[blindza] FW: Thoughts about Independent and Assisted Navigation
- From: "Jacob Kruger" <jacobk@xxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: "BlindZA" <blindza@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sun, 15 Jul 2007 09:50:43 +0200
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Subject: Thoughts about Independent and Assisted Navigation
Blind Confidential (Blog)
Friday, July 13, 2007
Thoughts about Independent and Assisted Navigation
By Dena
My blog entry today concerns navigation--both cognitive and
computer-assisted.
Yesterday, a friend and I spent the day in downtown Minneapolis--attending a
diversity job fair at the Convention Center. Before leaving the house, I
gathered
up all the pieces of my Trekker (GPS receiver, PDA, and speaker), and headed
out the door. Once in the car, I put the pieces together, and turned it on.
Nothing happened...Again...
While the idea behind the Trekker is an amazing one, and while it is a great
little device when it works, I have to say (as someone who has owned one for
the better part of 2 years) that I have *never* gotten the thing to work
when I truly needed it. Oh, sure, I've gotten it to work while driving in
the
car with my sighted fiancé, who grew up in the Twin Cities and doesn't need
a GPS because the area is so familiar to him, but in instances when it would
actually enhance my ability to orient myself...
Two years ago, my sister and I took a trip to Portland together. As we'd
never been there alone (we'd gotten our dogs at GDB's Oregon campus, so had
gotten
around with the help of guide dog instructors), I thought my GPS would be a
great tool. Not a single time, during our week in Portland, did I get it to
work.
Then there was the time I went to Vegas for the ACB Convention. Do you think
I got it to work there? No.
And, last week, when the ACB Convention was here, in Minneapolis, I wanted
to take the Trekker on a walk to better explore downtown (living in the
burbs,
I don't get up there much). You guessed it...Nothing...
So it didn't surprise me, though it definitely pissed me off, when I turned
on the unit yesterday morning, and realized that it didn't charge properly.
This is likely due to the fact that the case doesn't fit the PDA correctly,
due to the overlay that HumanWare places on top of the screen. I think this
made it too thick to fit in the cradle, and thus, it didn't rest on the pins
properly, and thus, it did not charge.
I have rarely seen a piece of technology that requires so many proverbial
stars to fall into alignment before it will work. If the unit charges
properly,
and if you have the correct version of the software installed, and if the
correct maps have been loaded, and if there are enough satellites in view,
and
if you stand still long enough for the unit to find you in a heavily urban
area...it's a great piece of technology. I'm looking forward to the release
of a comparable cell phone-based product. I know that Way Finder and the
like are already out there, but I haven't heard much about their performance
or
user interfaces. If anyone has personal experience with one of these other
GPS apps, I'd love to hear more about it.
So this brings me to the other part of my entry. The one that talks about
cognitive navigation. As much as these little GPS devices can be an amazing
supplement
to our orientation, I believe that this is exactly what they should be
viewed as--a supplement. For instance, if I didn't possess good orientation
skills;
and if I hadn't paid attention to the names of streets and businesses, to
landmarks, and to directions during my previous trips to downtown
Minneapolis;
I would have been hopelessly lost (not to mention on the verge of a panic
attack) without electronic help.
I have simply seen too many blind people who rely on (or even expect) other
people and animals to know where they are. I've seen people who don't pay
any
attention to their surroundings, or to the cues in their environment, and
then get pissed off when they get lost. Having been at the convention last
week,
I saw some individuals who were incredibly oriented and in tune with what
was happening around them. And then there were those who couldn't find their
way out of a paper bag with a pencil and a set of directions. I realize that
everyone has varying abilities when it comes to spatial awareness or memory,
but come on, people. These individuals at convention who walk around
slapping their cane from side to side as hard as they can, or hopping their
dog up
into walls or other people and dogs--without even taking the time to check
where they are--drive me insane. These people who tell their dog to "find
outside"
when they, themselves, don't even know where the hell the nearest door
is--put me over the edge. It is our responsibility, as blind people, whether
we
use a dog or a cane, whether we're walking sighted guide or on our own, to
at least try to learn about what's going on around us. This awareness is
what
builds the sorts of mobility skills that allow us to travel to foreign
places independently. When you have good problem solving skills, and the
ability
to synthesize the information your environment provides, getting lost
doesn't have to become an excuse to have a break down. And we don't have to
be the
person that other blind people hate to have around, because we can't leave
our hotel room at convention without clinging on to another person.
Just my two cents.
posted by Dena at 10:32 AM
http://blindconfidential.blogspot.com/2007/07/thoughts-about-independent-and-assisted.html
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