2014-10-15-In Celebration of White Cane Safety Day Seminars@Hadley In Celebration of White Cane Safety Day Presented by Pam Winters Cathy Pasinski Ginger Irwin Danette Johnson Moderated by Dawn Turco October 15, 2014 Host You’re listening to Seminars@Hadley. This seminar is “In Celebration of White Cane Safety Day,” presented by Pam Winters, Cathy Pasinski and Ginger Irwin; moderated by Dawn Turco. Dawn Turco Good morning and welcome to today’s Seminars@Hadley. I’m Dawn Turco and I am moderating today’s seminar. And today is October 15th so we are celebrating White Cane Safety Day. Perhaps some of you participating today are white cane users, and would probably agree if so that it’s an ©2014 The Hadley School for the Blind Page 1 of 44 2014-10-15-In Celebration of White Cane Safety Day invaluable tool for people who are blind or visually impaired. And indeed the white cane affords a freedom of movement you might not otherwise have. Well it is White Cane Safety Day, not only in the US but I saw on the Lyon’s Club International site they had a list of events, and it’s actually International White Cane Safety Day as well. And for our Canadian participants, and we always have visitors from Canada, I read that you have White Cane Week in February – so how cool is that? Well, I said today was going to be a little unusual as I waited to start today’s seminar. Live events often have a panel of presenters and today we do have a panel but they’re not so live. Earlier in late summer we had an event here at Hadley, and we had some of our part-time instructors in for that event – three of whom are certified O&M specialists. And as much as we noodle around ideas for celebrating October 15th we can’t do a Flash dance, the other seminar space, so we decided to do something a little bit more fitting of this environment. So we do have a presentation starting with Pam Winters who is giving us a history of the white cane and its day. Cathy Pasinski is here talking about types and varieties of canes and tips and such; and ©2014 The Hadley School for the Blind Page 2 of 44 2014-10-15-In Celebration of White Cane Safety Day then the third presenter is Ginger Irwin who is talking about more or less Cane Repair 101. Well, Pam and Ginger work in school districts and knew they wouldn’t be available today but did want to participate in the event. So we have a pre-recording I will be launching momentarily. But because we want to have conversation in the room today Cathy is joining us as well as Danette Johnson, one of the newer instructors at Hadley who is also an O&M’er. And then we figured today’s participants – you may have a lot to say about the white cane, White Cane Safety Day, and we’re thinking some participants are not currently cane users and might make some decisions based on what we have to say today. So anyway, it’s all in celebration of the white cane and I am going to get us started with this pre-recording. And Pam is starting out as I said with the history of white canes and White Cane Day. So let me push the button. Pam, why don’t you get us started off with a little history about the white cane? Pam Winters Okay, hi everybody. I today am going to go over a brief history as Dawn said of the white cane and how ©2014 The Hadley School for the Blind Page 3 of 44 2014-10-15-In Celebration of White Cane Safety Day in particular October 15th came to be White Cane Safety Day, which actually is 50 years ago today. We’ve all heard the white cane called many things other than a white cane. Probably the most common of these mistaken names is the dreaded “stick.” The use of a cane, walking stick or staff as a travel device actually began back in Biblical times when shepherds used the crook or the hook of their staff to gather their herds of sheep. It also symbolized the solitary travel of the shepherd, though. But then in 1860 Sir Francis Campbell experimented with the use of a long cane for foot travel at the Perkins School for the Blind. But it wasn’t until around 1920 that we started using the cane as an identifier for people with visual impairments. So I’m going to go over some of those key points in history: in 1921 Englishman James Boggs lost his vision in an accident. He still wanted to walk independently within his community and so he decided to paint a walking stick white because he’d hoped to be more noticeable by the growing number of motorists at that time. It wasn’t until ten years later that – and now I’m going to have to take a little bit of time here with this name, because it’s French and I’ve never taken French ©2014 The Hadley School for the Blind Page 4 of 44 2014-10-15-In Celebration of White Cane Safety Day before in my life – it’s Guilly d’Herbemont of France advocated nationally for the white walking stick. This news traveled to England and eventually in 1931 there was a radio broadcast on the BBC that proposed that each person with a visual impairment be issued a white walking stick. Back here in the United States the Lyon’s Club International is credited for the birth of the white cane movement. Similarly to how things went in England, there was a Lyon’s Club member once who witnessed a blind man crossing the road using a black cane and realized that it was difficult for motorists to see the black cane. In 1931 Lyon’s Club International started a national campaign to promote the use of a white walking stick or cane and it was held in a stationary diagonal position by people with visual impairments. The first actual white cane ordinance was passed in Peoria, Illinois in 1931. It was the first formal legislation that gave blind cane users the right of way when travelling with a white cane. And then five years later in the City of Detroit a similar city ordinance was passed, and that eventually led to the first state white cane law in Michigan passed by Governor Frank Murphy in 1937. So then we get into the training part of white cane, which really came into play as WWII blinded veterans ©2014 The Hadley School for the Blind Page 5 of 44 2014-10-15-In Celebration of White Cane Safety Day began returning to the United States. In order to promote the white cane as a mobility device that would assist these veterans in regaining their independence, Dr. Richard Hoover altered the cane by lengthening it to make it more functional for this use. The first formal training programs took place during WWII at Valley Forge Veterans Hospital in Pennsylvania and at Heinz Veterans Hospital in Illinois. The field of Orientation & Mobility grew out of these programs and the first six Orientation & Mobility specialists were selected at Heinz VA in 1947. And