Day 16

We are done with our lessons in Lufkin. At least we are able to have our lessons closer to where we are staying saving us a 30 minute drive everyday. We crossed an intersection with a talking traffic light. That was pretty cool. You press the button (once you can find it) and it tells you to "wait"..."wait"..."wait" every 10 seconds or so. Then depending on the street you are crossing there is a loud repeating beeping or a high pitched screeching sound meaning CROSS NOW! While you are crossing the light starts counting down from 10 telling you how much time you have to finish crossing the street. Very neat. If you veer one direction or the other instead of crossing straight ahead you can correct yourself by turning toward the sound of the crossing signal. Again, very neat! All signals in the country should be like that.

I haven't complained about the heat in awhile, but it is still HOT here. A fellow student told me yesterday if she stands out in the sun any longer she is afraid that she will turn in to a piece of charcoal! I told her if that happens I will bring some marshmallows and a stick so I can toast them.

Day 15

Round of applause please...

I did my drop off like a pro! My instructor had me get into his car blindfolded, and he proceeded to drive in circles all around the area including a few circles in a parking lot I think just to make sure I had no idea where I was. I got out of the car, and made my way up the curb and to the building in front of me. I trailed the building until I was at the corner and stood there, listening to traffic trying to figure out which corner I was at. I decided to trail to the other side of that block to make sure I was correct about where I was. I hit my landmark on the other corner and I was off like a shot! I was only a few blocks from the 'rally point' of Maricela's Day Spa (which also makes awesome smoothies). On my final street crossing I touched the corner of the building which is a stucco exterior with a rounded decorative corner that is distinct. Knowing my destination was on the sidewalk ahead, I purposely turned left and began to trail the building knowing my instructor was behind me somewhere having an aneurysm because I had turned the wrong way. I smiled and called out "just kidding!" and he called out "psych!" as I turned around to head the right way up the sidewalk to our destination. I couldn't help myself. Glad to be done with that test. I was worried about it. Turns out I worried for nothing!

Another group of visually impaired campers arrived today. These kids are older, 12 and up. Much better as far as energy. No one was bouncing off of walls or anything. We had fun with them at the rock wall. I helped organize a "poker run" where the kids were put into teams and had to make it to 5 stations to collect a playing card. The team with the best hand at the end won a prize. The low vision kids took turns being under blindfold for the game to practice cane travel. There are 2 girls who are completely blind that were able to show off their awesome mobility skills. One girl goes down stairs better with her cane than I do using my eyes! It was great to see their success.

We have another week of long nights with these guys, but they are a lot of fun.

Weekend 3

Spent the holiday weekend in Lake Charles, LA. Got a much needed break. Now back to real life. Ugh.

Day 14

More travel in downtown Lufkin today. Had to solicit assistance as part of the lesson today. That was awkward. I was told to go into a business and ask for directions. You have to just say "hello?" "Is there someone here?" and wait while they figure out how to give directions to a blind person! Telling me "that way" is not helpful. Other than that, it was a great day!

I am off to Lake Charles Louisiana for the weekend. Sean is on the bike and meeting me there. Can't wait!

Day 13

I heard a lot of "upper hand" being called out to me. This is in reference to upper hand and forearm technique, which is a protective measure where you place your hand palm out in front of your shoulder or modified upper hand and forearm which is where you place your hand palm out in front of your face. When someone says "upper hand" we generally assume the modified position to protect the face from obstacles. Here's why I heard it all morning.

I had a lot of obstacles in my way today. Lets talk a minute about crosswalks. Please don't park in them. Let me show you why.

My cane picking up the drop off.

Properly lined up and listening for traffic as my instructor watches, ready to stop me if I make a mistake and try to walk out in front of a car. See how his hand is at the ready?

This is my view of the crossing. Note the ladder sticking out from the back of the truck directly in my path ON the crosswalk?

Here I am making a perfect textbook crossing. I am completely unaware of the ladder.

