[nfbwatlk] Blind Inventor Killed (fwd)

[Mike Freeman]

Read on. It is highly ironic, to say the least, that all the "blind 
signs" in the world didn't help this guy. Good O&M might have helped him 
(assuming the gunshot that took his sight didn't also damage his brain 
such that he had problems with spacial awareness).

And yet proponents of gizmos, gewgaws and gadgets designed purportedly 
to help the blind won't see the obvious -- that tactile or auditory 
orientation devices don't guarantee the safety of blind pedestrians and 
won't take the place of common sense and good cane or dog skills. 
They'll want *more* of these devices.

Mike Freeman

---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Wed, 20 Sep 2006 00:26:09 -0700
From: Sue Ammeter <sue.ammeter at cablespeed.com>
Reply-To: WCB-L <wcb-l at wcbinfo.org>
To: wcb-l at wcbinfo.org, acb-l at acb.org
Subject: [Wcb-l] Blind Inventor Killed

     September 19, 2006

Blind inventor killed crossing Oregon highway
He created curb markers to help sight-impaired navigate streets

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

GLIDE, Ore. -- A blind man who invented curbside markers to help the
sight-impaired was struck and killed while crossing a highway, the
authorities said.

Kevin Stockton, 47, of Glide was hit by a van traveling on state Route 138
East and then by a pickup, the Oregon State Police said. Stockton died at
the
scene Friday night, and neither driver was injured, police said.

Stockton developed Blind Signs, curbside markers that help blind people
cross the street. Earlier this year, Roseburg, Ore., completed a two-year
project
to install 82 of the markers at intersections throughout the city.

"He developed Blind Signs to keep stuff like this from happening, and this
is a hell of a way for the point to get across," his wife, Emmy Stockton,
told
The Roseburg News-Review.

Stockton was shot in the head by a high-powered rifle seven years ago,
leaving him completely blind, hard of hearing and prone to seizures.

After a harrowing experience trying to cross a Portland street, he decided
to make a way-finding device that would be cheap and functional.

His idea was simple: place a series of bumps pointed directly toward a
crosswalk. Walkers feel the bumps with their cane or their feet and are then
able
to aim themselves correctly to cross the street. The design can be readily
identified by the blind and can be used to indicate the location of bus
stops.

Emmy Stockton speculated that her husband became disoriented and wandered
out to the middle of the road.

"He got upset because he was trying to fix something at home," she said.

"He decided to try and go for a walk and do something to be independent, and
that's what led up to the accident."

State police are still investigating the death.



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