I can say from a personal standpoint that it gives me great pride even though it was several decades later that I did my internship at Heinz. And it’s really cool for me to be a part of such a historic rehabilitation facility. So then we continue on and momentum for white cane legislation continued through the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960’s. On October 6th, 1964, the joint houses of Congress passed Resolution HR-753 declaring October 15th to be White Cane Safety Day. President Lyndon B. Johnson signed that bill into law, Public Law 88628 just hours later. ©2014 The Hadley School for the Blind Page 6 of 44 2014-10-15-In Celebration of White Cane Safety Day In his proclamation, President Johnson stressed the importance of the white cane as both a tool for independence and a visual symbol to others by stating “I urge civic and service organizations, schools, public bodies to join in this observance. Appropriate activities designed to promote continuing awareness of the significance of the white cane to blind persons. I call upon all our citizens to make every effort to promote the safety and welfare of our blind persons on the streets and highways and thereby to contribute to their independence of spirit and their capability of self-management.” I love the phrase “independence of spirit.” To me it describes the functional aspect of the white cane but also embodies the emotional and personal satisfaction that comes from using a white cane. In 2011, President Barack Obama renamed October 15th to be the Blind Americans Equality Day, stating in his proclamation “We celebrate the achievements of blind and visually impaired Americans and reaffirm our commitment to advancing their complete social and economic integration.” Like the presidents before him, President Obama called on officials, business and community leaders, librarians and Americans across the country to observe this day with appropriate ceremony, activities and programs. ©2014 The Hadley School for the Blind Page 7 of 44 2014-10-15-In Celebration of White Cane Safety Day And I think it’s interesting to note that President Obama’s proclamation also included a reference to the recently-signed Pedestrian Safety Enhancement Act, which is requiring that manufacturers of electric and hybrid cars add sounds to alert pedestrians to the unusual quietness of these vehicles. So you can kind of see the progression through time that we now have to consider different things in our white cane travel. Around the world October 15th has internationally become a day to both celebrate the white cane and educate others regarding its use. When I was doing my research I was surprised to find out that in the United States the Lyon’s Club also has the third week in May set aside as White Cane Week; I wasn’t aware of that. And Canada also has a specific week set aside, which is the first week in February. So there are other times of the year that we should be promoting white cane safety other than October 15th. So then as a public school educator of students with visual impairments, it’s really important to me that my students learn how to use their cane and feel comfortable with using them from a young age. That’s why I work closely with their Orientation & Mobility specialist, who in this case also happens to be one of our co-presenters here, Ginger. Together we provide fun learning experiences in the school and ©2014 The Hadley School for the Blind Page 8 of 44 2014-10-15-In Celebration of White Cane Safety Day out in the community that promote the development of safe travel skills. We also in my school celebrate White Cane Safety Week, and some of the things that we do are display handmade posters throughout the school that are made by the kids. And then every morning on the announcements that week, each one of my students will announce a white cane safety tip to the rest of the school. So there’ll be things like “Never jump over someone’s cane,” or “If you have to move someone’s cane for some reason make sure you always tell them where you put it and those sorts of things. And the kids memorize those and read those and are really excited to be part of the school community by sharing information about their white cane, so hopefully by educating those around us they can become comfortable with using their canes as tools for independence. So I think that’s it for my part and I think we’re moving on to Cathy then who’s going to talk about some of the types of canes and tips that we use. Dawn Turco Thanks, Pam, that was really great. And not only did we get the history but we got some great ideas and what you’re doing in your school that maybe some of ©2014 The Hadley School for the Blind Page 9 of 44 2014-10-15-In Celebration of White Cane Safety Day those listening in can start making posters as soon as we’re finished with today’s seminar. Meanwhile, while they’re thinking posters we’re going to hand the microphone off to Cathy Pasinski who’s in the office with me today as well. And Cathy’s going to go through a lot of information I think about the various kinds and types of tips and canes available out there. So the microphone is yours, Cathy. Cathy Pasinski Thank you, Dawn. Hi everybody. I was listening to this wonderful history and learning that the original cane was made out of wood by the shepherds, and it reminded me of an ex-client I had a few years ago. He was an adult male who had lost his vision and had never heard of Orientation & Mobility. So when I first met him he presented me with his handmade cane which was made out of a tree limb, and he had wrapped blue electrical tape around it. And that’s what he used to go in public with because he felt it helped him negotiate a little bit better than not having anything. And of course I was a little surprised to say the least and I informed him that I will provide him with a proper cane that he can use to get around town. And of course we spent a year together doing orientation & ©2014 The Hadley School for the Blind Page 10 of 44 2014-10-15-In Celebration of White Cane Safety Day mobility and he was very successful in the end with his nice white cane that I provided for him. So I’m going to present about different kinds of canes that exist and tips that go on the cane. There’s a lot of choices nowadays so I’ll just try to go through them and keep you informed. The regular white cane, the original one was called a rigid cane. Usually it was made from aluminum and the bottom of the cane has a tip. And it also has six inches of red reflective tape on the bottom which is the symbol for visually impaired people in the