The Cane Explained: Transcript
Georgie: I use my guide cane mainly so that I don’t suddenly fall down a step that I didn’t realise was there. But also to warn other people that I’m visually impaired, so they don’t cut me off when I’m trying to work my way around a shop or through a train station.
Shuraiya: The red and white cane basically indicates that I am deafblind. But then not a lot of people know what it actually means, that includes my mother, husbands and little sister.
Shuraiya’s sister: I didn’t even know!
Shuraiya: Didn’t you know that?
Shuraiya’s sister: I was amazed!
Robert: I use a long cane. It rolls, so that I can avoid obstacles in the street and I usually use it on long distance journeys.
Maya-Liam: I use a long cane with a pink handle because it expresses part of my personality as well.
Emma: The symbol cane is a shorter cane. It doesn’t actually touch the ground. I usually carry the cane folded. I was bumping into people, tripping over things, and when it gets a little bit embarrassing, the cane is now there to explain why.
Robert: You get a lot of mixed responses when you walk around the street with a cane. A lot of people do tend to try and stop and help. I’ve had a few occasions when I’ve been dragged across the road without being asked if it’s ok, or if I need any help or assistance.
Jana: I use a symbol cane. I mainly use it to show people that I have a visual impairment.
Jana: Sometimes I feel strange when I’m on the tube with a book and my symbol cane, because actually I have enough sight to focus in on the book, it’s just that when I get up and go for the door, that’s when I need my cane.
Shuraiya: It’s like my comfort blanket wherever I go.
Maya-Liam: I think I’d like everyone to think that canes are awesome, why shouldn’t canes express part of your personality? Why shouldn’t canes be fashionable?
Georgie: It’s just like another set of eyes.
Jana: There are over a hundred thousand cane users in the UK.
Maya-Liam: We don’t all use the cane for the same reason. We don’t all have the same eye condition.
Robert: It doesn’t mean that everyone is blind, there’s a spectrum of sight loss.
Shuraiya: What we all have in common is that the cane enables us to be more independent.
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