Spring 2006

David Miller trains Dan Staub on using the miniguide electronic travel aid

“Living here in Seattle, you never know what kind of construction they’re going to do or what part of the bus tunnel they’re going to close down or whatever the case may be,” says John Simms, production worker. “It’s good to have people on hand who you can go to and say ‘Hey, something has come up and I need some help’”

John is one of the many blind and Deaf-Blind employees at the Lighthouse taking advantage of the training options offered by orientation and mobility (O & M) instructors Beth Jurco and David Miller. From bus kits to innovative travel technology, Beth and David work with each individual to explore a range of mobility supports.

The O & M team put together a mobility aid expo for Lighthouse employees to become better acquainted with travel aids available to them. “We were more able to adequately address night travel issues following the time change. We had an O & M equipment table with safety devices so people can become more visible,” David says. “We got a very good response. We spent weeks getting flashing strobe lights to people in several different forms and brightly colored clothes like orange safety vests.”

He adds, “We’ll probably put on an expo seasonally. We have a collection of sun filters and that’s always popular. If we have a low vision table, we’ll have sun filters there. We always have different kinds of canes and cane tips. Other types of accessories like cane pouches are always standard. We have bus kits there. Safety vests are good during the day or night. Electronic travel aids would also be there like the Miniguide.”

The Miniguide is a hand-held travel aid that alerts the blind or Deaf-Blind person to objects around them by sending out an ultra-sound signal, then vibrating or beeping to indicate an object in its path. The Miniguide is used in conjunction with a white cane or a guide dog.

“I hold it right in front of me and it sends out a signal. The signal bounces off whatever is in front of it and then sends the signal back to me. It might go to a foot on each side so you can use it to the left or the right and pick up things. I also use it up and down,” explains Dan Staub, machine set-up. “You’re using it in conjunction with whatever traveling agent you’re using at the time. So if you’re using it left and right and up and down, you’re still going to get to something with your cane before you move it back down. I just keep it moving all the time.”

Dan and David have been working together since early in the year training on using the Miniguide. “We had five opportunities to work with it in the Lighthouse, then out into the street, and then on into the grocery store ― and that was without the [guide] dog, just using my cane,” Dan says. “In fact up until then, if anything happened to the dog, if he was sick or hurt himself, I couldn’t even get into work. Now I have the confidence of using the cane because David and I worked around the area here, plus in some neighborhoods I didn’t even know, with the Miniguide.”

“We were down in Pioneer Square crossing the street,” he recalls. “Sometimes a car would pull over the crosswalk. If I had just had the cane walking, I would have run right into the car. With the Miniguide, I picked it right up. I was able to go right around it without ever touching the car with my cane. It’s amazing how you feel more confident and more self-assured on the street with the Miniguide.”

He continues, “The grocery store was another great big thing for me because most of the time I go in with the dog and get some help, and the dog just follows the person through. This time, I just had my cane. Using the Miniguide I was able to go find the door to go inside and find the aisles. The nice thing is that before I ever got to an object, whether it was a person with a cart or a stock display, I was able to move around without bumping into anything. For me to do that with a cane was just totally amazing.”

Dan credits the Miniguide with giving him a sense of self-reliance when he travels. “For me, it’s a new piece of independence because it’s still that piece that’s missing when you’re using a dog or using a cane. For the independence and freedom it gives you, it’s well worth the money.”

While electronic travel aids like the Miniguide help individuals traveling on foot, the Lighthouse O & M department offers tools to make mass transit accessible to blind and Deaf-Blind individuals. Bus kits include cards with bus numbers printed on them in large print, which blind or Deaf-Blind consumers hold up to indicate which bus they want to board.

Debbie Sommer waits for the #7 bus using a bus kit card.

Metro bus drivers are trained to recognize bus kit cards and offer the assistance needed, from calling out bus numbers to blind passengers to guiding Deaf-Blind people onto the bus. “In the past, the general rule was that there was no expectation that the driver would make physical hand-to-hand contact with the consumer, but with the Deaf-Blind population growing and the introduction and use of the Deaf-Blind bus kit, physical contact was an essential step in getting the person on the bus. So now you have two distinct colors representing two populations with different communication needs.”

He adds, “The thing that is fortunate for us is that the information about the bus kit and access for people who blind or Deaf-Blind is a part of their driver handbook. So it’s part of their policies. It’s written with very specific steps that the driver needs to follow to make the bus system accessible for these groups. Once it’s spelled out in the handbook, it’s a convenient reference for the drivers who want to know more. They can read it themselves, but Metro has an obligation to provide sensitivity training to their drivers which would include those details. When a driver forgets or does not perform well they can be taken aside and reminded about their responsibilities.”

Another communication tool used by Deaf-Blind consumers is the Metro Assistance Card, it provides the information needed by the driver to prompt the Deaf-Blind person to get off at their destination. When they arrive at their stop, the driver gives back the card with print instructions on it. Both destination card and bus number kit include large print and Braille for accessibility. The destination card is custom made for the Deaf-Blind consumer by the mobility department with the persons preferred font size. For those who cannot cross busy streets safely, a street crossing card is provided. The Deaf-Blind person can use it to ask for assistance when crossing the street. The Deaf-Blind ID button that pins to a shirt or jacket can provide another way to indicate a person is Deaf-Blind, a useful tool when waiting for a bus.

Metro is planning to make ACCESS transit rides more accessible to Deaf-Blind consumers. Metro ACCESS Paratransit provides rides for people with disabilities. “ACCESS vans have been installed with equipment that would allow the driver to send a message to the rider when the van is within five minutes of arriving. So to have the Deaf-Blind person have access to that message through a pager would be a huge improvement. In their services, it would make them more efficient. In our services, it would make people more secure because they know what’s going on.”

O & M instructors also work with blind and Deaf-Blind people to explore transit options besides the bus. Beth Jurco and John Simms have been training on using the Sound Transit Commuter Train as an alternative to the bus.

“It’s just a different way to get home. I like options,” says John. “It’s refreshing to have someone give you the option. That’s the number one thing I like about Beth is she leaves everything up to me. If I want to do something, that’s fine and if I don’t want to do something, that’s fine too.”

John worked with Beth to orient himself to taking the train to the Lighthouse from Tacoma. “Getting to the train depot, getting to the machines to buy the tickets ? she helped me with all of that. The machines that you buy your tickets from have speech on them. She showed me where I can touch on this screen to make the machine talk to me. She goes through that with you and makes sure you have that, and she’ll go through that with you however many times it takes to get that done. She is just that patient.”

“Working with Beth is fun. She’s very creative with what she does.” says John. “She even drew me up a map so far as the streets are laid out. She drew up a tactile map. That helped me out a lot so far as getting the layout of the streets and the different diameters of the curves. The maps are pretty self-explanatory and they’re pretty darn good! First she let’s me see [the map] and then we go out and do it. That helps me place things in my head.”

The Lighthouse O & M department employs creativity and a deep knowledge of mobility aids to meet the needs of Lighthouse employees and other clients in the larger community. “It’s good that they have this. It’s beneficial. It’s there if you need it. If you don’t need to use it, it’s still good to know it’s there,” John concludes.

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