USA. Other kinds of canes now are folding canes where you can have three or four sections and you can fold it and fit it into your purse or your briefcase or your back pocket. They have telescopic canes where it’s structured like a telescope where each piece kind of folds into each other and it becomes shorter, short enough to fit in your purse or your briefcase again. We also have kiddie canes which are little canes for little people, little children that are starting out learning orientation & mobility. We have support canes for people that have a physical impairment or an older traveler who needs support. We have the identification cane which is a lighter version of a folding cane or a rigid cane. It’s ©2014 The Hadley School for the Blind Page 11 of 44 2014-10-15-In Celebration of White Cane Safety Day used just for identification that you have a visual impairment when you’re traveling out around – when you have low vision you can see enough that you don’t need the cane for safety but it’s good to inform the other people around you and the traffic that you are visually impaired. And finally there is a guide cane which you can use with a guide – a guide dog or a human guide or something for occasional use. We also have now electronic canes that have been around for a little while, and of course they keep getting complicated as the years go on and technology keeps getting better. So there’s some that I found. One is found an I-Cane. This one is pretty cool because you can actually record directions on it and it also has a sensor where it avoids obstacles. It vibrates; it lets you know that there’s an obstacle ahead. But how cool is that to have the directions recorded on there for you? Another one I saw was the Ultra Cane. That one also has sensors and it warns you that there’s obstacles ahead. Another one is the SmartCane which uses SONAR technology and again, it vibrates in the handle when something is ahead of you. One of my favorites that I found is called the Origin Cane and that one has a built-in GPS which, how helpful is that nowadays? We can’t live without it ©2014 The Hadley School for the Blind Page 12 of 44 2014-10-15-In Celebration of White Cane Safety Day anymore. It also has a microphone and a speaker so you can put in the address you want to find and it will speak the directions like your TomTom or your Apple, your Google Maps and get you to your destination. And I really want one of those because it sounds so cool. Dawn Turco Me too! Okay, this really sounds like science fiction. Cathy Pasinski I know, science fiction! Oh, I have one more which is even better. This one is an Apple app, and can you believe this? You have it on your iPhone – I don’t know if it’s ready yet; I think it’s in development. You take a picture of your cane and it becomes a virtual cane and you use your iPhone instead of your cane. I don’t know if that’s effective or not. I think it probably needs a lot of work for that one. Dawn Turco Wow, okay. Yeah, nobody run out and get that one yet who’s listening to these seminar. Don’t just use your iPhone yet and walk around. Cathy Pasinski Yeah, please don’t. You want to stay safe. ©2014 The Hadley School for the Blind Page 13 of 44 2014-10-15-In Celebration of White Cane Safety Day Dawn Turco You want to stay with the traditional cane. Cathy Pasinski Yes, and with orientation & mobility training, right. So these are basically the types of canes that exist. I’m sure there’s more that are in development that we haven’t heard of yet but that will come out. I want to talk about the importance of having an orientation & mobility instructor teach you how to use your cane because it is a lot of work. Like I said, I had a student, it took us a year to learn for him to travel independently. There’s many things that the instructor will teach you. First of all the instructor will give you the correct cane for your height. It has to be a certain length. The length of the cane will depend on how fast you walk, how big your arch is, how strong your hands are. There’s a lot of factors that go into picking a cane. So that is something you need to address with your orientation & mobility specialist. I found four different materials that they make canes out of. The most common and the most traditional is aluminum. It is a strong cane. It does take a lot of abuse but after a while they can bend especially if they got stuck on a curb, which has happened. They ©2014 The Hadley School for the Blind Page 14 of 44 2014-10-15-In Celebration of White Cane Safety Day now have graphite canes that are lightweight and they flex more so you don’t have that bending. They have fiberglass canes that are a little bit heavier but a little durable, and carbon fiber canes that are also very, very durable. And we also have two different kinds of handles that can go on a cane. The more traditional one is the golf grip handle – it’s kind of the same handle that goes on golf clubs, that’s why they call it that; and it’s usually a straight handle. And also they have a crook handle which is kind of like a little U-shape on top that is a little more of an older version of a cane. But they still exist and they’re good for hanging on the coat hook. [laughter] Dawn Turco Good point. Cathy Pasinski Now I’m going to go into what kind of tips you can put at the bottom of your cane. The more traditional one is called the pencil tip, and it’s kind of long and thing – it looks like a pencil, like a thick pencil. That one is good to have when you’re learning. It does wear down after using it for a long period of time and then you have to replace it. ©2014 The Hadley School for the Blind Page 15 of 44 2014-10-15-In Celebration of White Cane Safety Day There’s also what is called a ball tip. It is about two inches in diameter. It looks like a ball and it’s light and it’s good for a lot of travel. Another one is called a rolling ball where it’s also about two inches in diameter. It’s good for the Constant Contact technique and it’s good for rolling over cracks and small pebbles and stuff like that. Another one is the roller tip, and that one is a little quieter than the other tips and it gives you a lot of tactile info. Another one is called the jumbo roller which is like a big disc. It’s about 2.5 inches in diameter. It’s really good going over obstacles and it gives you a lot of information, and it’s also very good with the Constant Contact technique. A very popular one right now is called the marshmallow tip. It is shaped like a marshmallow and it is a heavy-duty tip that you can use for a lot of travel. It’s very durable and you can’t get stuck in cracks