up for her lack of instruction by getting a master’s degree in the field of blindness – and now shares her knowledge and personal experience with her students.
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Today’s show is with Doug Schading. We spoke together August 15, 2001. He was born in 1948 and was visually impaired he had one good eye that had narrow field, but acuity of 20/80. At age 28 his vision deteriorated even in his good eye and he couldn’t travel independently any more. His perspective on traveling early with limited vision, his experiences with dog guides and long canes are detailed and provide an insiders perspective on independent travel.
Some of my favorite clips
A. I don’t know. I guess, for me, it was… I was having some problems with the dogs not working out and, uh, I don’t know… I guess I’m one of those people that…I’m with dogs like some people are with children. They like to be around them when they’re someone else’s and they pat them it the head and hold it and then leave they leave it and go home.
A. Because, if it goes with you all day long… I mean, people with pets, they can leave the dog home for a while or whatever. Well the purpose of the--and, therefore, to me, I always felt that, with the dog, um, that, you know, it’s like you were always on, there was no way to get away from the fact of how people interacted with you and people… The whole thing…
…I had a string of some problem dogs and the final dog, when I moved to New York City, she wasn’t happy traveling in New York and I just thought, you know, I’m not gonna…I’m gonna give it a rest.
A. I mean, the cane… Yeah, the cane you gotta… The cane, you can have a problem because, as we know, the cane goes under the low…does not, you know… The high objects, like the phone pole, phone booths on the poles and the, uh, the fire boxes on the street corners here in Manhattan…
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Stephen Dresser –was born in 1947, he got his first long cane in 8th grade, but he wasn’t taught to use it as a probe and just hooked it on his arm. It wasn’t until high school that he finally received O&M instruction. He remembers having to be convinced that it was possible to move through space without bruises, tripping and clunking into the world with his body.
Steve remembers having a great deal of independence in his years growing up before O&M instruction and acquiring the skills he needed to move further afield as a teenager seeking to travel further from home. He has shared many great insights into the difficulties experienced of moving about day to day before the advent of the smart phone – so many folks should be really mindful of the importance of getting children born blind access to smart phones – specifically iPhones as early as possible.
In high school, Steve had to be convinced to swing the long cane back and forth in front of him before that He relied on his feet – long toes. His resilience is remarkable, and he beat the odds. He was ready and able to benefit from the long cane and O&M instruction once he began in high school. He went on to live a rich life married and well respected in his field. Research on his generation of learners born blind showed him to be an exception- most children born blind grew up unable to benefit from O&M instruction so late in life and that is why it became essential to begin providing O&M instruction as part of early intervention. Even then it hasn’t be as effective until the advent of the pediatric belt cane.
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Jim said he wished he had had cane travel in grade school – instead of always sitting on the sidelines.
He remembered moving about without the long cane and didn’t recall getting hurt, but when he attended his reunion getting about the campus as an adult he didn’t understand, how he managed without a long cane, because he bumped into a lot of bicycles.
He was taught to believe that long canes were just needed in “big environments” but as an adult he realized that a long cane would have kept him from bumping into bicycles and falling off drop offs.
Jim proves a child can grow up without a long cane. But why should they be asked to do that? It restricts their freedom and puts them at risk. People can survive all sorts of hardships- folks who are smart and have great resilience can survive a lot, but looking back at those hardships comes the sincere wish the adults in his life had found a way to alleviate his hardship sooner.
Thankfully because of the belt cane – adults have options to get effective mobility tools to toddlers and allow them to grow up only knowing safety and independence.
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Beatrice weighed 2 pounds when was born into a family that already had four children. Her mom and dad didn’t have insurance and avoided hospitals. I don’t think my mother real…my mother or father realized how poor my vision was. She remembered that she was only able to see partially out of her right eye. She didn’t realize how little sight she had until recently when she remembered how she used to cry as a little girl because she couldn’t answer the questions in school. In the first grade, they’d have problems or something on the board and when they called on me, I'd just cry. And it was just because I couldn’t see it. I just felt like, how come everybody can answer these questions and I can’t answer anything. And then they realized that I really couldn’t see.
Beatrice was first introduced to independent O&M when she was in high school. The goal was so that she could begin taking the bus to school. There appeared to be little understanding of what she may or may not have understood conceptually – O&M instruction in the 1960s was centered on methods designed to teach adults who had become blind, not those who grew up blind or mobility visually impaired. Beatrice had good days and bad days dealing with the public and her family about her travel. That “horrible experience one time where the driver physically took her off the bus because he passed her stop and she had the temerity to point it out” and the bus driver who waved down a policeman who drove her across the street she didn’t feel confident crossing on her own. To her daughter who doesn’t want her to travel independently, but also doesn’t have the time to drive her. Beatrice reminds us that traveling as a blind person, there is a whole lot more to navigate than just stairs, doors, and street crossings there are the behaviors and attitudes of others.
