[accessibleimage] Re: travel and blindness research

David, Lisa, and all:

I know this message was posted a month ago, and the discussion on this thread may be somewhat settled. (I've been too busy to respond until now.)

David, these are fascinating questions. As I was reading through them, I wondered how my answers - even as a fully sighted person -- might differ from those of a blind or low vision person.

IMHO, these questions go right to the heart of the purpose/joy/danger/reward/difficulty of pilgrimage (as opposed to simply vacationing.)

I've done quite a bit of traveling. And, I admit, I have always traveled without regard to issues of sightedness.

Still, the question of savoring my surrounding vs. merely navigating through them is a wonderful thing for me to think about. What does it take for me to relax enough to enjoy the smells, ambiance, "warp and weft" of my new surroundings?

How much does a sense of danger or dealing with the unknown factor into my feelings of excitement I feel in a new environment?

When you say "pre-packing" I assume you mean reading over the guide books, making reservations, talking (either live or online) with others who have gone there. I've done both spontaneous and pre-arranged travel. What I've learned is that a map may help me navigate through physical space, but there is nothing which prepares me for navigating through the psychic space except my willingness to encounter the unknown. (and this shifts depending on my feelings of relative safety, whether I feel rested, am cold, hungry or well-fed, whether I'm worried about money, etc.)

Am I right in thinking that these questions apply generally, and that the answers depend more on the individual's attitude than the specifics of vision?

Or am I completely off-base and clueless (a real possibility.)

In any case, I'd be fascinated to have you share some of your responses.


Barry Kleider



Lisa Yayla wrote:

Hi,
Am forwarding a letter from David Feeney from Irland . He is working on a paper and would be interested in hearing what you think.
Letter follows

A relatively recent recruit to the interdisciplinary task of exploring various aspects of the experience of blindness, I am currently struggling with a paper on the acquaintance of blind people with the delights of travel. Although I am interested in the role played by tactile maps in this experience, my paper takes its starting point as that juncture when orientation is no longer in doubt, and the blind wayfinder is free to savour the aesthetic gratification afforded by his/her passage from place to place. I address the following questions to members of the blind community, but would be equally grateful if they, or people familiar with their experience, would take the time to suggest ways in which some of the following questions might be addressed in relation to the experience of voyaging:

· How would you describe the relation between navigation and aesthetic appreciation?
· The process of ‘psychical distancing’ might be described, in the context of travel, as the willed abstraction of the element of danger from conditions of low or impeded vision, in order to dispel anxiety and induce a savouring of the poignant enjoyment of the very act of making one’s way in such treacherous conditions. Is it facile to suggest that this phenomenon might feature in your experience of travel? Do you suspect that his question may be more pertinent to those with some trace of vision? How is the balance between the emotions of excitement and trepidation experienced while travelling through unfamiliar territory? In what ways does a map dictate this balance?
· Have you ever availed of a ‘pre-visit pack’? In what way, and to what extent does being primed or prepared for an encounter with certain geographical or architectural features enhance or diminish your aesthetic enjoyment of the experience?
· Which do you find more enjoyable - the maiden visit or the ‘revisit’? How would you describe the relation of ‘sense memory/memories’ to the enjoyment afforded by the latter? In what way does the act of revisiting help you to ‘update your file’ on places you have been before?
· Do you harbour a conception of the distinction between ‘potential reach’ and ‘actual reach’, and of the process of travel as a purposeful action to transform the former into the latter? What do you make of the type of allure held, for example by a distant mountain range in the case of the sighted traveller? Do you think that a tactile map fortifies your understanding of this phenomenon?
· What are the main aesthetic qualities of the maps themselves? Do they have the capacity to incite wanderlust? Do you think, for example, that the texture and curvature of the map adds an element of immediacy to your speculations about the proposed trip, in contrast to the relative remoteness from the mapped territory in question felt by the sighted traveller during the preliminary stages of an excursion?
· What are the chief differences between travelling alone with a map, and travelling with a companion? How significant is the difference between travelling with a sighted and blind companion?
· What degree of influence do the conditions exert over your journey? Does rain, for example, or a stormy passage, give you a keener sense of your surroundings than still weather?
· What kind of data do you usually return from a journey with? What are the chief ways in which this data differs from the information the map had yielded before you set out on the journey?
· By what kind of features do you typically identify places?
· To what extent is the joy of arrival commensurate with the effort expended getting to your destination? What does a map contribute to the joy (rather than mere fact) of arrival?
· How would you describe the difference between the respective values of place-names and places to the pastime of travel?

He can be contacted at lime119@xxxxxxxxxxx

Regards,
Lisa



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