as much as the pencil tip. Another is called the metal tip and it is made out of metal, and it does provide more information because it improves the sensitivity from the ground. Another tip is called the ceramic tip. It does last a very long time and it gives you very good audio feedback. So I guess that one is a little louder. Then we have the rover tip that looks kind of like a fat ©2014 The Hadley School for the Blind Page 16 of 44 2014-10-15-In Celebration of White Cane Safety Day wheel, and that one is used for outdoors when you’re going hiking. It’s good for people that have low vision only. It does only go forward; you can’t use it to tap with or go left or right. And it’s really good for people that are in wheelchairs because it just lets you know what’s ahead of you. I found one thing called an ice tip which is good for support canes for people who are travelling in the winter and they don’t want to slip on the ice. So the little picks kind of go into the ice and keep you safe from slipping. And the final tip I found which I was really happy was the nightwalker, and my friend Ginger here actually has one next to me so I can see it in person. And it has a battery-operated light that only comes on at night when it’s dark out – that’s when it starts lighting. And every time you tap it it flashes, and it makes you visible for night travel. I love that, I really do. I love that. Those are all the tips that I found. Dawn Turco And you have some websites that we’re going to be posting as a resource list, that will direct people if they want to find out a little bit more about all these different types and varieties. There’s a lot to think about there and to work with your own O&M instructor with. A lot of choices, a lot of choices. ©2014 The Hadley School for the Blind Page 17 of 44 2014-10-15-In Celebration of White Cane Safety Day Pam Winters I have a question, actually. So with the light up tip there at the end, so you would have to use touch technique with that, correct? You couldn’t use Constant Contact method? Dawn Turco No, you can use Constant Contact. When you turn it on it will blink at basically the same rate as a tapping technique, but it will also work if you’re using Constant Contact. This particular one has a roller marshmallow tip on the end also, but it is also sensitive in that if you’re where there is enough light to notice it anyway it will not flash – it has to be completely dark. So if you live in an area in the country where you don’t have a lot of streetlights or those types of things it can be very beneficial in flashing to make you more noticeable. Pam Winters But maybe not so much if you’re in downtown Chicago. Dawn Turco Right, because there’s enough light in downtown Chicago that they should be able to notice your white cane. So it’s a sensor, basically. ©2014 The Hadley School for the Blind Page 18 of 44 2014-10-15-In Celebration of White Cane Safety Day Pam Winters Yeah. Dawn Turco Just like on so many things now – your hallway lights or your holiday lights. Sometimes you do the dusk to dawn. Pam Winters Okay, got it. Very cool. Dawn Turco Very nice, thank you. Cathy, what else? Cathy Pasinski Yeah, I wanted to say about canes that have different colors. Ginger Irwin Yes, that’s going on in my classroom. Cathy Pasinski Yes! The traditional light cane of course started out as just white, but in the US we have adopted the lower portion is reflective red, so the lower six inches of the cane. And that is what most travelers use in the USA. If the bottom has two red stripes instead of the whole bottom section being red that indicates that the traveler is visually impaired and hearing impaired. ©2014 The Hadley School for the Blind Page 19 of 44 2014-10-15-In Celebration of White Cane Safety Day Also some countries in Europe use that as their symbol for the visually impaired. An all-white cane indicates someone who is visually impaired in most countries in Europe. You can also order black, all black or all white canes for formal occasions like prom or your wedding or a nice ballroom occasion, I don’t know, dancing, graduation. And also now they’ve come up with some fun color tips and fun color grips and the shaft, but I do have to caution that a lot of people will not recognize those colors as being the symbol for a visually impaired traveler. So it’s something to use just for fun maybe indoors and in a safe place, and not outdoors where there’s traffic. Ginger Irwin Working in the public schools, a number of the students are not as excited about learning to use the white cane. But if they have a blue cane or the girls have a pink cane or sometimes they’re even green, they’re a little more quick to actually use it in the school. And in teaching my lessons with my students I let them select the cane color that they want, but they also know that when they are out in the community and they’re going to be crossing streets it’s important to choose to use the white cane with the red tip because that’s what’s most often recognized as “Oh, this person has a visual impairment.” ©2014 The Hadley School for the Blind Page 20 of 44 2014-10-15-In Celebration of White Cane Safety Day And they also have now, the golf grip, you can use the white cane but the golf grip now can be pink or green or yellow, and I think there’s a blue that you can also order at some of the places where you can get canes. So again, that’s a nice way to kind of gussy it up for kids. Cathy Pasinski You can express your individuality. Ginger Irwin And when you’re in a resource room it’s a great way to tell the difference between. Cathy Pasinski And I even saw a gold one online for someone’s wedding. That’s rather fancy, fancy. Dawn Turco That would be like going to an awards in Hollywood! [laughter] Cathy Pasinski Yeah. Dawn Turco Well thank you. That was, well I was going to say confusing, there’s so many choices, but very informative. And we’re handing it off right away then ©2014 The Hadley School for the Blind Page 21 of 44 2014-10-15-In Celebration of White Cane Safety Day to Ginger Irwin. And Ginger is going to go over some basic cane repair – Cane Repair 101 is what we’ll call it I guess. So take it away. Ginger Irwin Okay. Well as Cathy mentioned there are basically four sections to every cane. You’ve got the tip, you’ve got the grip; you’ve got the reflective tape part that is on the shaft; and then inside you have the elastic cord or what some people call is the bungee cord. And all four of those parts can very easily be replaced if they break or wear out. Normal wear and tear and as well as sometimes an accident, such as closing your cane