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This week is Michael born in 1943 – 2 years before the long cane was invented. He became blind at 2 years of age due to retinoblastoma. He received his first O&M instruction at the school for the blind from a blind adult. Michael details some of the strategies that the instructor employed to teach him to use sound and some funny outcomes as well. He also discussed some of the differences working with a sighted instructor. We also discussed some of the impacts of the rule that blind people could not be O&M instructors in the 1970s.
He also wound up in hospital crossing a street independently- where he overheard the doctors telling his parents he might never walk again and vowed to prove them wrong.
I’ve done everything a novice sound engineer can do to improve the recording – perhaps read along with the transcript when possible. Otherwise, sit back and enjoy the conversation with Michael.
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Myrna is a very intelligent woman who studied music, a career many bright children born blind were funneled into, her husband was a blind piano tuner – another career historically taught to intelligent students at schools for the blind. Myrna broke free of it and joined the modern world in career of assistive technology. She was using GPS before it was cool.
She grew up a dependent traveler. At school she relied on a guide. She learned travel techniques walking with a group of blind friends. Throughout her life she continued to learn strategies that helped her to be a robust, independent traveler- someone who did not have to “learn a route” before she traveled it by herself – the way she was taught in high school.
Myrna described a world that was not welcoming of her preferred mobility tool, the dog guide. Her family, agencies employing and serving people who are blind. and Taxis all preferred her to leave her dog at home.
Blind people no matter what age - should not have so many barriers to using mobility tools that are essential to independence with safety– Denying entry to dog guide users or denying belt canes to blind toddlers – is discrimination. Discrimination is harmful and perpetuates inequality.
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Jo was gifted in math and was quite capable, the first born – she helped look after her 3 siblings. Although long white canes had been used for 5 years when she became blind, one was not provided to her when she needed it. In school, there were plenty of ways for her to learn independently -she had talking books and eventually learned braille to read independently, but the most natural independence of all- walking, she was taught a dependent solution. The only solution they could think of was for her to walk with an escort to keep her safe, which she wanted no part of.
Jo grew up as an independent child -her low vision allowed her to walk on time and yet, she was keenly aware, as an adult of how unsafe she was crossing major avenues with incomplete knowledge of exactly where the cars were, before and after she became blind. She had incidents that clearly demonstrated the difference between orientation and mobility. She was oriented – no problem. But knowing where you are and where you are going is just half of the equation – the other half is mobility – mobility with blindness or a mobility visual impairment requires a mobility tool. And she lived for 17 years without effective mobility tools. She survived – but is that really the legacy we want for children who are born blind? What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger? No, I don’t think so. Instead let’s recognize the value of mobility tools to all people who are blind or mobility visually impaired- welcome them much like you already welcome wheelchairs, as addressing a need.
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If you know anyone who needs a belt cane - go to ObtainCane
Terri prophetically remarked that without the radio’s noise as a beacon she would “end up going off track 2” is chilling for many reasons. First and foremost, that Terri died exactly as she prophesized, she walked (without a mobility tool) off track 2 into the path of an Amtrak train.
One problem that may seem benign to sighted people, is her misplaced pride in fooling sighted people that she was not blind because she could walk a straight line to her coffee stand when the radio was on and thus did not need her long cane. If she had her long cane, everyone would have known that she was blind. Children who grow up blind or mobility visually impaired are taught this misplaced source of pride in deceiving sighted people making them question whether they have a disability.
Let’s stop this lesson –and replace it instead with a pride in the mobility tool that is obvious but effective. Terri’s story also defines the true difference between orientation and mobility. Orientation is having that beacon that tells you which way to head, mobility is using a mobility tool to make sure you have the path information needed to keep you safe from colliding with obstacles –to locate drop offs so you can stop in time. Terrie was run over by an Amtrak train, not because she was disoriented- but because she had no ability to detect Track 2 in time to stop.
And that’s the difference between orientation and mobility. It is very easy to be oriented without vision. But, walking without seeing where you are going is dangerous unless you use a mobility tool. It is impossible to see where you’re going when you’re blind and that is unsafe and that is dangerous and that leads to injury and death. And this is also a part of the legacy of Terri and her wonderful life lived without ever, ever having a mobility tool, and never being taught to use the one she occasionally carried with her. She was prouder of deceiving sighted people that she was sighted; than she was of her long cane.
