My Journey to Cane Confidence
My acceptance to using a mobility cane and fully embracing my blindness did not happen until my 40th birthday.
In a few months from that magical date, I was going to travel to Des Moines, Iowa and I had a lot of anxiety around traveling independently and safely in a new city, navigating the airport, and using public transportation.
At home I noticed that my vision was starting to deteriorate. Street signs, traffic lights and cars all were becoming more difficult to recognize safely. Light started effected my vision to a greater extent. If it was too bright it greatly affected my response time and at night, I felt I could not travel safely independently anymore.
I mentioned my concerns to a friend who lost their vision as an adult that was a teammate of mine with the Eclipse Blind Hockey team.This person had better vision than me, but none of the preconceptions that a cane is only useful for people who are blind or have a minimal amount of usable vision.
I got my first crash course in using a mobility cane that May in 2016 which changed my life forever. I became more confident in my navigation, was able to notice when I should step off curbs which helped with years of back pain, and I found that it was easier to talk about blindness when people asked. My vision loss is a combination of congenital nystagmus which is an uncontrolled rhythmic movement of the eyes, and my right eye inverts towards my nose. From when I was a child to my life as an adult, I often had people come into my personal space and ask “what is wrong with your eyes?”. This happened from children and adults alike. It was hard because it was such a personal question.
A cane changed so much of that. People started asking “what is that stick?”. Instead of having to answer a personal question, I could explain my blindness in a way that felt more comfortable and on my terms. In 2019 I decided to get training from an Orientation and Mobility Specialist to better improve my cane technique. I wanted to do this while wearing an eyeshade. I started learning to navigate first indoor spaces and then outdoors. I did have one run in with a tree but overall, I came away with a better awareness of traveling independently both with and without my sight.
I went on my biggest adventure yet, a 12-day trip that would take me to Los Angeles and Las Vegas for the National Federation of the Blind Convention. I learned so much during this time. It is when I became truly dedicated to fully embracing my blindness as I also started using screen reading technology.
In my personal and corporate life, I fully identified being a blind person and since then I have never had more fulfillment both inside and outside of the blind community. Within the blindness community, once I had this newfound confidence, I knew that I had so much to give back and that I wanted to share my experiences.
Outside of the blindness community I became more outgoing. I started new activities like improv, volunteering and walking significantly more.I understand the challenges that come with deciding to use a mobility cane. We all have different intersections and privilege that complicates that decision.
I came up with a hash tag that is stylized with a lowercase “I”, then capitalised CAN and followed by a small e. #iCANe. To me this means with a mobility cane my belief is I CAN and with out a mobility cane I say CAN I?
After 7 years of using a cane, I strongly believe that the younger a legally blind person adopts a cane will allow that individual to add confidence to their lives while also raising awareness in our different communities.
by Dougie “Cane” Dow