The sewer is the conscience of a city.
The blind path is a reflection of the humanity of a city.
Like healthy people, blind people also need daily travel, eating, shopping, working and medical treatment.
But few people pay attention to whether they can get on the road safely and smoothly.
Yang Fan stopped when he passed by a little girl who was holding a blind stick in her arms that was taller than her head.
The little girl's eyes were clear but unfocused. She heard footsteps close by her, so she quickly hugged the blind stick in her arms.
Yang Fan took a look at the road conditions in front of the little girl.
During the road construction, a small area of bricks were dug out, including the blind path.
A cordon was set up around the construction section.
"Do you need help?" Yang Fan asked gently.
The little girl smiled happily and said quickly, "Thank you, big brother. Can you help me bypass this section of the road and take me across the street? It was fine when I came here at noon, but now the road is gone when I come back."
"Okay, follow me." Yang Fan took the initiative to grab one end of the little girl's blind stick and led her around the construction section.
In fact, it is only a few meters away, and for a normal person, it can be walked over in a few seconds.
But it was just these few meters that kept the little girl here for who knows how long.
“Left, 1, 2, 3… Right, 1, 2, 3… Right, 1, 2, 3…” The little girl muttered to herself as she followed Yang Fan.
Yang Fan didn't disturb her and took her around the construction section and then across the road.
"How did you cross the road by yourself without any family members to guide you?" Yang Fan asked the little girl when crossing the road.
The little girl smiled and said, "I'll just follow the crowd."
Looking at the empty zebra crossing with just himself and the little girl, Yang Fan asked, "For example, now, if no one is crossing the road and it's just you, what would you do?"
The little girl said with some embarrassment: "If no one is crossing the road, I will cross it by myself. My mother said that whether I can reach the other side of the road depends on luck."
Yang Fan was silent for a while.
The little girl seemed to be comforting Yang Fan, saying: "People's luck is always good. My luck is not bad either. I have crossed the road many times by myself and have never been hit once."
Yang Fan forced a smile on his face. If I had been bumped into, even just once, I wouldn't be able to see you now.
The little girl smiled with her white teeth showing: "My mother told me that when crossing the road alone, one should keep a constant speed and never stop and go, because that would make it difficult for the driver to judge. Every time I cross the road, I will prick up my ears and listen carefully, and judge how far a car is from me by listening to the sound of the engine."
When a blind person crosses the road, the first thing that people consider is the feelings of healthy people. Yang Fan sighed, and at the same time he finally understood why some street crossing lights are equipped with sound prompts.
In the past, he always felt that it was unnecessary.
It turns out that I had never considered that there are people in this world who cannot see, and who need this voice.
However, not all traffic lights have sound prompts.
The little girl is very cheerful. She does not have the loneliness and inferiority that are common among blind people. She said enthusiastically, "I like taking the subway and light rail the most when I go out, because rail transit has a standardized station announcement system and I can find the direction smoothly. I am most afraid of taking the bus, because sometimes the route announcement system is not standardized, and sometimes multiple buses arrive at the station at the same time, and the bus leaves before I find the one I want to take."
Yang Fan listened carefully. It is indeed not easy for people with visual impairments to go out.
Stepping onto the blind path again, the little girl stopped and kept thanking Yang Fan: "Thank you, big brother, thank you, I can walk by myself now."
Yang Fan put down the end of the cane, watched it touch the blind path, watched the little girl let out a long sigh, and asked softly, "How long have you been standing there waiting?"
The little girl clicked the watch on her wrist and asked softly, "Youyou, what time is it now?"
The smartwatch immediately told the little girl the time. After hearing it, the little girl smiled and replied, "About half an hour."
Yang Fan sighed: "Many people don't understand your gesture of asking for help. Why don't you speak up?"
"There are fewer people at night, and I asked passers-by for help, but they didn't respond and just left." The little girl still had a bright smile on her face.
Yang Fan didn't know whether her visual impairment was congenital or acquired.
If it was acquired, then this little girl must be extremely strong inside.
"I apologize to you on their behalf. Maybe they are too afraid of this society and afraid of being deceived. Please forgive me." Yang Fan said ashamedly.
"No, no, I'm fine." The little girl panicked: "My mom, I can't wait for help, my mom will come and take me home."
