Room for TWO

On Sunday, I reached Hokko Yacht Yarbor, went to the bathroom and as I was coming out of the clubhouse I heard a voice asking; "Are you Hiro-san?" To my surprise, it was someone who has been reading my blogs and came all the way to the harbor to meet me. Thank you for coming out to see me in such cold weather.

So, in my blog the other day, I talked about the importance of guiding the blind by the elbow rather than guiding by pushing us from behind. Another important thing a guide needs to remember is to make sure there is enough room for two people.

Be careful that you are not making sure you have enough space only for yourself and end up having us walk into a row of parked bicycles or telephone poles. Especially, for example when you are on a floating pier...if you're not careful for the both of you, the blind will fall right into the water. So what should you do if there is only enough room for one person at a time? Good question. Then move the arm that the person you are guiding is holding on to towards the back and let them know you are headed into a narrow space. This works even in a narrow space like a floating pier. Oh! One more thing! When you are trying to guide someone onto a boat, do not try to support them with your hands. Simply place their hand on the side stay (the wire that supports the mast) or stanchion (an upright bar or post). They will be able to get on the boat on their own. It's more stabilizing this way than having someone trying to support you with their hands. Same goes for getting in a car. Many people open the door and push our heads down but you've done plenty by just placing our hand on the door handle. By opening the door ourselves, we have a better idea which way the car is facing and how high the roof is as we sit down. It's much safer this way. I'll write more about guiding again soon.

Originally posted by Hiro in Japanese on 4/23/2013
Translated by SWIS Project