E.G. Bell
I taught for two years at the Institute of Advanced Technology on the North campus of Community College of Allegheny County.
This institute worked with the Office of Vocational Rehabilitation (OVR). This is a Pennsylvania state department that
“serves people who have disabilities that present a substantial impediment to employment”.
Among my class were two blind students, one literally without eyes. Both used a white cane to navigate and I learned a great deal about these from these gentlemen.
Contrary to many depictions in television and movies, these canes are individually designed for each person and there is training to use them properly. It is not brain surgery but it is also not the random flailing I often perceive by sighted actors. Factors include stride length, for instance. There are at least two techniques, Constant Contact and Two Point Touch. Check the links for videos on each. The thing to take away is that white canes are very precise and scientific instruments not trial-and-error walking sticks.
The reason I found this all interesting was that my grandfather was blind. He did not use a cane. He lost his sight late in life and was resistant to that kind of change. He might have found it limiting. He was quite independent, even running his own bar. He walked from his house to the bar every morning, by himself, and home again at night, across a parking lot. One time someone parked a tractor-trailer in his path in that lot. He walked into it and lost a couple of teeth. It did not change his routine and a cane may not have helped in this case.
My grandfather brought me to the forest back in the 1960s. He was the spark for the love in me that burns brighter still. In an excerpt from my very first article in the Forest Press, still my favorite, I wrote the following:
My grandfather’s dream of retiring to Tionesta was dashed by his loss of sight. His vision, though, he passed on to me. I’ve only blinked since I saw him last, and a whole new generation has come and grown, with yet another toddling along in hand. My grandfather and all of the people who planted this spark in me have moved on… except when I walk in this magical place where I can feel and smell and see and hear them like it was yesterday. Here they are here all over again. Here my wife and I can have what I had and feel what I felt all those years ago.
In his life, he inspired me. Even in his work, he gave opportunities to others afflicted. The guy who fixed his refrigeration systems was blind. That guy’s grandson helped him. My grandfather bought brooms made by blind craftspeople. I had a lot of exposure to people with vision albeit without sight. People can be hindered but not stopped. That was a lesson from my grandfather.
As I got older, I helped my grandfather to doctor’s offices, shopped the wholesale houses for him, picked up orders at the beer distributor or state store (liquor stores back then), etc. It made me aware of situations, and when I started teaching, including blind students, it gave me some empathy. In many ways, I was my grandfather’s cane. We could be found in many places walking arm in arm. Him holding my arm and warning him of stairs, rough sidewalks, doors, etc.
So why am I writing about this now? I have been watching the online Morning Cup ‘O News on YourDailyLocal.com and it is sponsored by White Cane Coffee. The first few times I watched this, the connection escaped me. It just never occurred to me that this had to do with blindness. And then I saw a sponsor message during the newscast and things clicked.
I checked the About Us page of White Cane Coffee and was immediately captured. I have not drunk coffee for years. I only drink tea now. My wife drinks coffee. I am not affiliated with White Cane Coffee and if the owner came up to me on the street and hit me, I would not know her or associate her with the company. This young lady checks a lot of boxes for me though.
First, she is a she. I have a world of respect for women in business. You might have read my article years ago in the Forest Press about Lucille’s Transmission in Penn Hills, Pa. As I said then, I believe a woman successful in business probably had to work at least twice as hard as a man to succeed. I shared a joke at that time…
They have finally found something that does the work of five men… One woman.
Probably not as much of a joke as some of us might prefer to believe. There is even more.
The woman doing the commercial for White Cane…who co-owns the company.. is blind. You would not know that if she were not carrying a white cane in the commercial I saw. She doesn’t mention it. She is selling coffee. She tells the story on their About Us page, but she is selling coffee first and foremost.
As I said, she checks a lot of boxes. My blind grandfather ran a successful business. Also because I have a wife who had a successful career. I have a mother, aunts, sisters, sisters-in-law, daughters, granddaughters, cousins (including removed), etc. I have pushed many of them to get an education. To learn to stand on their own. And I have pointed them at women who stand as examples. I just found another example, the young miss of White Cane Coffee. The next time I’m in Warren, I am going to make it a point to buy my wife a cup.
