Reading about physical context in the first reading for this course reminded me of an encounter I had this summer near my apartment in Seattle. After getting off at the bus stop near my apartment one day after work, I saw a blind woman navigating near my apartment complex. It’s a Seattle suburb with not many pedestrians usually, and I was walking at some distance behind her. As I was walking, I realized how often she needs to stop since there are so many poles on the sidewalk. Until that day, I never paid attention to how there are so many utility poles on sidewalks in my neighborhood. In addition, it was trash day, and many people had not removed their giant green trash bins from the sidewalk.
I learned many years ago that when I help a blind person, you should ask for their permission first. As the blind woman was about to walk into another trash can that took up the entire sidewalk width, I called out from behind and said, “There’s a trash can in front of you, I can move it to the side!” She thanked me, and she asked me for additional directions, and the address was actually my apartment complex. She was considering moving here and she was here to see how easy and safe it was to get here with public transportation. She asked if she could take my arm, and I was able to show her around my apartment complex and walk her back to the bus stop. We had a genuinely nice conversation, and it made my week!
Though I had been excited about taking this course since the end of last semester when I heard about it, this encounter made me look forward to this course even more.