in the car door can cause you to lose the tip, break part of the cane or it just wears out. And rather than worry about spending the money to get a new cane you can very easily replace some of those parts with just some simple, little tricks. Probably the most frequent problem that I’m asked about is when you’re working with a folding cane, the more you use the cane the more the body oils form your hand get on the joints of the cane. And what that does is it attracts all kinds of dirt and dust and such so that as you’re walking with the cane, when you try to refold it or open it up and fold it up it gets stuck – it gets sticky, it’s jammed, you can’t get it apart. ©2014 The Hadley School for the Blind Page 22 of 44 2014-10-15-In Celebration of White Cane Safety Day If you would on a regular basis just take a piece of steel wool and clean the part that gets inserted into the other section that will clean off all that dirt and grime and keep your cane nice and slickery, if you want to call it that, so that it’s easy to open and close. Graphite is another really nice thing to use but that’s exactly what steel wool is – it’s easier with the steel wool on it. You do get a little bit of dirt on your hands and you’ll have to wash them off but it’s really very beneficial. The next thing that’s very easy to do is replace the tip. Sometimes if you’re using a roller tip it will fall apart and the little bearings will come out of it, and you’ll end up with just the pencil tip part of it – and it’s like “Oh gosh, where did it go?” You can find it the same place where you buy your canes, the same catalog or the AmbuTech company. You can get a replacement tip. Some people even have two different types of tips, one for regular travel and one for if they like to hike and get around, they can change the tip to be better for that particular ground service. There are two types of tips. There are tips that hook into the cane which hooks onto the elastic that is inside the cane, or there is the slip-on. If you’re going to replace the hook tip what you’ll do is you will pull the cane at the bottom – you’ll pull it out and you’ll ©2014 The Hadley School for the Blind Page 23 of 44 2014-10-15-In Celebration of White Cane Safety Day notice that there is the hook on a little loop of the bungee cord. What you want to do is you want to put a pencil or a dowel rod in that loop and fix it and hold it so that it will not retract back into the cane itself because if it does the whole cane’s going to fall apart, and that we’ll get into next. And then you just take the one tip off the hook, and you’ll notice it’s got a really nice hook; and then you can put the new cane on, remove the pencil and then just let it slide in. It’s very simple; it takes less than 30 seconds if you do it quickly and as long as you don’t let go of that bungee cord. If your cane has a slip-on and the slip-on has broken, you may need to take a pair of pliers to pull it off. And then when you’re getting ready to replace the new slip-on, sometimes if you will put a little bit… Do not glue it, do not use glue because once it’s on there it’ll be on there and if it breaks again you’re going to have to replace the whole section. But if you take a little bit of dishwashing liquid and put it into the cup of the slipon, and then slide it into your cane – when that dishwashing liquid dries it becomes very, very tacky and will hold it on there tight enough as it would as if it had been glued. But it’s still going to be loose enough that you’re going to be able to, that if you need to get it off again with ©2014 The Hadley School for the Blind Page 24 of 44 2014-10-15-In Celebration of White Cane Safety Day the pliers it’ll just come off, or you can soak it in water for a little bit and that’ll loosen up the soap. So that’s two simple ways to replace the tips and it’s very, very easy to do. So if you’re replacing your tip and you end up letting go of the bungee, oh my gosh, what are you going to do? [laughter] And it all just falls apart. Well, the magic tool for fixing a bungee cord is a metal coat hanger. You take the metal coat hanger and cut off the hook part and then straighten it out into one long piece of wire. And then fold it in half. Then what you’ve done is basically made a giant needle. And you slip the cord loop on this wire and then you can thread the wire through the shafts and pull the cord back through. Then once you get it to the end, and you’re going to have to really pull, remember to stick that dowel or pencil back into it so that you can hold it until you need to put the hook of the tip back through and hold it in there. Other parts that sometimes need to be replaced are the grip. You can go to any golf store and get a golf grip. You can also order them through the various websites that we will have on the list, but again, to get the old grip off you will need to cut it with like an XActo Knife or a really sharp scissor, or you know, those knives that you cut packages with. And in order to get it on, the hard part – getting that rubber onto ©2014 The Hadley School for the Blind Page 25 of 44 2014-10-15-In Celebration of White Cane Safety Day the shaft of the cane – again, the dish soap come sin very handy. If you pour the dish soap down into the handle then it makes it nice and slickery so that you can slide it on very quick, and then it’ll get nice and tacky when it dries and will be there permanently. Just remember that when you’re putting the new grip on you want to make sure that you thread the bungee cord through the top of the golf grip, and yes, even regular golf grips at the golf stores have that hole already in there. I don’t know why but they’re there. Ginger Irwin I’ve never golfed before in my life. Do the golf grips have a flat surface on them? Ginger Irwin Yes, and that’s why they like the golf grip is because that same flat part of the grip… I know, I’ve been playing with my cane through this whole thing because it helps me. [laughter] Dawn Turco Ginger knows that this is an audio but we’re amused by the fact she has her cane and she’s been doing this as she talks. ©2014 The Hadley School for the Blind Page 26 of 44 2014-10-15-In Celebration of White Cane Safety Day Ginger Irwin I’m a tactile learner, what can I say? When you’re using a regular golf club there is a flat where you place your finger in order to swing the club, and that same flat is what we use when we’re teaching our students to use the cane, to grip the cane. Okay, so getting back – yes, you can replace the grip that way. Another way that you can repair or fix the grip if you don’t want to replace the