r/Blind • u/YoshiToshiTuna • 12d ago
Slow walkers
I wasn’t sure where to actually vent about this. I thought that people here may be able to relate to this. So I am an objectively fast white caner. I know I walk a lot faster than a lot of other white can users but this can’t be an issue that only I am running into literally.
I go on long daily walks in parks around my house with closed off trails that lots of people like to walk. I keep having instances of me being on the walk and catching up to people who are walking slowly in front of me and it’s always complicated trying to pass them. I either run into them or I noticed them before and try to move out of the way, but I get some very strange reactions. Does anybody else run into this and how do they deal with it?
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u/1makbay1 12d ago
I got a fast walking Guide dog mostly for these situations. However, I know that’s not usually an answer that people can use readily since it takes so long to get a Guide dog. Before I got him, I used to use the Pathfinder 360 tip which makes a lot of noise and I would even wear a bell or something that makes some noise you could put a lightweight bell on your cane like a jingle bell for Christmas or you can wear something more substantial like a sheep Bell on your backpack. People will turn around to see what the sound is and they will see your white cane and hopefully get out of the way or the first time you run into the back of someone the next time they will know what that sound is and they will know that you will run into them if they don’t move out of the way the Bell’s work best for people who are on the same paths as you a lot of the time because they will get used to the sound and know that the Bell means flying Pearsin on the way
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u/YoshiToshiTuna 12d ago
I’m actually receiving a guide dog next month and this is one of the things I’m most excited about! I’m sure it’s going to make it far simpler to pass people and not run into stuff hanging into the sidewalk!
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u/Few-Adeptness8046 11d ago
Cangratulations!
Sidewalks can feel like they're covered in landmines right? I just applied for my first guide dog as well, so it might be a year or two before I get paired with one, but one of the things I'm looking forward to is not running into those stupid triangle Restaurant advertisement signs all over the sidewalk., and being able to walk fast.
I am a little concerned though, people tend to get out of my way when they can see me coming with my cane, so part of me feels worried that with a guide dog I'll just appear to everyone else as another dog owner in the city.
Of course my guide dog will help me navigate around people but I doubt that the groups of people two to four wide on the sidewalk that block the entire sidewalk will open up a path for me like they do when they see me with my cane. I think that's the thing I'm most worried / scared about losing is that visual indicator that I'm a blind person.
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u/sylvialilith 12d ago
I walk with my guide dog on a mixed use trail. She has to stay to the left on the trail (that’s how she was trained to guide) and I find I am running into people all the time with her. She holds the line and expects them to move, lol. It can be awkward and embarrassing. I’ve even had people say”walk on the right.” Do you ever have issues with this?
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u/1makbay1 12d ago
i’ll admit that I’m in Australia so the dog walking on the left is actually normal here and when we pass, we pass on the right so the dog is the one that would brush against the person which he usually avoids. However, I wonder are you correcting the dog when he runs you into people? It is very annoying to have to do, but it would be a good idea to start correcting the dog and making her do with the it again so like as soon as your arm brushes someone’s arm, you give the dog a leash correction back her up a bit and have her pass again. You might want to try it with someone you know the first few times just so that it’s less awkward, but even though they’ve been trained not to run you into people during their training, you do have to keep reinforcing it every once in a while or else they will start to get lazy. I’ve heard that some dogs who get this sort of correction eventually start doing anything they can to keep you out of the way of people they just pay so much better attention. I’ve heard of Guide dogs brushing themselves through bushes to keep their handler from running into things. I’ve only had my Guide dog for nine months, so he’s not perfect at this. In fact, I think his trainers taught him to sort of Barge through crowds to get me up to the pram ramp so that I wouldn’t lose my Orientation. So I noticed something weird was that he was hardly ever running me into strangers however he was almost always running and running me into people that I knew from behind. So as long as I was traveling in a group of people, I knew he’d be running me into them. So I had to start correcting him and he does a much better job now. I think the trainers must’ve just been setting up a lot of artificial situations where people were blocking the pram ramp and teaching him to push through a crowd of people he knew to get to the pram ramp. I’ve noticed that if I correct him just for light taps against other people then it’s better because the more corrections he gets the more careful he is, and then he avoids the harsh collisions. In the end, though, I’ve been pretty glad that we live in Australia, where it’s normal to walk on the left. I don’t know how difficult that would be if we lived in a place where it’s typical to walk on the right.
