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From: David.Andrews@p0.f89.n129.z1.fidonet.org (David Andrews)
Newsgroups: misc.handicap
Subject: Re: subway safety
Message-ID: <14597@bunker.UUCP>
Date: 2 Oct 90 13:15:26 GMT
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Index Number: 10765

[This is from the Blink Talk Conference]

 PB> there was an acident on the washington, d.c. metro (subway)  
 PB> where a blind person was killed a month ago.  this has led to  
 PB> some other members of the blind communicy  in the washington  
 PB> area to styart investigating the issue.  questions are being  
 PB> asked of how a person can be protected from walking off the  
 PB> platform and into the path of the fast moving subway car.  also  
 PB> we are looking into how to protect a person from walkinng in  
 PB> betwen the cars instead of finding the door and walking onto  
 PB> the car.  if anyone has any information i would like to be in  
 PB> touch by the board or leave me a private msg in the net mail  
 PB> area with a phone number and i will call you.  thanks in  
 PB> advance. 
 

Peter,  It is certainly a tragedy when someone is killed in a
public transit accident.  However, when a blind person is killed,
or injured, in such an accident all of us, blind and sighted alike,
tend to assume that it happened because the person was blind.  This
may or may not be true.  It would be interesting to see what
percentage of blind and sighted people get injured in these
accidents.  My first point is that maybe per capita our rate is no
higher.

Secondly, it is impossible to make the world totally safe for blind
or sighted people.  What would you do, put up rainings all along
the platform.  I think that many blind people in this country have
not had proper or adequate travel training.  If more people got
good training, then less accidents would happen.  I have heard of
at least one state orientation center where travel students as
their final route go around the block.  That is not good travel
training.  This center is in a major city, so to leave after your
training, you must take public transit, something they do not teach
all their students to do.  If a person has had good training, and
exercises reasonable care and attention while traveling, I believe
that he or she is no more likely to be injured then a sighted
person.  By raising peoples fears, and creating the need for all
kinds of special accomodations, it becomes difficult for all of us
to move ahead and take our place in society as equals.  David
Andrews

... Your Sound Alternative

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