Becoming a Streetwise Traveller

Considerations for Persons with Impaired Vision

In addition to taking the same precautions as anyone else, individuals with disabilities may have some additional factors to consider when planning their safety strategy in potentially dangerous situations.

Two considerations:

• difficulty in moving as quickly as others and thereby giving the impression of vulnerability
• the need to solicit aid from strangers

The following recommendations may be helpful to those with impaired vision, who travel throughout the community using a variety of methods.

• Always carry change for use in a pay phone. Although you can dial emergency services through 911 at a pay telephone without charge, you may need to call a taxi or to a friend or family member.
• Always carry enough cash to cover the cost of cab fare from the farthest point from home you expect to be on any given trip. This is true in cases where you don’t expect to need a cab as well as those in which you have pre-planned to return by taxi. If, for example, you are travelling and your cane breaks, you will need to get a ride to your home or to where you can purchase a new cane or get yours repaired.
• Another situation in which this would be important is one in which you travel with a sighted friend to a function and plan to return with the same friend. The friend could, for one reason or another, be unable to accompany you home. Perhaps that friend is at a party with you and drinks too much alcohol. You are not going to want him to drive you home in that condition so you’d be wise to have prepared by having cab fare with you.
• Although you may be able to pay by credit card or debit, you have more control over the transaction if you pay in cash and you may not be familiar with the particular debit keyboard used. You don’t want to ask the cab driver to input your PIN number.
• When you go shopping, it is advisable to have a rough estimate of the amount of money you will be spending. When you are paying for your purchases, avoid displaying large sums of money in your wallet. You may want to have a separate change purse that contains just a little more than you expect to spend. If you spend more than expected, you can have additional funds in a separate section of your purse or wallet.
• Avoid carrying large sums of money in your wallet. If your wallet is lost or stolen, you’d rather not lose a large amount of your savings.
• Avoid keeping large sums of money in your home or apartment. If you do keep money at home, do not tell others where you have it stored. Do not leave it out in the open where it is visible on a table or dresser.
• As you travel in your community, your will be asking strangers for assistance from time to time. It is important to plan your route so you are as aware as possible of your landmarks, street-crossings, distances etc. It is not advisable to let your mind wander when you are being guided. You will find that the vast majority of people you encounter will do their best to be helpful. You are, however, putting your personal safety into the hands of someone you likely do not know. You need to maintain control and can do this, in part, by knowing as much as possible about your desired route before you set out. Be attentive to your surroundings while you are being guided so you can detect a change from the expected. Even a well-meaning guide can misunderstand your request and ‘lead you astray’ by mistake.
• Make certain you are clear about the differences between a ‘friend’, an ‘acquaintance’ and a ‘friendly stranger’. A friend is someone you know well, and have come to know you can trust and rely upon. An acquaintance is someone you know but not well. This may be a person who lives in your apartment building and who you have spoken with from time-to-time in the laundry room or elevator. It may even be someone you have been introduced to at a party by your friend. An acquaintance is not someone you share personal information with, as you are not familiar enough with his character. A friendly stranger is someone you do not know at all. He may be very eager to assist you at a street-crossings and he may be very talkative and charming. It is advisable to be cautious in your encounters with a friendly stranger. You do not know him well enough to accept a ride in his car or to accept an invitation for coffee.
• It is important to withhold personal information from acquaintances and friendly strangers. In my years as an Orientation and Mobility Specialist, I taught a number of students who didn’t have a great deal of experience dealing with a wide variety of situations with people in their community.
• Perhaps an example will best illustrate my point. I was instructing a young man in a bus route to a location where he was to start a job. I was not sitting with him as I was monitoring his progress with the route. This student was very excited about a number of things that were happening in his life at the time and he started talking to the bus driver about them. Before the bus ride was over, he had divulged the following information:
  1. He was living on his own for the first time and had just moved into a new apartment (he gave the address of this building),
  2. He was about to start a new job (he gave the address and said that he would be leaving for work at 6:00 a.m. as he was to start his shift at 7:00 a.m.),
