Walking into Walls

May 24, 2011

Today I saw a blind person trying to navigate commuter traffic in the Ubahn Station.  Maybe it’s the voyeur in me but I love watching blind people.  I am always in awe how they gracefully glide amongst the masses, counting steps, counting seconds, honing the sixth sense.  There is one woman in particular who I often see at my Ubahn station.  Even when there are no people around she knows exactly where to stand to be in position to board the train, although the boarding position can vary.  When she finds herself in a crowd, she pauses before moving, allowing others to see her.  Sensing their acknowledgement she begins to move.  Most that see her coming move aside, those that don’t she circumnavigates before they have a chance to realize she is blind. 

Yesterday, coming back from the train station I saw two blind people in the Ubahn.  They moved their wands in sequence like two windshield wipers.  The blind leading the blind. 

So anyway back to the person I saw today.  I wasn’t sure if he had recently lost his sight or was just in an unfamiliar area but he was anything but graceful.  I saw him trip two people with his wand.  Whenever possible he was doing his best to stay parallel to the wall.  I saw him walk into a wall a couple of times and change direction much like a Romba.  I almost fell down the escalators turning around to watch this.  I was always taught it’s not polite to stare but this seemed different.  My staring wasn’t making anyone feel uncomfortable and plus it wasn’t out of amusement it was out of curiosity.  Should I offer my assistance?  Was this part of the process of seeing without seeing?  Would my offer to help be insulting?  I tried to empathize.  If that were me, I could only imagine getting frustrated and swing my wand over my head like a sword until my path was cleared from people.   As I reached the bottom of the escalator I saw a woman help him onto the escalator.  I saw him a few minutes later as he came down the steps to the train platform.  He turned and headed towards the train tracks and the four foot drop off.  You could sense the tension as those that surrounded him went on alert, posed to keep him from walking over the edge.  His wand left the edge of the platform and he took another step.  With his wand hanging over the edge he stopped and made a 90 degree turn and walked along the platform.  The wand leaving the platform with every sweep to the right.  The whole station watched him until he heard the train, stopped, turned and brought the wand close to his body.   He boarded the train and that was the last I saw of him. 

I thought about what I had seen for the following days.  Sometimes I get frustrated or impatient because my environment here is at times very different from what I am accustom to.   I always have been impressed by the body and minds ability to adapt to new environments, especially in the case of the blind.  After seeing this man today I realize it is impressive but what is even more impressive is the drive to preserver.  Figuratively walking into walls seems bearable when compared to literally doing so.