"How far is your home? I'll take you there." Yang Fan said with a smile.
"It's not far. As long as the blind path is not occupied, I can go back home and my mother will be waiting for me in the community." The little girl walked slowly forward, tapping with her blind stick and taking two steps.
She would only stop and reposition herself when she came to a turn.
Some blind paths are not very user-friendly and have gaps, but the little girl passed through them smoothly thanks to her strong memory.
Looking at the little girl's clothes, Yang Fan didn't ask her if she had a guide dog.
Can't afford it, can't afford to maintain it.
Although guide dogs are the eyes of the blind, they are only standard equipment for a minority of blind people.
Yang Fan treats guide dogs with the most tenderness and care.
If a dog wants to become a guide dog, the initial selection threshold is very high.
Guide dogs are usually Labrador Retrievers and Golden Retrievers.
The reason is that dogs of this breed are gentle by nature and less aggressive.
Then check the dog's family history and whether it has any aggressive behavior towards humans.
If it wants to become a guide dog, its parents and ancestors cannot have any record of hurting people, and the selection standards are even higher than those for police dogs.
This is just the first step.
After learning reporting, guide dogs must undergo a series of professional training.
For example, resist the temptation of food.
Being greedy is a dog's nature.
But the staff have to curb it and use some special training to teach guide dogs to actively resist temptation.
And they must obey their master's orders at all times.
When guide dogs are working, they are inevitably disturbed by other animals.
But as soon as the owner shouts, the guide dog will ignore it.
Yang Fan saw a video in which a Husky was yelling at a guide dog, as if it wanted to fight.
But the guide dog just squatted there, not moving at all, not even uttering a "woof".
The examination for guide dogs before they are employed is extremely strict, with an elimination rate of over 70%.
There have been no cases of guide dogs attacking humans in China, and there has not been a single report of a guide dog injuring a human in the world so far.
It is precisely because guide dogs are reliable and safe that the law gives them the green light: they are allowed to enter public places.
But even if there is a legal basis, many public places still refuse to allow guide dogs to enter.
For example, some subways, some buses, and some hotels.
A visually impaired woman was turned away by subway staff 11 times because she was traveling with a guide dog.
The guide dog is more sensitive and loyal than the average pet. When it was blocked from the door for the 11th time, it lay on the ground and cried.
"Do you think it's convenient to go out?" Yang Fan asked as he followed the little girl.
After hesitating for a while, the little girl nodded: "It's OK. As long as the road is not repaired, I will remember how to get there after walking a few times."
Along the way, Yang Fan looked at the design of the blind paths. They were either winding or intermittent, and there were very few straight ones.
Give way to normal pedestrians.
The little girl is just more easily contented, so she thinks everything is okay.
The reality is that the design and practicality of the blind path are far from meeting their requirements.
Indeed, at the beginning, the little girl’s mother never dared to let her go out alone, fearing that she would get lost due to her poor eyesight, and even more worried about traffic safety.
When blind people travel, they need to constantly compose pictures in their minds. After walking along the road once, they rely on the sense of touch under their feet and the sense of hearing of their ears to construct a three-dimensional picture. The cane in their hands is like a detector, checking the road conditions 1 meter away at any time.
When an obstacle appears at a certain point in the picture, you have to go around it. Next time you will be extra careful, or even dare not pass through this place again.
These obstacles include both those left over from the construction of the blind path and those artificially erected.
These "blind spots" hinder the blind from traveling, and even leave them with bruises all over their bodies and trauma in their hearts.
The blind paths that blind people like are straight, which makes walking smoother, but observe the actual blind paths carefully.
The blind path is full of bends, the manhole cover is sandwiched in the middle of the blind path, the trees on the roadside occupy the blind path, the tiles on the blind path are uneven, and there are no tiles...
The blind paths are becoming more and more like decorations. They are not built specifically for the blind, but for healthy people to "see".
In addition, it is not uncommon to see cars occupying the blind paths for parking, and the phenomenon of shared bicycles occupying the blind paths is everywhere. All of this makes it difficult for blind people to travel.
"Big brother, I'm here, thank you for taking me home." At the end of the blind path, back at the entrance of the community, the little girl kept bowing to thank Yang Fan.
