Blindfolded, he tests intersections that lack audible signals for blind
by Felicia Thomas-Lynn
(Reprinted from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, December 30, 2001.)
James Ito doesn't back down from challenges, particularly where his job is concerned.
That's why Ito, Milwaukee's traffic and lighting design engineer, was the first to accept a challenge while attending a recent intersection safety workshop.
"I didn't expect anyone to take me up on my challenge," said Larisa DeZayas, an instructor with the Badger Association of the Blind.
DeZayas issued a challenge to sighted workshop participants to cross the street -- while blindfolded -- at some of the area's more dangerous intersections.
"The streets and sidewalks are becoming more complex" for those who are blind to navigate, said DeZayas, who teaches them how to travel. "There is more of a focus on the driver end of things and less on the pedestrians."
Four Milwaukee intersections -- N. 54th and W. State streets, N. Hawley Road and W. Wells St., N. Hawley Road and W. Wisconsin Ave., and N. 33rd and W. Vliet streets -- now have audible signals that help notify blind people when a light turns green and it is safe to cross the street. It's Ito's job to research whether other intersections should have the audible signals.
So off Ito and DeZayas went, tackling lesser congested areas first and building up to the granddaddy of intersections: N. Mayfair Road and W. North Ave. at the height of the holiday shopping season.
"I lay awake from 1 to 2 a.m. this morning and thought, 'Gee, I wonder if this is going to be the day when someone runs me over,'" Ito jokingly said while placing a bright yellow blindfold across his eyes and popping his white guide cane into place.
Standing in place for a moment, Ito listened for DeZayas' marching orders.
Moving back and forth, Ito's cane clicked across the street into the right-turn bypass island. Not too bad, he thought. He waited and listened. Ears are a blind person's eyes.
Behind him, traffic zoomed by, followed by a lull. He started again, click, click, click.
Passing the first three lanes of the six-lane highway, he waited again. This time, though, he was more tentative. He paused before taking a step. Then he went. Click, click, click. He made it, but barely.
Ito said the lessons he learned wouldn't be taken lightly. "The goal of this experience was to give me an appreciation of the challenges people who are blind are confronted with when they choose mobility and walk the city streets or use the bus," Ito said. "I wanted to develop a sense. I've gotten that."