[nfbwatlk] Blind Inventor Killed (fwd)

[Mike Freeman]

I don't think so. I think they're some other tactile device. 
Additionally, I suspect that the curb markings are of some gawdawful 
color "easily" visible by the sight-impaired!

Mike

On Thu, 21 Sep 2006, Smirfette wrote:

> 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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