In honor of Terri, I ask you to help me change the narrative. Let's make the long white cane a proud badge of honor. Mobility tools enable blind travelers to keep themselves safe as they move about. And that is what we need to do for toddlers born blind. We need to give them pride in wearing their belt canes. They can learn to stop when they feel the drop and save themselves from mortal injury.
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If you know anyone who needs a belt cane - go to ObtainCane
Suzanne grew up with severe visual impairment – she had no way to know if the drop was 6 inches or 60 inches. She got a long cane three short years after the veterans administration started using them and after a few hours of training incorporated it into her travel. Her family wasn’t thrilled by it – but she wasn’t about to go back to having risk her safety just to get around independently.
She is an outgoing woman who volunteers on her local transit board, she and her husband George regularly travel on organized tours – choosing Adventure Travel because they guarantee their trips to be fully accessible.
You can grow up severely visually impaired without a mobility tool and yet as soon as the long cane became available – she was never without it.
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Thanks for listening! Please, leave us a review, ask questions and share with your friends!!
Please donate to help Safe Toddles Inc. achieve our mission to provide blind toddlers with a solution for walking independently with safety.
If you know anyone who needs a belt cane - go to ObtainCane
Marion became blind at age 60 after a life of having one good eye and one bad eye. She was independent cane traveler before, but the methods of teaching her orientation and mobility at 60 left her in tears and a belief that it was her fault that she was no longer able to be independent when walking outside on her own.
Marion tells us about a serious injury resulting from walking without her long cane. She discusses the ingenious work arounds she and Frank used to access the print signage in their apartment buildings. And so what they enjoy about the VISIONS Camp for the Blind and so much more!
Visit our website: Email: info@Safetoddles.org TikTok Facebook YouTube
Thanks for listening! Please, leave us a review, ask questions and share with your friends!!
Please donate to help Safe Toddles Inc. achieve our mission to provide blind toddlers with a solution for walking independently with safety.
If you know anyone who needs a belt cane - go to ObtainCane
Grace gives an insightful summary of her interviews with Alvin, George and Frank.
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Thanks for listening! Please, leave us a review, ask questions and share with your friends!!
Safe Toddles Inc. Our mission is to provide blind toddlers with a solution for walking independently with safety.
If you know anyone who needs a belt cane - go to ObtainCane
Alvin said, "I have two daughters and six grand kids. In my career I’ve done everything there is to do in my career. I used to teach mobility. I was superintendent of the Illinois visually handicapped, that’s the rehab center in Chicago. I’ve held about ever job there is. I even tried to drive a truck...
This interview was conducted August 23, 1999 – Alvin was 69 years old – his life growing up on a farm during WWII, going to school mostly without access to braille. Although he was born just 12 years after Braille was adopted as the official way for blind people to communicate in 1918, it had not yet percolated to Illinois school textbooks. He built a life rich in family, he taught, was a leader and gave back to his community. His story shows the capacity of people born with a disability – who do succeed in spite of the lack of effective tools. But as he pointed out, he was very glad to finally get a long cane, he was very glad to teach rehabilitation so that he could learn and use the skills to enhance his life and the lives of others.
Not to take away anything from George about his ability to travel – instead it is important to shine a light on the definition of independence and ability – George was first provided a short Lions Club Cane at 14- but given no instruction, save from his classmate. He was also given a long cane, again with no formal instruction. His entire life was lived in the climate of not one person in his life prioritizing safe mobility.
What does it say about our culture that we insist blind children do not need to be provided with effective mobility tools from the time they start to walk? George survived, he has a sense of humor, a wife and a life - but he has never known safe mobility.
The Safe Toddles belt cane is an early 21st century innovation –Some might assume the long white cane is a much, much older mobility tool. Who would believe that it is a mid-20th century innovation – the first long white cane was introduced in 1945. In the grand scheme of blind people – the long white cane being the only mass produced, ubiquitous tool for independent walking with safety – that’s relatively young. There have been schools for the blind since 1829. Agencies serving adults for the blind and teaching them to be independent long before there ever was a white cane.
What was it like to grow up blind without a mobility tool? This podcast introduces you to Frank, born 1915 - 30 years before the long white cane was introduced. He graduated high school, married, had a family, worked and lived. He also traveled with a guide until he was a senior, fell onto the subway tracks three times before he was in his 20s. By then he was giving a Lions Club cane - too short to provide safety.
