Visualeyes

Quite an invigorating week! That's the nice way of saying man it was a crazy week, but great!

I've been working on my cane mobility lessons on Tuesdays and ever since the first lesson when I tried using a blindfold and emotionally freaked out, I've been just walking with my eyes closed. Now being the survivalist,(or is it survivorist ) that I am, I expected to constantly be opening my eyes to check that I wasn't going to fall off a curb or veer out into a street. But NO!!!! I can keep the eyes closed and be comfortable with that. Of course, I know my instructor is there and she won't let me fall off that curb or walk into that street.

We decided to move ahead on my Goals-To-Accomplish  list and try walking to the bus stop, getting on a bus to the MARTA (transit) station, picking up a different bus home, and walking back via an unfamiliar portion of the sidewalk. Even though I suggested doing this, I was quaking in my shoes thinking about actually doing it.

First segment went great- eyes closed, found the curbs, but my internal GPS was a little wonky and I kept thinking I was headed toward the sidewalk while I wasactually walking into the grassy area. I must have looked like a real spaz because my instructor asked me to try the curb/sidewalk again to get the direction thing going. Once I realized I wasn't checking for the whole sidewalk with the cane, and I need to, the spazzy walker disappeared. :-)

I decided the bus segment need to be open-eyed so I knew when to exit and where to look for the next bus. That went well, but I did notice a couple people looking at me. I think they were trying to tell if I was totally blind, partially sighted, or goofing on them (which some people think when they find out you actually can see some things).

The walk back on the unfamiliar sidewalk was a little nerve- wracking since I didn't know when I'd run into a broken up sidewalk or a section with a height difference. Made it though, and as I found the stairs leading to my home, I realized something. I was damn proud of myself! No hyperventilating on my first public outing with a cane. Not as embarrassing as I thought it would be, and actually, some helpful people, like the bus driver who asked if I needed any help getting off the bus and letting me know where the bus was positioned in relation to the entrance to the MARTA station. Tuesday, I was the Little Train That Could! ( if you're not old enough to have grown up reading that children's book, look it up!)

Thursday AM, I met with the Director of Public Works for the city of Dunwoody (my town). Long story short, I had placed a repair ticket on the city government's page requesting the sidewalks to be fixed on the corridor I walk to and from the bus. I explained the vision loss thing and the cane thing. I decided to send the request as an email to all the City Council members as well, along with attached photos of the offending cement. One member responded and he connected me with the Public Works Director. Although I'm not using a cane full time yet, I took the cane with me to practice using it and to show him exactly how cracks, broken cement, and differences in height could effect a visually impaired person. By the time we were halfway through the walk, he said his eyes had been opened to the danger of the sidewalks. This is what I had hoped. Asking him to evaluate them on his own, wouldn't let him view it from my perspective. Walking with me, would. In fairness, I should disclose that my original request for repairs had been in November '09 and basically there was no response. So in this email/request, I mentioned that if I didn't receive a definitive time frame for when the repairs could be done, I was going to the news media. I pointed out that as a new city, it probably wouldn't look good to have the needs of a "disabled resident" being ignored, andit might be a human interest story to the TV consumer reporter or the local newspaper editor. Did that have something to do with me being contacted by a council member? Could be. Did I use my vision loss to my advantage? You betcha.  And so far, it's working. The Council meets tomorrow night to discuss this and other issues. I asked the PW Director and the councilman to keep me in the loop. We'll see. And while I applauded their efforts, I made it clear that this was not an issue to drop. I'm a determined woman, and I don't give up easily!

 

Visualeyes 9

Here it is.... not an extraordinary car, but a good one none the less.
Last Sunday I went out to brunch with my friends, then we came back, signed the papers, took the pictures, and took me to the grocery store for one last ride with "my baby!" Then it was goodbye car, and I watched as it drove out of sight. (Very heavy sigh...) The rest of the day, I didn't quite know what to do with myself. Normally on a weekend, I'd head over to the bookstore and find something calling my name. But, oops!
No  car. Monday morning, as is my habit, I checked outside to see what the weather was like, and there was a space, a parking space, where my car used to sit. No car.   By Tuesday, I HAD to get out of the house and bring some normalcy back into my life. So I made a list of errands I could do in the same general area- mail holiday cards and take small package to mail at UPS Store, pick up RX, drop off jewelry order at gift shop carrying my line. My determination was set and off I trekked, up- and I do mean UP- the street to wait for the bus. After the huffing and puffing and wheezing slowed down (and a hit off the old inhaler), I noticed that the weather was chillier than I thought. Did I have gloves with me? No. Did I have earmuffs or a scarf with me? No. Was my backpack checked for necessary things before I left? No. "The Planner" is going to have to plan better.

Got to the gift shop with jewelry-check- and then an uphill 3 minute walk to get the prescription. Two errands done. Now the steep, uphill "climb" to get to UPS for mailings-huff, puff, check- but I needed a stop to breathe. Saw the bus I needed at the stop about 200 yds. away so I took off at a slow run (remember I have a pack on my back) and made it there before he took off. Of course it turned out he wasn't leaving yet because this bus changes numbers mid route and it sits and waits at this particular stop for 15 minutes before it leaves with the new number on it! (Don't ask me why it changes, I don't get it.) This bus was , of course, going in the opposite direction from where I lived but it was chilly out, I was cold and the bus was warm, and I was tired from uphill walking. (I'm not in shape for all this mandatory exercise!)  I said to myself:  "Gail just go where the bus is going. You've never been to the end of this route; you'll learn where it goes for future reference. It's an adventure!!!" This adventure led me to one of the subway stations where I needed to take the subway to the next stop in order to pick up the bus that doesn't change it's number mid route. Note to self; wear thicker pants if you're going to be waiting for a train in the cold. The marble bench practically gave my bottom freezer burn! At the next stop, I had just missed the bus, so I had another outdoor wait, this time on a wrought iron bench. Hmmm... colder or warmer than the marble one? It's a TIE!!! The wind was whipping around and I was pretending to distract myself from a cold butt, frozen ears, and a runny nose by doing a sudoku puzzle. Might be good for the brain pathways and neurons, but every pathway I had was screaming GET ME ON A WARM BUS NOW!!!! Geez, it's amazing how long 20 minutes take when you're waiting for a bus in chilly weather! Yeah, yeah, I know it wasn't Michigan weather but it was about 39 and I was dressed for 65! I don't know where my internal heat went, but it must have been taking a coffee break someplace else.

Finally the bus arrived; I made it back to my street, walked the downhill (thank goodness) trek home. Still no car there. I guess I was kind of wishing it would magically be there. Up the flight of 14 stairs to my condo. Dumped the pack, threw off the shoes, and collapsed on the couch. Woke up 2 hours later. This no-car-take-bus-and-train routine is going to take some adjustment!

Here are my dear friends with their "new" car.