I’m in the UK and it took 9 months from when my sight loss was confirmed and the cause diagnosed to my first white cane lesson. Luckily I’d lived in my hometown most of my life (so 49 years of my nearly 55 years at that time I’m 58 now) and walked pretty much everywhere in my hometown in fact I used to say I could find my way around town pretty much blindfolded and now I’m learning that is true. My sight loss is such that the world is an extreme blur that my brain has to figure out. The first five and a half months after my diagnosis I had my pet dog Tippy who needed her daily walks (we did several short toilet walks where we just went round the block but she also had at least one long “play” walk a day where we would walk to a local park land, or woodland area so she could play ball or make sure the squirrels were safely in the tree. I live alone so the responsibility for walking Tippy was all mine. We’d been doing these walks all of her life, we used to do what I called dog nav walks where I’d let her choose would we go to one of two destinations on the route for instance on one route I’d ask her “ lagoon or moneyhole” if she chose to turn left we went to the lagoon (a man made large pond with a couple of fields, a hill and some copses of trees... there were ducks, geese and other water fowl on the lagoon and a huge rabbit warren on the hill. It’s on one edge of our town and beyond is farmland and villages. The town is fairly small only about 3 miles by 3 and a half miles and pretty much surrounded by fields, woodland and villages that were mentioned in the Domesday book that William the Conqueror had written nearly a millennium ago) if she chose straight on we went to moneyhole (which is a proper park with swings, slides etc, plus several football pitches a small basketball court and surrounding it are strips of woodland and a large copse that is surrounded by country lanes and farmer’s fields.) Now I’ve set up the circumstances at the time I used a walking stick so if I tripped I had a way to steady myself as of course without a white cane I couldn’t find the tripping hazards. This particular day we’d walked to moneyhole came in one entrance looped round and through the copse and strips of woodland and played ball on the field and it was time to head home... instead of heading home the way we’d come we left through a different exit and kind of continued our “loop” well all went well until we got to a point where I got confused I had three directions to choose from out of four I knew I didn’t want the way we just came or most probably the right hand one it I had lost my point on my “mind map” I couldn’t work out if left or straight on would get us back on track or more lost in a warren of streets that contained cul de sacs and alleyways. Feeling close to tears I decided it was dog nav time. In my most encouraging voice I told Tippy “let’s go home, which way?” And off she went, turning left into a road, through an alley, into another road, and then sat eagerly looking down an alley as I realised where we were and where we needed to go. Tippy sighed heavily when I said “This way Tippy we’re not going back to the park”, so we walked along the road and didn’t go through that alley back to the park and got home safely. Unfortunately my special girl crossed the rainbow bridge five and a half months after my diagnosis and I miss her daily. I eventually had my cane training though it doesn’t sound anything like as good as yours... literally I was taught to detect trip hazards, and steps and then left to get on with it once they decided I could cross roads safely... no advice how to get back on track if I got lost and certainly no work out direction using the warmth to now where the sun is. Thank you for sharing your story

Great story! I had a very similar experience. After I lost all of my vision, I thought I could handle going a couple of blocks to our City Park with my White Cane. Well, that sure was an experience!! I got there OK, but on the way back I some how ended up in a parking lot, just like you. I wanted to cry and call some one, but I did not. I gained my composure, stopped and listened for traffic...which there was very little, and finally figured out which way I needed to go. I made it back home shortly and was so relieved. I am definitely a fan of white cane / o and m training. It is a must!! It teaches you so much. It was hard to get over the white cane stigma as well. Thanks for sharing. Happy 2020 :-)

It's not a lost story but back when I had sight there was a time when I accidentally got into the wrong car. There was a family in the local area that owned the same car as my mother and it happened to pull up by me, assuming it was my mum I got in and it turned out to not be her at all. I think I terrified the poor woman who's car it was haha. Nice story Greg enjoyed it, you definitely handled it more indipendently than I would have because I definitely think I'd have just called someone to come help me haha :)

Even with about 18 years of orientation and mobility training at this point, I still get lost and end up in situations like this. Almost every single time I do not call anyone for help, because I know that I can get myself out of it. It might take a long time, but it definitely can be done. I also use the Compass app when I end up in situations like this.

thank you so much for the story. I've been thinking about making blogs like this about some of my experiences, but I went blind almost fifteen years ago, and those stories aren't as fresh in my memory. That, or maybe I'm not ready to start reliving some of thos memories. Great stuff.

Well done and way to stay cool. It is so easy to lose our patience with something like that. Way to push yourself though. It is important for us to stay on top of our O&M training on a daily basis so we don't become complacent and reliant. Good job brother.

What I would have done? Taxi!! 🦯🛹

As a sighted-guy, would it have been helpful for me to pull over and asked if you needed help? I'm sure it was apparent you were "lost"...