Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!yale!bunker!wtm
From: rudy@cbnewsj.ATT.COM (Avram r Vener)
Newsgroups: misc.handicap
Subject: Re: A NEW CANE
Message-ID: <10110@bunker.UUCP>
Date: 13 Feb 90 03:45:20 GMT
References: <9961@bunker.UUCP>
Sender: wtm@bunker.UUCP
Reply-To: rudy@cbnewsj.ATT.COM (Avram r Vener)
Distribution: misc
Organization: AT&T Bell Laboratories
Lines: 65
Approved: wtm@bunker.UUCP

Index Number: 6701

In article <9961@bunker.UUCP> Vixen.*@f11.n203.z1.fidonet.org writes:
>Index Number: 6575
>
>
>The only thing is, I do miss not being able to fold it up and getting
>it the heck out of my way! It seems like there are so many places where
>I feel like I shouldn't just lay it on the floor, like in school or
>something, because someone might trip over it or slip on it! My NFB
>friends say that I shouldn't even think about it and that sighted
>people should just watch out for it on their own.
>
Hi Vixen:

Whoever told you that is full of boloney and extremely rude.  You
are quite correct.  There ARE some situations where you just
shouldn't leave your cane on the floor.  Dim crowded restaurants
leap instantly to mind as prime examples.

I hope the attitude of leaving your cane anywhere you please
regardless of the inconvenience it causes to others is not a
general NFB attitude.  Common courtesy, if nothing else should
dictate otherwise.

>I feel like I am infringing upon them. So, I am having difficulty
>dealing with a cane that I can't just fold up and put in my purse, lap
>and et cetera.

There is an easy out.  I just bought two canes from (ta dahhhhh)
NFB.  One is their fiberglass folding cane.  The other is their
telescopic fiberglass cane.

The folding cane is very lightweight.  Much lighter than my old
beat up aluminum cane.  It folds up in the same manner leaving you
with a bundle of segments.   The segments fit together nicely
without sticking too badly but a bit of force IS needed to get it
apart.  You may also have to tamp it on the ground after assembling
it to get the segments settled.  The top of the cane unscrews and
gives you access to the elastic cord.  This is necessary since it
comes with the cord slack and you have to pull it taut and tie a
new knot at end.

The telescopic cane is a beaut.  It slises into a single tube about
six inches long.  Very space efficient!   You open it by pulling
the end out, preferably with a certain amount of elan.  and
collapse it by resting the tip one a conference table and shoving
the top down with zesty pizzaz (that got me a round of applause the
first time I brought it to a meeting).  The one problem with the
telescopic cane is that it can and does occasionally partially
collapse when you walk outside and the end strickes something with
sufficient force to break the friction holding one of the segments
at full extension.

I prefer the folding cane for outdoor use and the telescopic for
when I walk around my office building.  If I could only have ONE
cane it would be the fiberglass folding since the accidental
collapsing of the telescopic cane would outweight the benefits of
its smaller closed size.

Both cnaes use the NFB tip.  I bought both canes and ten tips for
$30.00 from the NFB mail order catalog.

Keep on keeping the faith.
Rudy Vener  uucp:att!mtqua!rudy  internet: rudy@mtqua.att.com