whole thing – if you go to a bicycle shop, they have a type of tape that is used for the handlebars of a bicycle. And you can use that same tape to wrap around your golf grip to make it stronger. One thing I actually did this past school year, I had a young lady who was only three years old, this ittybitty, teeny-tiny young thing. And the very smallest kiddie cane was still too big for her plus her hands were so small that they couldn’t actually hold onto the grip that was part of the cane. So I cut down the cane; I just cut off that section, making it shorter for her and then I used that bicycle grip tape to make a more narrow or a not-quite-so-wide handle for her. And it worked perfectly. So sometimes people with arthritis may have problems with a grip that might be too fat, so there ©2014 The Hadley School for the Blind Page 27 of 44 2014-10-15-In Celebration of White Cane Safety Day again, that’s another – just that little bit of tape gives you a little bit of traction to hold the cane safely. And the other really easy part to do is if you need to re-tape your cane. If you’re using your cane correctly throughout the day it’s going to get marred and scarred . You’re going to chip the tape off and everything. The reflective tape can be purchased at any hardware store or you can purchase it through the websites that are on our resource list. Make sure that you have tape, though, that is three inches wide because that will then go around your tip. And in order to re-tape your cane, if you’ve got a folding cane you would do it in sections. If you’ve got just a long cane you would do the whole length. But you will lay your cane out horizontally. You will put the length of the tape, well first off, you get a roll of tape – you peel off the back and then it gets really sticky. It’ll be hard [to use], it’ll fold so be careful. You’re going to lay it sticky-side up on the table, you’re going to put your cane just on the edge and then you’re going to kind of roll it up. And as you roll it roll it just about a quarter of the way, and then press from the middle out to seal it; roll it a little more, press and seal; roll it a little more, press and seal. Okay. If you ever have to replace your cane because it’s just become very falling apart, whatever – it’s a ©2014 The Hadley School for the Blind Page 28 of 44 2014-10-15-In Celebration of White Cane Safety Day good idea to keep your old cane so that you can replace parts. Sometimes you might just break the joint and you only need one small section, and if you have an old cane you can sometimes piece them together. The other thing that happens a lot is when you’re opening and closing your cane a lot, the section where the other cane inserts can become frayed and ragged and it can get really sharp and hard and it hurts. If you just take a metal file that you can get in any kind of a hardware store and just file it down like you would a jagged fingernail, it’s the same kind of principle. And then it will increase the length of the life of your cane. And I think that pretty much covers everything. One other thing is that if you find that the bungee cord has gotten loose over the years by opening and closing, opening and closing, at the top of your cane you will notice that there is a small knot that you can adjust. You can untie it, pull it tighter, tie a new knot so that the cord is a little bit tighter than it used to be to help you keep it in a nice, straight position. So what have I forgotten, ladies? ©2014 The Hadley School for the Blind Page 29 of 44 2014-10-15-In Celebration of White Cane Safety Day Ginger Irwin I don’t know, I just love the word “slickery.” [laughter] It’s a great word! Dawn Turco When you got to the sharp objects, that’s when I decided “No, I would just get a professional to do this for me.” So okay, we’re advising people to do what they feel comfortable doing but there were some great little tips there on some basic cane repair. And yes, we will have all those websites available on the resource list. When you were talking about the youngster, it reminded me, Ginger, that when you teach at the University you do a class on what are called AMDs, right? Ginger Irwin Yes. Dawn Turco Briefly talk about what an AMD is, because I know we’ll have lots of professionals on the seminar and I want to make sure that everybody is aware of what this is. ©2014 The Hadley School for the Blind Page 30 of 44 2014-10-15-In Celebration of White Cane Safety Day Ginger Irwin AMD stands for Adapted Mobility Device, and basically it could be anything that an individual would choose to use to, instead of the white cane for detecting obstacles and drop-offs. With students that are multiply-handicapped that I work with, or like with cerebral palsy or very, very young children that are just starting to walk, you might choose to make something out of what is called PVC pipe. PVC pipe is in the hardware store; it’s a pipe that’s used for plumbing . And the joints and the pipe come in various dimensions, but you can construct almost anything that would help support and provide detection of obstacles. You can also use PVC pipes to build a specific adaptive mobility device for someone in a wheelchair that would, where Cathy, you did an incredible design several years ago for one of your students. Cathy Pasinski Yeah, it was, what do they say – necessity is the mother of invention. I had a blind student in a wheelchair and he just basically didn’t know where to go because he couldn’t use a cane – he needed his hands to wheel his wheelchair. So I just thought one day why don’t I just make a rectangle made out of some PVC pipe, and I put some red reflective tape at ©2014 The Hadley School for the Blind Page 31 of 44 2014-10-15-In Celebration of White Cane Safety Day the bottom and some bigger PVC pipe pieces as rollers on the bottom of the rectangle, and basically just laid it on his lap. And I said “Try moving forward and when you feel like it’s bumping something then you know to stop.” And by surprise, what do you know? It worked, and he was even able to detect a drop-off because the cane would fall down. So it was just one of those things that I just tried it and it worked, so it was great. Dawn Turco There are a number of designs that have been developed that you can find from the TAPS Curriculum or on the Texas School for the Blind website. But there are also designs that people have just come up with on their own. I know that some of the cane companies such as AmbuTech, they also have an AMD made out of metal or aluminum that you can also use. But you know, for $5 and a little bit of glue you can make a