2008-10-08 02:42:34

Hey all!!!
Well, as you can read in the subject, this one goes mainly to all the audio gamers who live in New York :-)
I'm here for vacation for one week now and arrived yesterday evening. And yes, I have to say tat I'm really, really impressed!!! There's so much going on here and so many impressions you get, right after you stepp out of JFK airport - all the cars and people around there and long lines you have to stand in before you can get a cap to the hotel - and on the way there you already hear thousands of cars passing by or many people talking when you drive through the city.
So today, I walked around with my mum who's with me, we went to different places with the subway and visited the Empire State Building, it was a really cool and interesting, but also exhausting day really. But now I'm really wondering, how do blind New York citicens make it through the millions of people and cars there? I mean, I'm really impressed by how many things are labelled with braille, but it must be hard to walk through the city with all the people bumping into you, cars going everywhere and so on - and also, there's no barrier infront of  the actual subway rails, so you might walk or get pushed on them easily. So, I'd be really interested in some comments of people living in NYC and reading this!!! :-)
Robin

2008-10-09 04:02:33

Hi, I live in New York like a half hour away from the city. I don't go there much. When I'm there I just walk with someone but I hate the noise and stuff so I try not to go there a lot. However, they say the city's the ultimately best place for mobility since all the streets are perfect plus intersections. I think when you get guide dog training you learn how to travel in NYC so when I get a dog maybe I'll learn, but I'd rather stay away from there when travelling independently.

Regards,
Mike
Co-Founder, RS Games
www.rsgames.org

2008-10-09 04:05:19

Oh, another thing. I don't notice much labelled in braille, just elevators and bathrooms, but that's standard. Where are you from anyway?

Regards,
Mike
Co-Founder, RS Games
www.rsgames.org

2008-10-09 09:57:21

Sorry for interupting (as I manifestly don't live anywhere near Newyork), but toilets in the us are standardly labled in braille? Wow that's good going!

With our dreaming and singing, Ceaseless and sorrowless we! The glory about us clinging Of the glorious futures we see,
Our souls with high music ringing; O men! It must ever be
That we dwell in our dreaming and singing, A little apart from ye. (Arthur O'Shaughnessy 1873.)

2008-10-10 04:17:06

Hey Mike!
Thanks for your interesting reply. Well, I can understand why you don't like going to the city, the noise is really incredible and all the people trying to sell you something or make you go to a "comedi show". And also, it is interesting how overdimensioned some things are, starting at coke glasses, burgers and stuff :-) I don't have a guide dog, but don't youthink all the noises will make a dog go completely crazy??? As to the Braille labels, I actually live in Switzerland - very, very far away from the US - and there's nothing labelled with Braille there, no bath rooms, elevators or whatever, infact we don't even have speaking or beeping elevators so it can be hard there too sometimes.
Anyways, I'll be here for 3 more days, we'll see how it goes and tomorrow I'll visit the Pace university to look around a bit. :-)
Robin

2008-10-10 22:02:30

I don't really want a guide dog, so I wonder how you would get around by yourself without one there
but my dad, who works in the city, says he sees blind people all the time and they do just fine
I hate a lot of the hustle and bustle as well

p.s. robin I thought you said you moved from switzerland to texas?

Connor

2008-10-11 00:38:15

Hi CJ!
Oh I forgot you live in New York too :-) Well yeah, we were in Texas for several weeks, but moved back to our old house because of some "problems" we had. We can talk on MSN if you like, I don't have internet access at home but maybe we can talk when I'm online here in the hotel.
Robin

2008-10-13 23:31:14

I live in Brooklyn for most of the year; right now I'm at college in Oberlin Ohio, a tiny little town. Contrary to popular belief, lots of people can be benificial - help is usually not hard to get, and the traffic helps in locating where the sidewakl ends and the street begins. Here in Ohio there's hardly any traffic, and when I find myself in the middle of a patch of grass I have to search randomly for what looks like a curb and hope it's a street and not a driveway. No noise is a lot spookier than tons of noise.

Subways are straightforward once you find out where you are going. I often need help finding where so-and-so train stops (knowing that I can find it in that station) so I don't hesitate to ask someone in the booth or even a random passerby who might be going in my direction (hey... if they don't want to help, they tell me they have to go... which they do).  Most platform edges have tactile crap surrounding them, but if you have your cane out in front of you you will have no trouble finding them..

Brooklyn isn't nearly as busy as the city, which makes it a little nicer. Loads of plus-intersections in manhattan, but it really depends on where you are; downtown is confusing thanks to streets having names rather than nice orderly numbers, and some streets like Broadway cut diagonally through the grid, which can be disorienting. Knowing your cardinal direction helps a lot; it's common for someone to tell you to go east or meet on the southwest corner.

Yeah we got brailled bathroom signs, elevators and the occasional sign in the train station letting you know which trains arrive at that particular platform (they're usually on columns, but it's not guaranteed).  Machines used to buy metrocards (plastic card; money gurns into rides) have a headphone jack so one can plug in their headset and manage their card.

No talking traffic lights, so crossings can be intimidating thanks to the noise, but like I mentioned tons of people means you can easily get help. If there aren't a lot of people there isn't as much noies making crossings easier.

When I was younger I used to think the whole world was like New York City. I didn't learn about the necessity to drive until I visited connecticut (we had a car but didn't really need it); "walk" became "drive." I'm glad I grew up in the city where a system exists freeing me from the need to buy a car to go almost anywhere. It must suck to be blind and live in a comparatively rural area like... Oberlin Ohio.

James