Growing up I was quite nearsighted but with my glasses on and in good light I functioned normally; e.g. I could play sports, even small-ball sports like baseball and tennis. Every decade my vision gets worse. In many ways the slowness of the progression is a godsend, as it enables one to accustom oneself to the changing situation, rather than be devastated by it. But it creates challenges as well. Among these is this: there is never a day when one awakes and says “hey, I’m blind now, I need to start carrying a cane!”
If you’re suffering low vision and thinking just maybe you should start carrying a cane or “blindstick,” I can tell you unequivocally what to do: buy this cane right now!
How can I give you, dear reader, such confident advice when I don’t even know you? Because this cane delivers the most important blindstick benefits with only a tiny fraction of the downside. Look, I’ve been through it — carrying a cane means converting the world’s image of you from “normal person who is quite nearsighted” to “blind person.” That’s a big step, and people are understandably reluctant to take it. But the Chris Park cane solves the problem, because IT TELESCOPES DOWN TO ALMOST NOTHING and slips in your pocket. Why no one was able to offer this prior to Chris I do not know — it may be that it required the development of new materials like the ultra-light carbon fiber he uses so that the cane could be made sufficiently strong. In any case, the upshot is that Chris’ design collapses in less than a second into a cigar-size tube that fits easily into a jacket pocket. Consequently I am never without it, but if circumstances allow I can get through a day without taking it out, and appear to all as caneless. Given its quite modest cost, there is no reason not to get one — it won’t affect you at all when you don’t want it to, and it just might save your life!
What’s the big deal about canes anyway? Why is it so incredibly useful? The obvious benefit of a blindstick is that it can save you from falling down a flight of stairs or off a porch. If your vision is good enough that you can’t imagine this happening… then I envy you! And I’m not going to give you an “it could happen to you” lecture — I had some close calls before I got my cane, and indeed even since I got it I’ve had some dangerous encounters with ledges and such — a cane is an enormous help but without great care and vigilance, risk is always present. Still, it’s your life and your call to make.
My point is this: there are several other advantages to a blindstick beside avoiding fatal falls. To wit:
1) A blindstick identifies you as blind. “Duh,” you are thinking, “that’s why I don’t want one! But look, even if in general you want to be seen as powerful and vital, not as weak and sightless, that doesn’t mean there aren’t _moments_ when you’d rather be recognized as disadvantaged. Two reasons: first, sometimes you really need help, and it’s difficult to ask for it when you can’t see people well enough to catch their attention. The stick causes people to approach and offer aid, especially in tricky places like airports. Second, at some point I realized that a no-cane low-vision person walking on a street or train station is not recognized as a person struggling nobly with a disability. Rather, what people thought of me was: that guy looks like he’s crazy, or on drugs! After all I was walking erratically with unfocused eyes, my hands stretched out in front of me and an overwhelmed look on my face. Plus, they probably thought to themselves, if he were blind he’d be wielding a cane! It’s really better to be recognized as blind/low vision than seen as a crazed druggie.
2) If you have low vision and you walk around, you are going to bump into people from time to time. How they react will depend on many things, but a short version is this: if you have no stick, they will want to punch you in the face. If you have a stick, they will feel apologetic and offer you the assistance you probably need. Partly of course this is out of guilt, and I don’t intend to make anyone feel guilty; I always go out of my way to emphasize that the accident was entirely my fault. But additionally, the stick makes it clear you are doing your best to avoid such occurrences. Basically, I realized that for my last two or three caneless years I was being pretty darn selfish, endangering others (along with myself) for the sake of vanity.
3) Finally: in a sticky situation, the CPD cane turns into a deadly sword. Kidding! Actually it’s important to know that this cane is not only not robust enough to serve as a weapon, it DOES NOT offer meaningful support. Many low vision people can benefit from a cane that offers physical support, i.e. that can serve as a walking stick at times. Chris recently showed me his new design that suits this purpose, it’s here: NEW CPD CANE
This cane does not telescope so it won’t be my everyday cane at this point in my life. But it is tremendously lightweight and elegant, and for those who need the support, either everyday or (like me) on occasion, I recommend it highly.
