Travelling; how and why.

So now you have read a little about my travelling. The questions everyone want’s to know is why would a blind person want to go travelling? How is it done, especially alone?

The answer to why is simple, why not!

I go travelling for more or less the same reason other young hearty souls go travelling. Its for the sense of adventure, escapism from the social stuffiness of conventional life, the trappings of responsibility, a challenge and for learning.

Travelling allows me to experience the world in a multitude of ways. It enables me to obtain a great global education that books only hint at. Eating foreign foods, hearing new music, feeling the contours and gradients of countries, places, mountains, valleys rivers etc, etc cannot really be achieved at home or the study environment – you have to travel to experience life.

Whether it be bungee jumping with the natives of New Zealand or walking through an African village with the smell of dung in the air, flies all about and extreme heat to struggle with – is just part of what makes travelling for me, a blind person, fantastic. I use the remaining senses I have to gain a greater experience and understanding of the world. I am very fortunate.

How do I do it?

I went to a boarding school for the visually impaired and blind when aged ten. There I learnt braille in order to study and mobility in order to be mobile. I was taught how to use a white long cane to detect objects in my path. I use the cane to get up and down stairs and find pavement curbs. I use my cane to find good places to cross roads and my hearing to know when a road is clear. I learnt to train all my senses together which has enabled me to live a full and functional life. I had a good brain to begin with and have always been alert. the extra training enhanced these skills and coupled with an outstanding memory, this has given me the ability to travel. I first put these skills to use to travel up and down Britain on the trains. I would get to a train station by walking, having learnt the route, or by bus. If by bus I would ask the driver or passengers for the stop I want and get them to tell me when I was there. I would then enter the station and ask staff to assist me onto the train. if noone was around, I would listen for the anouncement of the train and when it stopped walk towards the sound with my cane out in frunt of me and sweep it along the train until I find a door. these days with more automatic trains it is easier. There is usually some people around to help and when travelling, the public come to be very helpful.

I am lucky to live in the UK, especially whilst being disabled. There is the support for a variety of needs, including getting equipment such as canes and liquid level indicaters. There are guide dogs, computer equipment with speach and good support for this, cooking gagits, games and a variety of other tools and apparators to enable a blind person to live independently.

I had a fantastic education and coupled with being able to listen to talking books from a young age helped in my development towards independence. Without the education which at times was one to one, I would not be able to travel. I use my brain instead of my sight. I have to work out how to solve problems, get from place to place without the aid of a map, compass guide books etc. I rely on the kindness and generosity of the local public and fellow travellers more than most. However, I have the attitude and atribute to want to travel, be personable, approachable and understand now at least, that we all need help. I give other people a different insight to the world as I experience it and vice versa.

When I was at school, we had tactile globes and braille maps to play with, these fascinated me for hours. they gave me and my imagination hours of fun and exploration. I discovered an interest for geography and history early on. My father had travelled and had been around at the end of World War II. he filled me with travel and history, especially about the sea and the navy. Being blind you need an imagination because you have no object to focus on, this is a blessing in many ways because it gives your brain less bariers, especially when you are young. Everything is possible then, it is an attitude I have maintained throughout much of my life.

The braille maps are made from different textures, with the landmass raised, the rivers indented lines and the oceans and sea smoover material. Large raised dots mark the major towns and cities with braille abrieviations next to the dot in question. an accompanying guide book explains the abrieviations. I have maps of all the continents except Africa. My Mum has made this one with a special glue that marks the borders of each country in a tactile line.

Before I travel anywhere I have to do extensive research, this differs depending on the country-continent I am visiting. I was given money for a computer and scanner with speach reading softwear. This has enabled me to study at a high level and do research to travel.

The computer is a normal desktop with the F and J keys marked with small lips, most key boards have this. The softwear reads everything on the screne, i type a letter, it talks. I move one of the arrow keys, it says the letter, word or sentence depending on the key stroke. It is a standard desktop computer but with specialist speach softwear, which is rather expensive. My current speach softwear is called Jaws. It can read emails and even works with the internet to varying degrees. The scanner which is the essential tool for research is fantastic. It is a normal desktop scanner with a long flat lid. It has a speach softwear called Kirtzwell. I have the scanner attached to the same computer with the scanning softwear on the hard drive. I just change programmes when I wish to use it. I scan in a book, having had someone mark up the pages or chapters with paper clips, then once the book is on the computer I get the speach softwear to read it to me.

The only help I need is the relevant information marked up as mentioned. Without the scanner I could have not have been as successful at university and doing a master degree in a history based subject with the volume of reading required would have been near impossible. The acodemic material is just not available in braille or talking book. I did American Studies as an undergraduate degree and US Foreign Policy as a Masters.

My local education authority payed for my equipment and I am both very lucky and most grateful. Without this equipment my life would not nearly be so independent. incidentally, I can read almost all printed material on the scanner including the majority of my mail.

At present I use the Lonely Planet guides or Rough guide books for most of my research on travelling. I also consult my maps and my family help with references for country locations and other useful information. My Mum does a lot of my research with me and without her help and support none of my trips could have been undertaken. It is combinations that allow me as a blind person with a hearing difficulty to travel successfully. The equipment I have enables me to research, to know what equipment I need , currencies to take, possible innoculations and a host of other information necessary for me to explore and move about a country with relative ease. My family, especially my Mum, give me the support I require to travel, noing that they are there if a problem with a credit card occurs, or I get ill and need to return home. I have a base to return too when the shit hits the fan! Having the knowledge puts a whole different spin on the nature of my journeying. the family support in many ways gives me more confidence in myself. I have the education as I have already said, which without I could not contemplate travelling. finally, there is both the desire to travel and the ability to engage with the public in a variety of ways, which has added and enriched my adventures immensely. Without the public and fellow travellers I could not journey so successfully.

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