"I helped you and you thanked me. After crossing the road, you walked back by yourself. I didn't help much, so you don't have to thank me." Yang Fan looked at the little girl who was standing at the end of the blind path with no blind path under her feet.
Although there are problems with the blind paths on the streets, at least there are roads specifically for the blind to walk on.
But the most critical 100 to 200 meters from the street to the doorstep is completely blank.
"Thank you very much, big brother, you are a good person!" The little girl's smile was innocent and romantic, one of the most healing smiles Yang Fan had ever seen.
"Okay, I'll take it." Yang Fan asked, "Can you walk the rest of the way by yourself?"
After hesitating for a while, the little girl said, "Sure, mom may not be available yet, I'll walk back by myself first. If I can't find the way, I'll wait for her, or call her and ask her to pick me up."
The little girl walked this distance for a long time, memorized it repeatedly, and became familiar with it. Now she can almost walk to the door of the residential building.
Everything will be easy once you arrive at the entrance of the residential building.
In the past, every time she went home, she could only walk to the gate of the community, step on the last tile of the blind path, and wait for her mother to come downstairs to pick her up.
Because she didn't know how to proceed.
Later, her mother guided her to walk back and forth many times before she dared to walk.
But the success rate is still not very high, because the community is complex and there are often construction obstacles that appear, and it is not the same every day.
Yang Fan vaguely remembered that there were nearly 20 million visually impaired people in the country, but he never saw them going out. Tonight was the first time he encountered them.
It turned out that it was really inconvenient for them to travel.
Now, he hopes that these visually impaired people can come out, adapt to society and integrate into it, but he is also worried that they may be in danger in the process of integration.
He doesn't know when the blind paths will be dedicated to the disabled and straightened, the obstacles on the blind paths will be completely removed and laid to the doorsteps of people's homes, buses will be able to announce stops accurately and stop longer for disabled people, pedestrian crossings will be equipped with sound reminder devices, and supermarket shelves and shopping mall toilets will be equipped with Braille labels.
"Tell me which building you live in and I'll take you back." Yang Fan picked up the blind stick again and said to the little girl.
The little girl quickly pulled back the cane and said, "Big brother, no need, I can walk by myself. Mom said that others can help me once, but they can't help me for a lifetime. I have to rely on myself."
Yang Fan didn't insist and asked, "Then do you remember how to get there?"
The little girl walked forward with a cane. Hearing this, she stopped and said, "Remember, go forward about 107 steps, then turn right and go up the stairs. There are 17 steps in total. The first nine steps are in a group, and the last eight steps are in a group. Go up the stairs with five steps in the middle. Then go forward 21 steps and turn left..."
"Okay, you go by yourself. I'll stay quiet and not disturb you." Yang Fan said and then shut up.
The little girl smiled at him and continued walking forward.
When they were halfway there, a woman came hurriedly towards them, but after seeing the little girl, she slowed down and even stood still and didn't come over.
She followed quietly only after the little girl had walked past.
At the same time, she was also wary of Yang Fan.
When she walked over from a distance, she saw Yang Fan was very close to the little girl.
Her daughter is not particularly beautiful, but she is also very pretty.
If the road hadn't been so busy, if there hadn't been an accident, my daughter wouldn't have been walking on the street so late tonight.
"Seven, eight..." Suddenly, the little girl stopped, turned her head, and looked in the direction of her mother: "Mom, are you here?"
"Yes, here it comes." The little girl's mother walked over and picked up her daughter's cane.
The little girl looked around, not knowing which direction Yang Fan was. Finally, she said to the air, "Big brother, my mother is here. Thank you for taking me home."
The little girl's mother then looked at Yang Fan with a little surprise.
I thought Yang Fan had bad intentions. He saw that the girl was pretty and he followed her blatantly even though he couldn't see.
"Mom, there is road construction on the road tonight, and the big brother took me there and sent me across the road." The little girl said to her mother again.
The little girl's mother quickly bowed to Yang Fan, very grateful: "Thank you, thank you for helping Xiaoyan so much, it's really a bother for you."
"You're welcome. Xiaoyan has already thanked me, so there's no need to thank me again." Yang Fan said politely to the mother next to her after taking a look at Xiaoyan, who was standing tall and graceful and dressed neatly in ordinary clothes.
After a pause, he couldn't help but whispered, "Xiaoyan, is this natural or acquired?"