For pedestrians who cannot see or have limited vision, navigating New York’s chaotic sidewalks and crosswalks was risky enough before the pandemic. But the epidemic, say the blind, has made walking through the city streets even more risky and heartbreaking.
It has at times reduced the flow of cars and trucks, leaving the streets of some neighborhoods as quiet as the suburban lanes.
It may seem like a blessing to blind New Yorkers like Terence Page. But, in fact, the opposite is true. The normal roar of traffic provides clues – often the only ones – as to when it’s time to venture into a crosswalk.
“Silence is not good for the blind,” Mr. Page said as he swept his long green cane across the sidewalk along Sixth Avenue in Manhattan, trying to locate the sidewalk at West 23rd Street.
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Mr. Page walked this avenue with confidence, as the crossing is equipped with an audible signal that alerts pedestrians when they are given a green light to cross the sidewalk. The vast majority of the city’s 13,200 crossings are not.
As a result, a federal judge concluded that the city had not fully protected some of its most vulnerable residents.
The judge ruled in October that the “near total absence” of these devices – known as accessible pedestrian signals – violated the civil rights of blind people by denying them equal access to city crosswalks.
The pandemic has also hampered another source of aid. When in doubt, blind people can often rely on other pedestrians to guide them or on an elbow to hold onto. The coronavirus has made other travelers less inclined to get so close, Page said.
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“There are fewer people who want to help or even touch you,” he says.
To make matters more difficult, sidewalks and streets are filled with new obstacles: dining tables surrounded by makeshift fences and tents.
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