[nfbwatlk] Blind Inventor Killed (fwd)

[Smirfette]

Please forgive my ignorance, but are those the truncated domes?
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Mike Freeman" <k7uij at panix.com>
To: "NFB of Washington Talk" <nfbwatlk at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Wednesday, September 20, 2006 10:19 AM
Subject: [nfbwatlk] Blind Inventor Killed (fwd)


> 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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