by Jen Barrow
(Editor's Note: When our student intern came to town only a few days before many staff members were due to leave for 10-plus days at the national convention in Houston, Tex., there was barely enough time to get acquainted before thrusting her into the internship tasks we had in mind. But Jen Barrow is no stranger to challenging situations, having just returned from a semester abroad in Ecuador, just a week before coming to ACB's national office in Washington, D.C.
We receive many calls each tourist season from blind members and friends who are curious about how to go about touring the city, with its modern subway system, famous federal monuments, and throngs of visitors from all over the world. We hadn't updated our "tourism resources" or our own knowledge base for a while, so our assignment for Jen while we were away at convention was to take on the city and report to "Braille Forum" readers about her experiences and advice.
Jen managed to have a great time, despite the hundred-degree temperatures and "Code Purple" air-quality conditions which prevailed during the first week of July in Washington, D.C., and a summary of the sites she visited and her experiences as a solo tourist follows.
Thank you, Jen, for coming, for sharing, and for adding just the right amount of youthful enthusiasm to our national office this summer. And thanks for bringing your sweet guide dog, Pumpkin; all of us, including Glory, Bloom, and Ruthie, have enjoyed trading wags and kisses with your perfectly named pooch!
Jen has also attended hearings and committee meetings on topics like the reauthorization of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), Project Action's transportation and pedestrian safety projects, the digital divide, and other issues which are important to ACB. She recommends ACB's national office summer internship to other blind students. Watch future issues of "The Braille Forum" for details about applying for the summer internship and other ACB scholarships.)
The tourism season in Washington, D.C. is well under way as parents, school children and international vacationers crowd the avenues that lead to our renowned monuments, memorials and museums. There is something majestic and awe-inspiring about exploring the hallowed buildings that house our three branches of government, and treading alongside the structures that were erected to honor those who pioneered and those who have preserved our national liberty and identity. The experience of touring such a dynamic and influential city is truly unique . . . or is it?
As far as independent travel for a person who is blind in Washington is concerned, the transit system and street layout are quite logical so that few real frustrations arise while en route. The chances of boarding a bus or train with intelligible stop announcements are hit or miss, but at least the D.C. subway is less complex than either the New York or Boston systems. One noteworthy observation for people who have residual vision that decreases in dim lighting is to be careful in the black holes that are called subway stations, because they are severely light deficient.
I began my tour of DC by taking the all-encompassing Tourmobile bus tour. As with most things in life, the pleasure level of any experience often depends upon the people who are surrounding one. This became increasingly evident throughout the day, as each time I boarded a new tour bus, a new guide materialized to continue the tour narration. Only one of the three guides I encountered was spectacular as she not only narrated all the typical historical data you'd expect to hear, but also periodically slipped in descriptions about a famous statue, or read the inscription engraved upon a building. I didn't quite find the tour fulfilling or worth the expense because the added description was still not sufficient. The information given was interesting, but not anything that couldn't be learned from the History Channel or a tour pamphlet. While aboard, I disembarked at the Lincoln, Vietnam and Korean Memorials, the Air & Space Museum and the Folklife Festival.
For the rest of my week, I had arranged appointments in advance to receive guided tours from docents in the places I visited. This worked out 100 times more efficiently and enjoyably than attempting to do a self-guided tour of the attractions along the Tourmobile route. It is very important to respect the typical recommended process of calling at least two weeks in advance of your arrival to schedule a tour appointment. While on the Tourmobile, I had stopped by the National Air & Space Museum on a whim, and not surprisingly they were not able to spontaneously accommodate my request for an individual docent-led tour. I did, however, enjoy successful and fruitful tours at the National Cathedral, the National Museum of American History and the National Holocaust Memorial Museum, free of charge. Each of the tour docents at these three places was decent, but the highlight was unequivocally the tour at the National Holocaust Memorial Museum. It was called the Guided Highlights Tour, and it is especially geared to visually impaired, blind and deaf-blind visitors. The museum itself is intense and thought-provoking, and the manner in which it was presented by the docent was professional and effective. The American History and Holocaust Museums offered me braille and/or large print pamphlets, and I happened to notice that the Cathedral and parts of the museums had braille descriptions on various exhibits.
I find it fascinating to tour different regions of our country and world in order to gain new understandings about the local culture. There is a great difference between touring specific buildings that cater to conveying one particular pocket of knowledge, such as pertaining to Air & Space, and touring an area to capture the essence of a local culture. I believe that it is very realistic to enter a touring experience expecting to accomplish the first type of learning by visiting various museums and sites, but the second type I've found to be much more elusive. As a person who is legally blind, it was difficult to synthesize a general impression of the local customs, mood, architecture, fashion, etc., because information about these is subtly learned through visual images of their manifestations. While I was walking along Independence Avenue in D.C., I would be lying if I said that it was a thrilling experience that was markedly distinct from walking down Commonwealth Avenue in Boston or Fifth Avenue in New York City.
I like to draw an analogy between touring D.C. as a blind person alone and watching a non-descriptive video by oneself. I experienced several gaps this past week when I did not understand what was surrounding me as I traveled between points, while in the midst of the Folklife Festival, and especially at the outdoor memorials where I tried to determine what I was looking at and why everyone around me thought that it was so impressive. If you were to watch the same hypothetical video a second time, but with description, you would probably realize how much richer it was intended to be as you push the "eject" button with renewed satisfaction and an increased awareness. Depending on what your expectations are for touring Washington by yourself, the end result could be anywhere between mediocre and worthwhile. In the meantime, if you haven't already exhausted the local tourist museums in your own town, schedule an appointment. You'll probably be pleasantly surprised and learn something new!