I kind of like the idea. I've used pepper spray on dogs multiple times. You are correct that a fiberglass white cane won't have as much impact as something metal.

This item sounds like an expandable baton. I did a quick google search to see if they are legal:

There is no federal law that bans carrying an expandable baton . The only state laws that ban the use of expandable batons are California, Massachusetts, New York, and Washington D.C. Other than those states expandable batons are legal .

I suspect these batons might be too short in length to use as a cane.

I'm sorry to disagree with most of the other users who replied to this thread.

Perhaps my answer is very nuanced by my situation (I am from a country where the police that are not corrupt is very restricted by the government) but I don't know how useful the cane you imagine is.

I don't know how it will be there, but at least around here when a thief tries to rob you, he does it with a gun or a knife in his hand. And usually in a group.

You already said that you have health problems so choosing to practice a martial art is not convenient for you. The thing is, if you want to be successful with the cane you envision you will need to practice with it, and be in good shape. An armed robber could outmaneuver you, exploiting the advantages of a likely better physical condition and the absence of visual impairment, and could possibly be more cruel to you for trying to defend yourself.

In addition, I would recommend that you think very carefully about how useful the cane can be to you, since it can create a false sense of security, causing you to take risks that you would not normally take.

I myself practice a martial art (Brazilian jiu jitsu) and I would not risk facing a criminal if he tries to rob me, even if the criminal is apparently unarmed. Who knows, he could carry a concealed weapon, and it's not worth risking your life for a cell phone or wallet or sneakers. One can replace stolen objects, life cannot. I would only defend myself in case he tries to kill me or kill and or rape a loved one knowing that I will probably die trying.

A weapon is, I believe, a tool of last resort, especially if one is not used to using it.

I would recommend that for personal defense you first try to take passive measures that reduce the risk to which you are exposed, such as trying not to travel at night, not carrying valuables (mobile, money, watches, etc.) or personal items in sight. The last one to carry a damaged cell phone as a decoy, hiding the real one somewhere else. Modify your travel routes to walk through crowded or illuminated places, avoid areas where you know there are many aggressive dogs ...

There are many more measures that come to mind, I only mention the ones that seem most relevant to me.

For human aggressors, in most cases the best thing is to give in, lower your head and hand over the valuables, and for animals ... the truth when it happened was enough for me to throw stones in their general direction and try not to look scared.

I hope you find my experiences useful.

Thanks!

The english isn't my native language, i'm sorry for the grammar mistakes.

Tried to send this as a PM, but it wouldn't work.

This is absolutely something my dad would be excited about - I'm the blind one, he's the inventor. He is a kung Fu shifu (one step below master) and has been involved in other martial arts his whole life. if you like, I can ask him to develop some low impact and low/0 vision techniques that involve a thin metal stick - aikido uses swords and wooden poles, so I think he wouldn't find it too difficult. I am also happy to connect the two of you if you like trying new inventions; he's currently working on wearable sonar. He calls it the invisible guide dog.

Sounds interesting.

Have you looked into judo? It’s a full contact sport but can be used outside of the places you’re taught.

I was pretty amazed at how much interest the engineer had. He was bored I think lol. It is a local metal fabrication company. He said that he has buddies in manufacturing and distribution if need be. Its a pretty simple project. Nothing too technical. Before this I spent way too much time looking for something similar and I was willing to pay upwards $2-3 hundred for what I wanted. Blind people need swag too! Someone has to take the next step and pony up the money to design and build something that is an heirloom type device that is rugged, built to last, functional, gives a sense of safety and looks and feels cool as he'll.

I'm poor but hopefully this will happen!

You could design a tapper that functions as a stun baton as well, possibly.

I think there might be others interested but marketing anything to the blind is hard, since there are just not a lot of us. If it's not something the government will buy people at stupid high prices it's kind of an economic dead zone. Wish this wasn't true or we'd have more cool gizmos.