He did get a long cane, but he grew up without mobility tools and for him "it was normal to walk without them".
Kelvin Crosby, the deafblind potter, has become quite famous on TikTok and this has led to appearances on Good Morning America and CBS News. On this episode Grace asks Kevin to discuss his inventions, the smart guider and the lighted blind cane. The also discuss some of the challenges inaccessible technology create for people with disabilities seeking equal access to popular platforms.
Daniel Simmons has been an O&M Specialist for 14 years. He taught adults before beginning his career providing O&M through early education services. The two O&M specialists discuss the meaning of safe mobility and the need for effective cane tools. Both agree safe mobility is a universal need.
Dr. Grace Ambrose-Zaken reads the single-subject research report on a two-year-old who is blind playing before and wearing pediatric belt canes. The text, figures, and photos with Alt Text can be found - safetoddles.org/blog and gambrosez.wordpress.com
Ashley's son Damien was one-year-old when she learned about pediatric belt canes from a Wisconsin State Coordinator for Vision Services. Damien wasn't a fan, but has since come to depend on his belt cane.
Andrea learned about the Safe Toddles' pediatric belt cane from a Facebook ad. She introduced Safe Toddles to the world of Tik Tok - her videos of her daughter Kenedi using her first pediatric belt cane went viral! @guiding_Kenedi is her Tik Tok handle.
Andrea is a hard-working entrepreneur, single-mother of two toddlers. She has a clothing line and does graphic design - to learn more go to her Facebook page "All the things: Digital Art" (https://www.facebook.com/groups/587616111943553).
She said the belt cane improved her life as much as it helped her daughter, Kenedi. for example shopping was tough with two kids, her son is younger and Kenedi didn't want to hold hands or ride. She wanted to roam and that used to be a very dangerous choice.
Now she gets to learn about independence in the store, how to listen to mom's rules and much more - listen and learn from Andrea- we sure did!
Blog post on gambrosez.wordpress.com and safetoddles.org/blog read aloud by Dr. Grace Ambrose-Zaken. The single-subject study on a one-year-old girl with optic nerve hypoplasia showed greater number of independent steps after wearing her pediatric belt cane for one month.
Important update on the progress since airing her recent podcast. Mary's update -he's wearing it more, in more places and those that know him best see positive changes! Yay Mary Stap and Van Buren Michigan schools for being such innovators!!
Audio of the blog post on gambrosez.wordpress.com and safetoddles.org/blog. The single-subject figure and photos of Audrina are available there.
Kylie's son Matias was 20 months old when she discovered pediatric belt canes. He is blind due to leber congenital amaurosis and wasn't walking independently. He is four now and is able to use his long cane correctly, artfully as he walks independently in his neighborhood. Matias didn't want to wear his cane, at first. Kylie recommends that parents stick it out- as she credits his belt cane with allowing him to be more social in playgrounds and enjoying trips to new places. Listen for even more great details!
June Allison discovered Safe Toddles through a social media post. She immediately recognized the pediatric belt cane as something that could help her adopted 2-year-old son Caeden. Caeden has cortical visual impairment and cerebral palsy. Caeden has lower field loss and reduced contrast sensitivity which makes it difficult for him to have confidence in what he's seeing on the ground. He's immediately began to depend on the feedback from the cane frame. The feedback is also helping stimulate his right hand and shoulders- good for improving fine motor development.
Learn from June - her discovery is benefiting her son and several other families who also are using belt canes because of her.
Mary Stap is a Teacher of the Visually Impaired and Orientation and Mobility specialist trained early intervention and elementary school teacher. She describes her approach to working with Donovan, a child with septo optic dysplasia (SOD) who has significant sensory challenges.
The first known, dedicated wheelchair was invented in 1595 for Phillip II of Spain. Now there are pediatric motorized wheelchairs made so that children who are three years old can operate them independently. The first electric hearing aid was created in 1898. It is possible to be fitted with hearing aids within the first weeks or months after birth. The first long cane was invented in 1945. The Safe Toddles pediatric belt cane provides safe mobility to toddlers who are blind.
This blog explains why these devices are necessary.
Elga Joffee has been an advocate of the pediatric belt cane since its inception and in this interview describes the positive outcomes it had for two of her students in North Carolina.
