Halifax walking tour gives sense of challenges faced by blind

A walking tour of Halifax on Sunday gave participants a chance to experience firsthand the barriers blind and partially sighted people face in navigating city streets.

The tour was one of many Jane's Walks held worldwide in tribute to urban activist and author Jane Jacobs, who died in 2016.

Dubbed "What you can not SEE in District 8," the tour led participants on a walk from the CNIB offices on Almon Street through a mixture of busy and quiet streets in the area.

Some participants volunteered to be blindfolded during the tour.

Before the tour started, Milena Khazanavicius, who is blind and uses a guide dog, explained the dos and don'ts of assisting someone who is blind or partially sighted through city streets and the many obstacles they present.

"The intent for me is just to walk through an area where I've lived for over 22 years ... and to point out the importance of looking for obstacles and barriers," Khazanavicius said.

"And beyond all that, just to give information to people who are sighted and able-bodied ... because there's a lot of misconceptions and myths."

During several stops along the way, Khazanavicius asked quiz questions of the participants to highlight misconceptions about blind and partially sighted people, such as that blind people have better hearing.

Another misconception is that anyone with a guide dog or a cane has no vision — many people have some level of vision or the ability to tell different levels of lighting. 

She also pointed out areas where improvements have been made, such as a section of sidewalk along Berlin Street that has been smoothed by the municipality.

Douglas Wetmore, one of the people who chose to do part of the walk blindfolded, said the experience helped him understand the urban environment in a different way.

"These are the neighbourhoods that you walk around, you live in, you breathe them," said Wetmore, one of about 15 people who took part in the tour.

"But when you can't see, it's a completely different neighbourhood ... there's plenty of stuff you can learn and take away from that."