  3. He was using a white cane because he couldn’t see very well, especially in the dark when he would be going to work.
  Without realizing it, my student had disclosed to the driver, and to everyone else sitting in the front section of the bus, when there would be nobody in his apartment and when he would be leaving the building early in the morning when it was dark and he had a particularly difficult time with his vision. He had no way of knowing who else was overhearing his conversation and how they might use the information he had divulged. Needless to say, we had a long talk about precautions at the end of the class. The point to be made is that it is not wise to discuss personal information in a public place where you might be overheard.
• It is advised that you become familiar with which areas are considered particularly unsafe at various times of the day or night or times of year. This includes those areas within your local neighbourhood, certain sections of the city notorious for criminal behaviour, and generalizations such as alleyways and parks. There may be areas that are considered ‘safe’ during the daylight hours but unsafe after dark. There may be streets in your neighbourhood that have hedges and trees very close to the sidewalk, which could function as good hiding places for someone who may be waiting to attack a passer-by. You may want to avoid these areas after dark or alter your route so you walk on the other side of the street. In general, you are likely to be safer on a well-lit, busy street than on a dim, isolated street after dark. It is a good idea to stay on the streets and to avoid using shortcuts through parking lots and alleyways. If you are unable to perceive light as a result of your vision impairment, become familiar with the time of dusk and how it changes throughout the year. During the month of July, for example, it may still be light at 9:00-9:30 p.m., while in late December, it may be dark at 4:30 in the afternoon.
• If you travel on buses late at night or very early in the morning, it is advised that you consider using the “Request Stop” program instituted by the Toronto Transit Commission at ttc.ca. The details of the program are outlined later in this document in the section on Public Transportation.
• Have your keys ready in your hand before you arrive at your door. Take them out while you are still in the cab or put them in an accessible pocket before you leave for home. You’ll want to avoid fumbling around for your keys at the entrance to your house or apartment building.
• Be sure you can accurately describe your home, apartment building and place of work, in visual terms. Be clear on their locations so you can give this information to the cab driver or anyone else you are riding with. To describe the location of the BALANCE for Blind Adults office, for example, I might say it is a 3-storey office building on the Northwest corner of Dundas Street West and Burnhamthorpe Road. This is the first traffic light west of Islington Ave., on Dundas and can be identified by the coffee shop on street level. The building can be entered from the door beside the Post Office on Dundas Street West or by a similarly placed door on the North side of the building by the parking lot.
• Consider wearing lightly coloured clothing when you plan to be out after dark. Intersections are not always well lit and lightly coloured clothing can make it easier for drivers to see you as you cross at an intersection. The next time you shop for a jacket or for a hat, gloves, and scarf for winter weather, you might want to keep this in mind.
• As pointed out at the beginning of this document, criminals seek out those who come across as vulnerable. It is important, therefore, to do all you can to appear confident while travelling. Walk purposefully, with your head up. Know your route and landmarks and when you are seeking assistance, be clear on what it is you need.
• You may need to practice being assertive. You need to feel confident in saying “NO” and trusting your own instincts in situations that threaten you. It is important to come across as someone who means what you say. A later section of this document outlines some basics of assertiveness.
• You may be interested in becoming familiar with some Self-Defense techniques. There are many different courses and approaches to self-defense. Some are specifically designed for women, or for individuals with disabilities. In addition to learning how to protect yourself in threatening situations, you will also be given information about research relating to the effects of choosing a variety of courses of action when faced with an attacker. WEN-DO Self Defense for Women offers such courses to women. The Hadley School for the Blind also offers a course entitled “Personal Safety: Self-Defense Strategies.”
• If you are attacked sexually, beaten and mugged, or threatened, call 911 as soon as possible and give the police as many details of the attack as you can. A woman who is sexually assaulted can request to have a representative of a Rape Crises Centre accompany her throughout the questioning and hospital experience. The police advise that you do not change your clothes or shower before being examined at the hospital as vital evidence may be destroyed. If it would make you more comfortable, you may request to be questioned by a female police officer and every effort will be made to agree to this request.