The Canadian Press enlisted Paralympics rower Victoria Nolan to check out access for blind people in Beijing. (She is pictured with the class she teaches, right.) Here's the story:BEIJING — She had barely walked through the door before a person collided with her.
At first the woman gave Victoria Nolan an irritated look. She then noticed Nolan's white cane. Confusion soon turned to embarrassment and, after a quickly whispered apology, the woman hurried away.
For Nolan, a Toronto mother of two who has about three per-cent vision, the incident could have happened in any shopping mall in Canada. The fact it occurred in the frenzy of Beijing's Silk Market though made it different.
"I feel it worse in Toronto sometimes," said Nolan, 33, a member of the Canadian mixed coxed four rowing team which finished sixth at the Paralympic Games. "It's frustrating to get jostled around but I don't feel claustrophobic."
Nolan suffers from a degenerative eye condition called retinitis pigmentosa. She has lost much of her peripheral vision and has limited sight for objects directly in front of her.
Besides being a mother, an athlete and a special education teacher, Nolan has taken on an advocacy role for people with disabilities. She successfully took a Toronto cab driver to court for refusing to allow her guide dog Angus into his taxi. She also has filed a suit against three hotels in Miami over their refusal to allow Angus into their rooms.
Nolan agreed to spend an afternoon shopping in Beijing with The Canadian Press to talk about accessibility issues in China and Canada.
Navigating a crowded Beijing sidewalk can be like running an obstacle course at the best of times. Try closing your eyes and walking through the crowd.
"With the crowds here it is really difficult," said Nolan. "If things are constant I can figure my away around. When things are moving, it's difficult. You constantly have people walking in front of you, jostling you.
"It's tough to concentrate and figure out where you are walking. In Toronto, people generally stay on the right and walk in straight lines. Here, it seems they are walking in every direction, crossing in front of you quickly."
The Silk Market is a warren of shops selling everything from electronics to watches, clothes and sporting goods. Many of the items are knockoffs, the aisles are crowded and the sales people aggressive.
Think of going to Future Shop on Boxing Day morning.
Nolan slowly walked down the aisles, her cane sweeping in front of her. She stopped at several stalls to inspect the goods. She asked staff about the colour of some clothes.
"It's organized and straight," she said. "It's in a grid.
"A flee market in Toronto, everyone would be crowded at a table. It's hard to get in. Here, everyone keeps moving. There is a traffic flow."
When haggling over the price of an item, the salesperson typed her first price on a calculator. The numbers were too small for Nolan to read, but staff quickly found another calculator with much larger numerals.
The salespeople in other booths seemed intrigued to see Nolan navigating alone. They whispered questions to the reporter accompanying her, asking if the lady really couldn't see. Nolan laughed when told about the stares she was getting.
"I don't see it," she shrugged. "It only bothers me if they touch me or start pulling my cane."Most Chinese understand the significance of the white cane but are confused how to help a person holding one, Nolan said. She recently took a cab to a local hotel to visit her mother and sister.
"The doorman picked up the end of my cane and started pulling me through the door," she said. "I was so scared. I didn't know what the ground was like or anything and he was pulling me really fast."
Angus, a huge three-year-old German shepherd, made the trip to Beijing. The pair soon became celebrities.
Only six people in mainland China have guide dogs. Angus's size made him even more of a curiosity. At the athletes village and the competition venue crowds would quickly gather, taking pictures and trying to pet Angus.
"I tried to communicate with people that they shouldn't distract him or touch him," said Nolan, who was forced to leave Angus in her room for shopping trips. "I don't know if they don't understand or chose to ignore me."
While Beijing has presented challenges for Nolan, she also faces many accessibility issues in Canada.
"We still have a long way to go in Canada," she said. "I've had many experiences, especially with my guide dog, where I've been turned out of buildings. It's simple things like going into a restaurant and not being able to get a menu that is in large print."
Some Toronto buildings have wheelchair ramps that are too steep or positioned to near a wall, Nolan said. Some washrooms have wheelchair accessible stalls that the door won't close when a person enters.
"To able-bodied people it appears we've come a long way and we're really accessible, when in fact, we are not," she said.
Nolan became involved in rowing following the birth of her second child. She was battling depression after her vision had decreased even more and wanted to do something active. She quickly fell in love with the freedom the sport offered.
"I feel safe," she said. "You can move really fast and it's really physically exhilarating. You don't have to worry about falling or bumping into anything."
Coming to the Paralympics has introduced Nolan to athletes with many other disabilities and the challenges they face.
It also has served another goal.
"I wanted my kids to be proud of me," she said. "I knew another mom who had RP and she was saying her son was embarrassed when she comes to pick him up at school.
"That really upset me. I thought I wanted to do something so they can say my mom is blind but. I didn't expect it to go this big. It's been amazing."