She knows of what she speaks. Elga entered the O&M profession as a graduate student in 1971. She has taught O&M to children in the US and Israel. She is the recipient of the Newcomer-Hill Service Award – Orientation and MobilityProfessional Service with 30 Peer Reviewed Publications and over 50 professional conference presentations. She was awarded the Warren E. Bledsoe Award - Outstanding Contribution to the Literature in Blindness and Visual Impairment. She also worked as Director, Information Center; National Program Associate/Orientation and Mobility for the American Foundation for the Blind. She taught O&M courses for Hunter College of The City University of New York and University of Nebraska at Lincoln.
This study compared the running times of two groups of children with visual impairments, those taught at home and those taught by a physiotherapist at school. They improved running times, but were still significantly slower than sighted children the same age.
This review explores how the measuring of running in children who cannot see the path ahead and are not provided tactile path information and being happy about the outcome of significantly poorer running times compared to sighted peers- is asking everyone to accept that nothing can be done to improve actual running outcomes for learners with low vision.
Safe Toddles disagrees- provide children with tactile path information first, then test their running speed- and only then will you have a credible outcome of actual ability of children who are blind and visually impaired.
Becky Hommer talks about introducing the pediatric belt cane to a two-year-old who cried, a three-year-old who started running, and a 4-year-old who beat the odds. What they had in common is that wearing the belt cane improved their quality of life. Becky, Grace and Kel explore her experiences and delve into important topic of acceptance of the white cane as an essential tool for people who are blind.
Geri Darko got her first pediatric belt cane in March 2020- and then COVID arrived in Montana like everywhere else. However, she describes wonderful outcomes. It allows her teacher to say, Jack go wash your hands, and three-year-old Jack and 4-year-old Wyatt know the way, they don't need a hand or a guide - they know the way and they like being independent.
Geri said, the belt cane is the only tool for toddlers and preschool learners, without it they have nothing. It is amazing.
Geri, we think you're amazing, too.
Dr. Grace Ambrose-Zaken, COMS and Kelvin Crosby explore some of the assumptions Safe Toddles made about blind toddler and preschooler reactions to pediatric belt canes before they were created. Lessons learned included toddlers and preschoolers who are blind and mobility visually impaired did not need to be taught to walk wearing them, nor how to hold them- but instead they became the instructors. The children taught us just how valuable acquiring reliable safe mobility was to them and opened new lines of inquiry - like how does a blind toddler learn to stay with the group?
An in-depth discussion of how to wear the cane most of the day everyday, building a routine around wearing it. How blind toddlers and preschoolers will use it on stairs and moving through a changing world of objects, people and dogs.
Dr. Ambrose-Zaken and Kelvin Crosby discuss the methods for introducing the pediatric belt cane to children ages one through five. Grace provides lesson ideas and discusses the gross motor milestones at each age to help you know what to look for in children who are blind and mobility visually impaired and much more- enjoy!
Dr. Grace Ambrose-Zaken lists and defines the three previews that are used to determine if a person with a visual impairment needs a white cane. She also discusses the process of ordering the custom-made pediatric belt cane for your child and much more...!
Danielle Montour became blind after surgery to remove her eyes to prevent further spread of cancer. She was born in 1997 and her first introduction to O&M was in 2000, at age 3. Danielle's interview quickly became a debate about the benefits of growing up with and without consistent tactile path information.
Ann grew up in rural America in a large family. She describes her challenges and successes as a child born premature and who lost her vision due to measures used to save her life. She describes a wonderful family life and looks back with the honest perspective of someone who understands how she beat the odds stacked against her.
Michael Byington is a certified orientation and mobility specialist, an avocation that came later in life. He is well aware, that when he was younger, his vision impairment would have disqualified him from this field. He describes his challenges and his unique perspective on life with low vision.
George Stern was a soccer player with lots of promise, and then his parents noticed he was running into walls. Great interview with George, growing up blind. He's so fun, smart and engaging -we were lucky to get a few minutes of his time!
Co-hosts Kelvin Crosby and Dr. Grace Ambrose-Zaken discuss ways to accentuate Holidays Sound, Smells, feeling, and Taste for children who were born with sensory impairments. Kelvin shares memories from his childhood growing up with profound hearing loss and what how these other senses came to mean so much more to him.
Co-host Dr. Grace Ambrose-Zaken interview's Kelvin Crosby about his experience growing up with a hearing impairment and later finding out he was losing is vision due to Usher's Syndrome Type II.
Co-host Kelvin Crosby asks Dr. Grace Ambrose-Zaken about the outcomes found in research directly related to growing up blind. The inability to see initially impacts gross motor skills and because of the inability to independently walk safely, concept development, language and social skills become delayed. That's why providing safe mobility early can prevent these negative domino side-effects.