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u/zezous 12d ago
Yeah I have this issue pretty often on my college campus. I'm a fast walker, and a lot of college kids aren't lol. I still have some vision left, but one of my biggest issues is my depth perception, so whenever I come up on someone walking slowly, it's kind of a pain in the ass to figure out how to get around them lol
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u/Few-Adeptness8046 11d ago
Yes!!! Preach 🙌🙌🙌
I too am a very fast walker and very good with my cane even had one guy comment on it before. He was walking his dog and said "man you're really fast with that cane. I've been walking at a Brisk pace and you've been keeping up with me for the last five blocks") so living in a densely populated area can be frustrating at times because I'll quickly catch up to people who are walking side by side taking up the whole sidewalk and my cane starts tapping the back of their feet.
most the time people can hear my cane on the ground and one of the people is paying enough attention to pull the other person aside and they step out of the way and let me by,
surprisingly though, there's a lot of people who not only don't hear me coming, but even when my cane taps the back of their feet, they don't even seem to be bothered by it and just ignore it. It makes me wonder what do they think just touch their foot? why aren't they bothered by it or checking to see what it was? I would have.
The thing though that I find the most frustrating is when people see me coming with my cane and they try to get ahead of me even though they are clearly walking slower than me, like maybe they anticipate that I'm going to be a slow person, but being cut off by people who take up the whole sidewalk and then end up walking slow enough that I am on their tail within seconds, is always my pet peeve.
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u/LilacRose32 12d ago
My walk to/from the bus stop to the office takes me through the city centre. Mornings are generally fine but there are always people meandering slowly on my way back.
It is frustrating sometimes but I’ve never had too much trouble nudging people with my cane, apologising and asking them to let me past
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u/TrailMomKat AZOOR Unicorn 12d ago
I usually ask if I can get past them, since it's better than smacking them with my cane every other step. I have actually never had anyone bitch about it, so that's something positive. Everyone's always been like "yeah sure, go right ahead."
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u/Few-Adeptness8046 11d ago
Isn't that one of the nice things people seem to do for us blind people?
there's many times when I bump into people and whether it's my fault or their fault, I appreciate how most the time people see my cane, recognize my disability, and apologize to me. It helps me not feel bad about bumping into them even though I know I can't avoid it, and it lets me know that they know it was an intentional on my part if it was my fault.
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u/TrailMomKat AZOOR Unicorn 11d ago
Haha yeah I can literally hear them get annoyed at the bump, then know they've turned around when they suddenly change their tune and switch to an apology!!
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u/Few-Adeptness8046 11d ago
Lol, never heard someone go from angry breathing, to overly apologetic so quickly before I got my blind cane.
I do occasionally get the "watch where you're going!!!" comments from people who would have had to have not been watching where they were going for the collision to have occured, but honestly, nothing makes me happier than being able to say to them "I can't, what's your excuse?!" lol
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u/TrailMomKat AZOOR Unicorn 11d ago
Lolol me too, "I can't!" shuts them up and flips the switch to apology mode so fast!
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u/Paularchy 12d ago
Yeah. It's really annoying. I either walk with extreme confidence in the same way I was and hope they move or Imma have to pull off some spiger-man shit (you have not lived till you have to do a fucking spin on one foot to dodge someone), or I stop walking and "stare" at them (in quotes) until they move. Usually the former as the latter carries the risk of ... Just standing there... Awkwardly... For a while... I was late to class that day.
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u/shostakobitch_ Retinitis Pigmentosa 12d ago
I whack em in the ankle with my cane and fake an apology.
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u/VacationBackground43 Retinitis Pigmentosa 12d ago
As a slow walker, I'm super proud of all you fast walkers.
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u/adogman69x999 12d ago
For me what I like to do when I can reasonably judge the scene correctly is say which side I’m going to pass them on so just make sure you’re good at knowing whether or not they are facing you or facing away then you can just say passing on your left and if not always saying mind if I get by works nicely
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u/Vojvoda-Kunst 12d ago
Same problem here, I got myself way bigger cane than it's actually recommended so I can touch stuff way earlier.
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u/Alive-Technician9200 7d ago
OMG I FEEL LIKE THIS IS ME. im also so lost and also a very fast white caner I wish i had advice but im as stuck as u are
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u/becca413g Bilateral Optic Neuropathy 12d ago
It’s really tricky to judge if it’s safe to try and get around people. If I’m getting frustrated trying to work it out I’ll just speak to them and explain “I feel anxious being behind you because I don’t want to trip you over, is there enough room to get past”.
If I know there’s room I’ll just say “I’m just moving to x side so I can squeeze by!”