cane; and when the student outgrows it it’s really easy just to replace it. Cathy Pasinski And you can reuse the pieces – take it apart and build a new cane, yes. ©2014 The Hadley School for the Blind Page 32 of 44 2014-10-15-In Celebration of White Cane Safety Day Pam Winters Yes, this is Pam again. I had a student who used one and she was very little. She was in preschool and it was designed sort of like a walker that she used. But she didn’t like it because it was too plan with just the PVC pipe and she was still kind of resistant to using it. But she loved cats and so she helped me and we covered it with… She loved black cats so we covered the PVC pipe with black electrical tape and then we cut out a big cat body out of construction paper and cat head, and put whiskers on it and everything. And it actually had a name, I can’t remember – I think it was Roscoe at this point in time. But she used Roscoe all through preschool then, and at the end when she was ready to start with her white cane we disassembled Roscoe and she took all the body parts home. And she still talks about it now and she’s in sixth grade, so it was a beautiful start to cane travel for her. Dawn Turco Oh, I love it! That’s sweet. I love it. Ladies, we’ve packed a lot of information into a short amount of time, but before I close this segment any last thoughts that have come to mind as each of you kind of thought as you were talking or while the other one was talking… And Cathy put her hand up! We’re not in class; you don’t have to raise your hand. [laughter] ©2014 The Hadley School for the Blind Page 33 of 44 2014-10-15-In Celebration of White Cane Safety Day Cathy Pasinski I just wanted to mention a few of the more popular brands that exist. AmbuTech makes a big variety of canes and tips and they have a good website to order from. NFB, the National Federation for the Blind has a free cane program that they provide. I don’t know if they provide the training to go along with it so that might be something you have to acquire on your own. ILA is another brand, Revolution and WCIB. And like Ginger said, we will provide the websites that you can order any of these brands by yourself. And that’s all I have for now. Dawn Turco Alright, last thoughts, Pam? Pam Winters I think I’m good. Dawn Turco Alright. Ginger, last thoughts? Ginger Irwin I’m good. Dawn Turco Alright, well thank you. ©2014 The Hadley School for the Blind Page 34 of 44 2014-10-15-In Celebration of White Cane Safety Day Ginger Irwin I was just going to say if you have any other questions you can always send us an email to the Hadley website. Dawn Turco Alright. Well we’re about to open it up actually for live questions and we’ll hope to have the answers. It always makes me a little nervous but we do our best as we always can do. So thank you, ladies, for spending this time with me in the office. It’s a treat to have people in person together with me – I’m usually sitting here by myself doing these webinars, so thank you. Pam Winters Thank you. Ginger Irwin Thank you. Dawn Turco Alright, folks, we’re live again and this is Dawn. I’m going to remind you that we have Cathy here with us today and we have Danette, both COMS’s, and we have lots of participants. And you all have been chitchatting a little bit and have had an exchange of ideas. ©2014 The Hadley School for the Blind Page 35 of 44 2014-10-15-In Celebration of White Cane Safety Day So let me thank you for hanging in there and I am opening the microphone to any questions you may have. Linda Hi, this is Linda Perry and I’m glad to have heard this. I’m going to listen again because there was so much. But I have been using a cane for about 45 years and I have always thought that the tip was to be red, that that was regulation. But now I understand it’s just the bottom segment? I always knew about the reflective tape but I didn’t realize it had to be red. I thought the tip was red. So are these tips normally also white? I realize this is a silly question I’m embarrassed to ask. My other question is I now use a wheelchair and I was fascinated by the talk about other ways to sense what’s ahead, because if I were to get an electric wheelchair I don’t know I would know where I was going. And so I’d love to hear a little bit more talk about that for an adult person, or maybe for somebody with no legs – which is not me but I know somebody in that situation. Danette Johnson Hi, this is Danette. I can address the tip question about the color of the tips. Some of the tips are white and some of the tips are red, but it’s most important that the bottom of the shaft of the cane is red. So ©2014 The Hadley School for the Blind Page 36 of 44 2014-10-15-In Celebration of White Cane Safety Day especially the roller balls, I’ve seen a lot of those in the red. Generally the pencil tips are white; generally the marshmallow tips are white but they do come in either color. So I hope that helps with the tip question. Dawn Turco Go ahead, Beverly Beverly Hi, this is Beverly, I have a question. I live in an area where there are no sidewalks, and my O&M instructor was here with me on Monday and he has decided that it is not safe for me to walk in the road because the cars were coming by and almost hit me. So what do I do? I feel like I’ve lost some of my independence. Cathy Pasinski First I wanted to respond to Linda Perry’s question since I couldn’t connect before. Linda, basically you would need to talk to an orientation & mobility specialist that can come and kind of measure you in a wheelchair; and he or she can make an adaptive mobility device and then kind of teach you how to use it and what situations it would be good for you to use it in so that you would maximize your safety. So that would be my recommendation, and I think it would work the same for your friend who has no legs. ©2014 The Hadley School for the Blind Page 37 of 44 2014-10-15-In Celebration of White Cane Safety Day Next, I want to respond to Beverly. You’re in a rural area so the rules for rural travel apply. And not every rural area is the same, so you do have to trust what your orientation & mobility instructor is telling you. If he or she has deemed the situation unsafe because maybe the traffic is too fast on that road then you kind of have to listen to him or her because they use their expertise and their knowledge to see if a situation or a street is safe. So even though it is reducing the amount of independence it’s better to be safe – that’s the priority. So that would be my advice at this point. Dawn Turco We have a text message, folks, asking how does one find an O&M instructor. Who would like to