You absolutely do *NOT* have to feel bad after hitting someone with your cane! If anything they should feel bad for you considering they are the ones who got in the way of someone who can't really see, Y'know as the fully sighted people who should look at their surroundings.

I also commonly hit people with my cane cause they weren't looking where they were going, Even with my glasses on while using the cane I usually have to look down at the floor to look at where I'm stepping sometimes and the amount of people that keep just teleporting in front of me when I glance down to not trip over is astounding.

I am sorry that you have to go through the everyday annoyance of bumping into people cause they are too sucked into their phones to notice you with a cane.

If people don't want to use the sight they have, it's not your fault for navigating the earth with the tools you have because of the sight you don't got.

GOD, yeah it's a huge issue where I live. I've even had an issue with people trying to jump my cane and getting hit in the groin while I walk as a result.

I was always taught to just hit people who don't pay attention, and move on without another word. If they decide to cause a scene I was told to explain that I'm blind, and my cane warns me of obstacles that I could hit. As a sighted person, it's their job to move out of the way if they don't want to get hit, but if they don't move, they an an obstacle; my cane will treat them as such.

I only feel bad if it’s someone who doesn’t know better - small children and dogs

You should have seen the beat down I was about to get when my guide dog stuck his cold wet nose up a gals very short skirt! We were waiting in a line and my dog was trying to get her to move.
That's a true story. Hope it made you laugh. Sometimes it is frustrating but let the negativity go and you will be happier.

If you hit me in the legs because I wasn't paying attention I would definitely apologize. Not to me, I mean I would apologize to you for potentially causing an injury

The only people I feel bad for is children and dogs. I go to a public school and I wack away all day because of those crowded halls. Nobody seems to really care tbfh student wise. So I see no reason to give a care either.

If you're coming up behind someone in a noisy environment well, it's sort of hard to avoid. If someone's walking straight toward you, maybe they should have been paying more attention, but honestly it doesn't really matter. It's going to happen. I don't think I have ever once had anyone be funny about it. It's pretty obvious what the situation is and that there's not much I can do about it. I might reflexively say oh, sorry, but it's the same sort of apology you'd give if you accidentally brushed up against someone in a crowd, it's not something you remember thirty seconds later.

Dont feel sorry about it, just keep using the cane ;-)

Nope, just say a polite "Sorry" and keep going on your way.

Nope give ‘em a little bap, keep ‘em on their toes.

One of my clients (cognitive delays and blind) has a cane technique that looks like golf mixed with martial arts. He forcibly clears his own path - the people will move or they will receive thwackage and he has absolutely zero fricks to give. He doesn't due this intentionally, this is just how he travels - we can hear him coming a long way away.

Occasionally accidents happen. Apologize and move on. I am sighted; I have the higher responsibility to either move out of the way of someone who is blind or at least let them know where I am (e.g. saying good morning or something).

I would say three things:

1. like everyone else, fuck no don't feel bad about just sensing where people are around you
2. if you're hitting them in the *leg* rather than the shoe then you're probably swinging too high. swing lower; it'll take less effort, notice more obstacles (like annoying little bumps that can make you stumble), and hit people in a less sensitive area if you do hit 'em.
3. try to pay attention to all the other cues — heat, wind currents, wind shadow, sound, echolocation, etc — that let you detect where people are. of course it's extremely hard to do this consistently; even when I'm hyper concentrated I only get them some of the time. but it helps, and you can sometimes navigate around them so it takes less time and tangle potential.

I go to a high school where everybody is pretty much on their cell phones all of the time, if they don’t move, it’s their own fault if I rammed them to the ground lol. Can’t get into trouble considering I am blind and they are on their phones. Do not feel bad.

Are you beating someone up because you are mad? Or are you a psycho wacking them crazily with pleasure. Do you enjoy beating them up because you get joy in torturing people? Okay no?

I think you should be fine then.

Usually our canes finds obstacles including people and you’re not doing it to wack them because you’re angry or delusional.


But these are accidental so I think you should be totally fine :D

Unless you have bad intentions you didn’t tell us about hahahaha!

My sister actually did something with the blind for her engineering degree she did one of those sensor things and she was talking about this tapping someone with a cane. And she was saying yeah, I have a sister she’d not care and she’d say tough you dont’ like it I just tapped you whatever, get over it. I forgot what she said, exactly. But I laughed because that’s exactly it.

Depends.

If they're actually looking at their phone and not paying attention, that's not necessarily your fault. If you smack them out of anger, then yes you should feel bad. That's wrong.

You shouldn't feel bad per se, but saying a polite "sorry" isn't going to hurt either.

I think a lot of you forget most people don't interact with disabled people on a daily basis.

If you hit them because they're turned around, maybe they're talking to someone, then I don't know if it's your fault or not, but remember we don't have eyes in the back of our heads. More of a "it is what it is" kind of thing.

The cane tapping is not intended to make people move when you are walking twards them. Your cane touching them should not hurt, as the swing of the cane should not be forceful, and when it touches an obsticle you locate it, and go around it. There is no need to appologize.

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