What I "saw" today...

I had a very interesting experience this morning on the walk to school. Walking on the sidewalk near the Earl's on 112 St I was about to pass a lady who was blind and carrying a cane. What can I say? I walk faster than most people...ask Nevin. Anyway, the spot where I passed her was particularly icy and she slipped and fell right beside me. I quickly took off my headphones and helped her up asking if she was okay. She wasn't hurt but was more concerned with the knees of her pants. "Are they ripped? I sure hope not." They were fine and then she also asked me if I would mind walking her up the rest of the block and across the street. Of course I said "yes". This was a very good idea because with the melting and freezing lately, any shady areas (like this particular stretch of sidewalk) are very icy. It was a bit slower pace but I managed to lead her by the arm (had great practice during Queen's Ball in high school).

We had a great conversation for the next half of a block. Mostly about how many times she had already fallen this morning and how embarrasing it is to have to pick yourself up. She also told me how it's particularly tough when she falls crossing a street because she is a bit disoriented after falling and there are no edges for her to feel to get her bearings (damn those painted lines). I was also wondering to myself, "if she's fallen so many times on this walk, why am I the first to pick her up?" By coincidence I got a partial answer to that question in my management class this morning taught by Dr. Flynn. (My parents saw him Saturday night at my MecE grad and I'm sure many others know who I'm talking about). We are discussing psychology now and he talked about a human social behavior that's been tested many times on how we are more likely to act when no one else is around and less likely when there are others. For example, if someone appeared to be having trouble swimming in the ocean, they are more likely to be rescued if there is one person walking along the beach than if there are 30 people standing on the beach. The one won't care about others, they will rush in. With 30 a person will start to look around and wonder "why isn't anyone else doing anything? They must know something I don't. That person is probably okay". People don't want to stand out so much. What if swimmer doesn't need help? Would they be mad if someone swam out to "save" them? So if the girl I met this morning had fallen in a large group would it take longer for one of them to step forward to help her up? I think the answer is yes. That's what we do. I don't think I had a chance to think about others watching me. She fell right beside me and it was a reaction just trying to catch her before she hit the ground. All the same, I don't think I would have been any more hesitant to lend a hand if I knew of others watching. Probably something I picked up from my lifeguard training but I like to think I'm just a good person.

The next thing I started to wonder about after we parted ways was how did she first orient herself to this university? What would it be like to start navigating a new area? Who helped her and how did they go about doing this? What would I do if I was introducing a blind person to the university? I love maps so I think that's where I would start. I'd take a nice big map of the campus and make it tactile. I would put strips along all the major roads. Maybe fabric cut out to the shapes of the buildings. I would ask them how they get to school each day and start my tour at the first place they step on campus. (ex. the bus stop, the LRT station, 87th Ave) I would really concentrate on giving them an idea of the whole university before even stepping into a building. I guess mostly it would take practice and experience on their part. Just having long walks where we talk about anything, throwing in the odd "where are we now?" question would help a lot. Eventually I'd get them to lead and describe what building they're beside or what direction we were heading. I'm actually interested enought that I think I'm going to look into the realy program that the U of A has in place for aiding the visually challenged. I don't think I'm going to volunteer as an ambassador for the last 3 weeks that I'm here but maybe in Calgary in the future it's something I could get involved in.

Anyway, class time. By the way, I took 198 pictures and 4 videos at my grad ceremony on Saturday night. Can't post all of them but look to see a few up here soon. Need a copy of the pictures? Talk to me in a week when I've got more from some other grads and have put together a complete record of the night. (I know some people are missing certain periods of time later in the evening...maybe this will help)