Disclosure: I got my first CPD cane as a gift from a blind friend. Later I reached out to the company to buy more and express my appreciation, and ended up corresponding with, and eventually meeting, Chris Park himself, and he recently gave me a couple of his new-design canes. He’s a great guy, but my admiration for his products predates my getting to know him and is an honest reflection of my feelings. Chris’ main business is tiny closed-circuit television (CCTV) magnifiers, which I find really cool but which I do not use. The canes are just a minor sideline for him.
Flashlight
ThruNite Ti3 EDC Cree XP-G2 R5 AAA Torch Max120 Lumens LED Flashlight
1) It must be tiny — I want it on my keychain every day — what the flashlight and multitool fanatics call “EDC” for everyday carry. As readers of this page can see I’m lugging a lot of gear, so I demand ultra-small size.
2) Uses one AAA battery. There are smaller flashlights than mine, but all that I know about use some weird battery that you’ll never be able to find at a 7-11 or hotel gift shop. The batteries you can always obtain are AAA and AA, and AAA are a lot smaller, so I carry a single AAA cell flashlight.
3) Multiple brightness levels. Because my eyes are light sensitive, sometimes too much light is a problem for me. If I point my light, on full blast, at an elevator button or restaurant menu, the brightness is overwhelming. So it has to have a dimmer setting. This also has a survival advantage — on the dim setting these flashlights can last hundreds or thousands of hours, something that’s nice to have in your pocket.
Almost all the lights in this class have nice knurled aluminum cases and many offer a strobe feature, unnecessary but amusing, though please be careful not to induce seizures in your friends! Anyway, for many years I’ve been carrying the AAA by Fenix Light — model LD02 I believe — which is terrific but my new ThruNite is even better in my opinion. These lights are not very expensive — I paid $15.95 on Amazon — so if anyone knows of a better choice for my needs, let me know and I will upgrade!
Sunglasses
My eyes are exceptionally light sensitive — a cruel joke on me; without lots of light I can’t see much of anything, but if there’s too much it’s extremely painful. I used to use a combination of specially-made super-dark shades and a baseball cap. This kept the light out but was a lot to carry and looked a little strange — that is, my friends said it looked a little strange, and they are kind people, so probably it looked absolutely horrible! Now I wear glacier glasses by Julbo. I won’t recommend a specific model, if you need these just pick the one that fit you well and look good on you. What is important is:
1) Side panel protection along with good fit at the top — if you get Darkness Level 4, most of the light that will get through to mess with your eyes will not be through the lenses, which block like 97% or so. It’s the light coming _around_ the glasses that is the problem. Glacier glasses have side panels that cut off glare very effectively. Of course the side panels make the shades look a little odd; no doubt some of you can make a cool look out of it whereas for others, like me, the unusual appearance is just something the world will have to tolerate!
2) My Julbos have detachable earpieces. What good is that, you may ask — when would I want to wear them as pince-nez?! The answer is that I am hard on everything I own — I walk into walls, I drop stuff, I step on things. These Julbos have lasted longer than any other pair of shades I have owned because, when I place them under stress, the earpieces just click free and then I simply pop them back in; takes 10 seconds. Whereas with all my previous sunglasses, once the earpieces broke, that was the end of them — it’s generally cheaper to buy again than to repair.
3) 100% UV protection. I’m not an expert on the science, but years ago my ophthalmologist told me that when you wear dark glasses your pupils open wide so it’s super important to block UVA and UVB lest you get a large damaging dose through your wide-open pupils. No one’s told me different so I only wear sunglasses with 100% UV protection.
By the way, Julbo has sunglasses at various price points; mine were about $35 so not too pricy.
Wristwatch
Eone Bradley Timepiece
I recently purchased this timepiece — it’s not really a “watch” because it works by feel, not by sight.
