ATC

[cosmolinguist]

Me all year: why isn't there a better combination of a white cane and a walking cane??

The internet, after three months of this: People have already had this long enough to write reviews of it!

Goddammit!

Of course it's a hundred fucking quid.

But it might still be worth it, not just for my ankle which hopefully will be less of a problem as time goes on, but because I was already thinking about how useful such a thing would be for like hiking which I'd love to be able to do more of.

But yeah this would make such a difference now. Lately, especially in Brussels where I did a lot of walking but even just around town, I find myself having to bring all the canes and swap between them.

Last Saturday, I sat down at a bus stop, folded the walking cane (MB has plenty and is happy to let me borrow this one for the duration), put it in my backpack, took out my long cane and unfolded. I thought to myself I'm for sure gonna end up on video as "fake disabled person."

It makes sense to me! For instance, this time I used the walking cane while walking through the city centre and around an art gallery. Once I was waiting for a bus home, I knew I was mostly done with walking and it becomes more important for the driver and other passengers to know I can't see.

These calculations are getting more routine, but they're still exhausting. Maybe it is worth a hundred quid to do less of them (depending on how much cognitive cost there is in me learning how to use the new cane...).

Comments

Re: Well ...

[cosmolinguist]

The tip of most walking canes is not suitable for giving the kind of feedback a long cane does.

I know there are people with visual and mobility impairments, but I have no idea how their mobility aids work for them!

And since I'm optimistic about not always needing one in the future, getting one suited to the kind of off-road use that I'm also interested in seemed a reasonable environment (I had also thought of using walking poles as an off-road white cane, but I am optimistic that this might be better).

Re: Well ...

[ysabetwordsmith]

>>The tip of most walking canes is not suitable for giving the kind of feedback a long cane does.<<

I've seen at least three different ends for walking canes:
* narrow metal ferrule for click-navigation
* rubber ball for bump-navigation
* roller or wheel for rolling-navigation

I've seen the ball type available separately because they wear out and need replacing more often. It's possible the others are also available separately.

>>And since I'm optimistic about not always needing one in the future, getting one suited to the kind of off-road use that I'm also interested in seemed a reasonable environment<<

Logical. I hope it works out for you.

>>(I had also thought of using walking poles as an off-road white cane, but I am optimistic that this might be better).<<

Good for vision-impaired hikers, I suspect.