Too often, a bicycle, shared scooter, billboard or bag is ‘piled’ on the guideline for the blind and partially sighted, says Karin Hoefmans of the Eye Association North Brabant in Tilburg. She will be in the Spoorpark on Monday on White Cane Day to let people experience what blind people have to deal with in daily life. Because those who cannot see well want to be seen.
A trail has been created in the Spoorpark where people with a blindfold and a white cane can experience what blind and partially sighted people face when they take a step outside their home. Advertising signs, bicycles and other obstacles turn the guide line into a real obstacle course.
Karin herself can still see about 20 percent with her left eye. “It’s a bit more than shadows or light and dark,” she assures. “So I can still see a little bit.” But she still really needs her white stick.
There is therefore a guideline especially for people who are blind or visually impaired. This allows you to feel where you are walking with the help of a white stick. They are lines on the sidewalk, which you may recognize from the train platform. “It’s just that some people just don’t know what it is for.”
“KLEBEM, I hear, when something has fallen over. And only then do people come running to you.”
The result of that ignorance is distressing. “People then place their bicycle, scooter or billboard right on that line, causing me to bump into it,” says Karin. “‘Klebem!’, I hear, when something has fallen over. And only then do people come running towards you. At first they are shocked, but then the penny drops.”
“That’s why the day of the white cane is so important,” says Karin. “The power is in the repetition.” Putting up signs doesn’t make much sense, she thinks. “Let people walk across that line with a stick like that. Then they will think twice next time.”
Marcelle Hendrickx, councilor for Care and Support at the municipality of Tilburg, also takes this opportunity. She makes an attempt over the track that the eye association has laid in the Spoorpark. Wearing an eye mask and a white stick, she swings across the sidewalk, bumping into a bag, passerby and bicycle. “You immediately lose all your orientation.”
It makes the councilor think for a moment, she says. “I have to find out where we have those guide lines in the city,” Hendrickx muses. Because actually only the one at the station comes to mind so quickly.
“Please take us into account and give us space.”
A small revelation for the councilor, but in fact an eye association mainly depends on the average street user. The one who lands his shared scooter on the guide line. Puts his bike there. “Please take us into account and give us space.”