Right before I would have run into the ladder I hear "let's see that upper hand" and it totally saved my nose from smacking into the ladder. I slowly worked my way around it mumbling about negligent people the whole time.

If I hadn't had any warning, I would have ran right into those things. When you travel under blindfold, you actually walk at a regular pace in order to travel in more of a straight line. Going slow you have more opportunity to veer and potentially get into trouble. Learning to cross streets I heard "hustle, hustle hustle!" behind me. Not only do you want to avoid veering by traveling at a good pace, you want to get the heck out of the road!

On the sidewalk there is a very large sign with another large sign underneath it. It is huge, and in the way. If you cannot see it, you will run your face right into it.

My instructor told me "upper hand" so I could avoid hitting this sign with my face. Notice how it is surrounded by sidewalk. How would you ever know it was there?

Well, I lived to see another day. The campers went to Lake Nacogdoches and went swimming, boating and tubing. We went out to the middle of the lake and the kids just jumped out of the boat with their life jackets on. I don't even do that! Talk about not letting a disability hold you back!

Day 12

WELCOME TO DOWNTOWN LUFKIN!

So I had my first lesson on downtown streets. Crossed streets using my traffic pattern skills, and lived to tell the tale. We will be doing this for a few days and then I will have my 'drop off' lesson. My instructor will blindfold me, take me to an area that I should be able to recognize using my landmarks, and I have to make it to a predetermined location. In this case it is a little business called Maricela's Day Spa. I have to do this unassisted. I will be followed by my instructor, but he will not be able to help me. He will be there just to make sure I do not do any mortal harm to myself or others.

I am dead tired. Spent the evening with the campers at the bowling alley. Everyone had a good time, and are now all going to bed. Luckily all of us in the O&M program got to go to OUR dorm, while the campers and their counselors and caseworkers went to THEIR dorm. Being a volunteer has its perks!

Day 11

It is 11:00 pm and today is finally over. My lesson was at 8:00 am, and I have been running on fake energy ever since. It was a crazy O&M day. I had to cross with traffic lights today.

Before we got to the light on Raguet Street, I had to cross a few smaller intersections with 2 way stops.  I had to listen for the right time to cross, which was when no traffic is there.

Listening for traffic.

Then I had to go hither...

and yon...

Until finally arriving to my destination.

I had to cross 5 lanes of traffic on each side, using only the sound of my parallel traffic as my clue to cross. You have to hustle across the street or "Swing It and Bring It" as we say so you don't turn into a road cookie (as I say). You make your move as soon as the car going your direction (parallel traffic) gets to the middle of the intersection. At this point that car is referred to as a "blocker car" as in, it blocks all other traffic from rendering your body into a road cookie.  If you miss this short window, you have to wait until the light cycles through again as it is unsafe to cross at any other time. The car 4 cars back did not see you waiting on the corner, and may make a right turn squishing you into oblivion, so you wait, listening for the traffic pattern again.

Swingin' and Bringin'

Another group was in the middle of their lessons today and this car out of nowhere slows down, rolls down their windows and yells "Y'all stop makin' fun of blind people!" Uh, really? Come back tomorrow, we are doing Down Syndrome.  Are we out here trying to pick fun at someones disability?  Really? Do you not see that we are trying to learn so we can TEACH these skills to the very people who need them?

I spent all evening with our campers. They had dinner, went rock and rope  climbing in the gym on the schools many rock wall courses and rope nets. You would never think a bunch of kids with visual impairments would be all over that, but they sure were! One girl has had no vision since birth, yet was climbing up those challenges like a pro. Awesome sight to behold. After the rock walls the kiddos had a scavenger hunt where they were blindfolded (all but 1 of them have low vision, where they have some usable vision) and given a cane to do a scavenger hunt. We each took 1 kid at a time through the course where they had to discover things, fill up their backpacks with their treasures, and make it to the end. We were giving them directions and some basic lessons with using the cane and their senses. It was really neat to have them explore.

Great day, but I am exhausted. Only 3 more to go and the campers go home. Only for more to come next Tuesday!