pick that one up? Cathy Pasinski Hi, this is Cathy again. If you are an adult the best way to start is with the Department of Human Services in your state or in your area. They usually have a list of orientation and mobility instructors that they can either send them your way and they can pick up the cost or they will have names of agencies that are private that can provide you a list of orientation & mobility specialists. So for example in Illinois we have the Department of Human Services but we also have Second Sight in ©2014 The Hadley School for the Blind Page 38 of 44 2014-10-15-In Celebration of White Cane Safety Day downtown Chicago – they have a list of orientation & mobility specialists. Also if you go to a rehabilitation center they usually have orientation & mobility specialists. For example, we have the Lighthouse for the Blind in Chicago, and I think it used to be called ICRE-Wood in Chicago – all those are great resources. And I know each state has something similar to that. Dawn Turco Right, thank you Cathy. I think people may best start with their local agencies or schools for the blind, or their state agency. Do we have another question for the microphones? I’ll let go again. Caller Yes, someone mentioned guide canes and identity canes. I know about the identity canes but what’s different about the guide cane? Cathy Pasinski Hi, this is Cathy. It is very similar; it’s just that maybe one is a little shorter than the other but they pretty much serve the same purpose. Darla This is Darla. I was wondering about the Origin cane. I would like to find that information. ©2014 The Hadley School for the Blind Page 39 of 44 2014-10-15-In Celebration of White Cane Safety Day Cathy Pasinski There will be a resource list attached to the seminar in a couple days when it’s archived, and all of the canes listed will have websites on how you can purchase them or how you can find out more about them. Caller I’d like to ask one more question about the red tip. My cane is solid white and I didn’t know that it was even required. Also I’d like to say hello to Linda, the world’s greatest braille instructor. Danette Johnson Hi, this is Danette. Again, the tip can be either red or white. The most important part is that the bottom of your cane shaft is red. And so the tip is really up to you as far as which tip you prefer. It doesn’t have to be “legally” either color. Ginger Irwin Hello, this is Ginger Irwin. The red tip is also, I believe it was added later because when individuals are walking in the snow the white cane is sometimes hard to find. So that red tip provides an additional contrast. Also just in regular travel and stuff the movement of the white cane, the red tip again just draws attention to the sighted public so that they can pay attention. ©2014 The Hadley School for the Blind Page 40 of 44 2014-10-15-In Celebration of White Cane Safety Day Cathy Pasinski Hi, this is Cathy. Ginger, there is a question about whether you can use the steel wool on all kinds of canes, like graphite, carbon fiber or fiberglass? Can you take this one? Ginger Irwin Sure. The graphite or steel wool can be used on the aluminum cane and on the graphite cane. I believe it can be easily used on the carbon fiber cane, but the fiberglass, it may provide scratching – I don’t know. So we’ll just have to try that. I would think probably not. I didn’t realize though that those kinds of things could happen. I’m sorry, I’m getting distracted by some of the comments. I see a comment also by Ann, that yes, three strikes at the bottom of a white cane, the red part being three stripes does recognize an individual as being deaf and blind. So yes. Cathy Pasinski I’m also reading a question about what is the cost of an O&M instructor? If you contact your state agency it is very likely that they will pay for it, especially if it’s a need for you to go to work or live your everyday life successfully. If you decide to hire an instructor privately it could vary anywhere between $30 to $100 ©2014 The Hadley School for the Blind Page 41 of 44 2014-10-15-In Celebration of White Cane Safety Day per hour which can get really costly. But it doesn’t hurt to ask. Dawn Turco We’re getting close to the end, folks, and I’m going to open up one last time for any last questions. And then we’ll get ready to shut down. Linda This is Linda Perry and I just wanted to say that because of where I grew up most of my training came from O&M instructors at the Heinz VA, and I love those guys. And they were paid for on my behalf by the Delta Gamma Society which is one of those sororities. And they paid for my original training, and then I requested help from them again as an adult after I gave up my guide dog. And so I appreciate them so much and there might be something like that, maybe a Lyon’s Club or whatever that you can ask for help. Dawn Turco Great advice, Linda. The Lyon’s Clubs of course have been so supportive of these types of needs in their communities, and we heard of course the connection in Pam’s history of the Lyon’s Club International. So we applaud the Lyon’s. ©2014 The Hadley School for the Blind Page 42 of 44 2014-10-15-In Celebration of White Cane Safety Day Ladies, Cathy, thank you for being here today, and Danette. And if you have a final thought please share it now and then I’ll get ready to close down and launch this survey for those who can hang in there with us. Cathy Pasinski It was a pleasure for me to do this seminar about White Cane Safety Day. Thank you all for listening and I wish you a great day. Dawn Turco There was a question earlier about listening to this seminar again. This Seminar@Hadley, like all of our seminars, we put the recorded version on the Hadley website at www.hadley.edu. Just follow the links that go to “Past Seminars” and you will find it there in probably two days or so. We like to just clean up some of the hiccups first and then place it there. Our presenters will send me their websites and along with the recording of the seminar we will place the resource lists. I’m seeing some “Thank You’s” for this content today, ladies. And as I said, it was a new experience for us going a semi-recorded and partiallylive seminar, and of course anybody going to that “Past Seminars” page is like “So what’s the big deal? It’s all recorded for them.” And we will get lots of traffic there. So we do appreciate the presentations ©2014 The Hadley School for the Blind Page 43 of 44 2014-10-15-In Celebration of White Cane Safety Day today by one and all. And our participants – great questions, thank you so very much. ©2014 The Hadley School for the Blind Page 44 of 44