News

My first Braille Map Experience at a Garden: Seattle Sensory Garden

The first time I experienced a Braille map of a garden was in Seattle. Thoughtfully designed exhibits throughout this oasis encourage us to savor all our senses; they even have a tribute to proprioception, the sense for knowing where your body is in space, a kind of internal GPS. While most gardens focus on sight, this one celebrates six senses!

Many organizations worked together to create this free, public garden: the Seattle Department of Parks and Recreation, Friends of the Sensory Garden, Local Lions Clubs, Seattle Department of Neighborhoods, Woodland Park Zoo, Seattle Parks Foundation, and more. Thank you!

Descriptive Transcript

Haben gently runs her fingers across Braille on a vertical sign. The top part says, “Welcome to Woodland Park Rose Garden, Open 7:30 a.m. to Dusk.” Below that, an arrow points to the right and says:

Haben (reading out loud): Seattle Sensory Garden!

Seeing Eye dog Mylo and Haben stride along a wide, paved path toward a blue archway. Their friends Margaux Joffe and her small dog Codi stand beside a map for the garden. The sign has print, Braille, and tactile lines for the map. It’s tilted at an angle to make Braille reading easier. Haben stands by the sign, reading the Braille out loud.

Haben (reading): A garden in peak season is a riot for the senses! A symphony of sound, scents, and sight. We invite you to touch, see, listen, smell and move.

She touches a lilac, a small purple flower, leaning close to enjoy the sweet fragrance.

Haben (reading): Local Lions Clubs who serve people who are deaf and blind planted the seed of an idea for this space in 2008.

The camera zooms in on her hands reading, then shows the map with “Meadow Gardens,” “Woodland Gardens,” “Cathedral of Melodies,” “Table of Understanding,” and more.

Haben (reading): Come stimulate your senses at the Seattle Sensory Garden, an inclusive space for people of all ages and abilities.

Touch Tour at the Museum of Flight in Seattle

Imagine a future where blind people building planes, flying planes, and shaping aviation policy is so common it ceases to be remarkable. Seattle’s Museum of Flight has a selection of planes both blind and sighted people are encouraged to touch. Blind guests can also arrange an extended touch tour, and during my visit a pilot invited us to step over the public access barriers. The hands-on exploration of aviation history included studying the plane modeled on the one flown by Amelia Earhart. We’re excited for more museums around the world to offer accessible programs like touch tours!

Thank you to Gary, our museum guide, for teaching us so much about flying! I’m also grateful for my friend Margaux Joffe who scheduled the tour and joined me on this adventure.

Descriptive Transcript

Seeing Eye dog Mylo wags his tail as he nudges Haben. She’s sitting inside a small, single-seater plane that is positioned slightly lower than the museum floor. She explores the control panels with one hand while petting Mylo who is standing outside the plane.

Haben (voiceover): The Museum of Flight in Seattle offers touch tours.

Photo: Three people smiling together by a railing overlooking a multilevel, expansive museum gallery with a variety of planes on the floor and in the air. On the left is Margaux Joffe, a woman with light skin, short dark hair, glasses, a patterned jacket, dark pants, and white sneakers. She has her arm around Gary, an older man with white hair including his beard, light skin, glasses, navy blue blazer with a lapel pin, light shirt, tie, an ID on a lanyard, dark trousers, and dark shoes. On the right is Haben, a woman with long black hair, dark skin, wearing a denim jacket over a dark dress, and sneakers. Mylo lies on the floor in front of the group, smiling with his tongue out.

Haben (voiceover): Allowing blind individuals to feel a variety of planes, from the engines to climbing into the pilot’s seat.

Photo: Haben studies a radial aircraft engine through blue gloves. Gary also wears blue gloves. Behind them, multiple planes are visible on the floor as well as suspended from the ceiling.

Haben (voiceover): Touch tours help make science more accessible.

Photo: Margaux and Haben smile from inside the pilot seats of a small, bright red RotorWay Scorpion. The helicopter has several strips of black tape on its front. Still, Haben is signing ILY with optimism. Behind them is a large, gray and white model of a space capsule with a yellow entry ramp and open hatch. The capsule and helicopter are in a room with blue carpets, blue walls with painted puffy, white clouds, and panoramic windows showing more planes outside.

Love in the Lead: International Guide Dog Day

It’s International Guide Dog Day! Please share this video and encourage people to support The Seeing Eye. You can volunteer to help raise Seeing Eye puppies or make a donation by going to SeeingEye.org.

Descriptive Transcript

A German Shepherd dog on a big fluffy bed gazes toward the camera with his ears pointed. Beside him is a toy bone.

Haben (voiceover): Is this a guide dog or a Seeing Eye dog? Let’s learn the facts so we don’t step on any paws. 

Haben Girma, a Black woman in her thirties with long dark hair, wears a colorful dress. She stands in front of closed blue curtains, speaking to the camera.

Haben: There are schools all over the world that train dogs to guide blind people, but the oldest school is called The Seeing Eye, and it’s in Morristown, New Jersey. Only dogs from The Seeing Eye should be called Seeing Eye dogs.

Danielle Burton, a white woman in her thirties with long brown hair, wears a floral vest over a pink shirt, light-colored pants, and a backpack with an attached dog bowl. She walks while holding the leather harness connecting her to her Seeing Eye dog.

Danielle (voiceover): Danielle is walking down an unpaved road. She is being guided by her Seeing Eye dog Violet, who is a black Labrador Retriever. Violet is navigating various obstacles.

Violet steps cautiously on a forest trail covered in twigs and roots. Above them, the treetops glow golden in the evening sun.  

The video returns to Haben speaking.

Haben: Because of our civil rights laws, just about anywhere the public can go guide dogs can go. I was at a cafe the other day and they said no dogs allowed. But someone else in line saw this and they spoke up and said actually, you have to allow service dogs. This is a service dog. I love when bystanders become allies! You help make our world more accessible when you advocate for the people around you.

Kiran Kaja, a tall man in his forties with medium brown skin and short black hair, wears a blue shirt, light-colored pantss, and a backpack. He walks with a Golden Retriever Seeing Eye dog. 

Kiran (voiceover): My guide dog India is professionally trained by The Seeing Eye to help blind people like me independently navigate the world. Here he is confidently guiding me through a produce aisle in the grocery store without getting distracted by all the fresh food around him.

India walks beside open refrigerated shelves of vegetables. He continues past Haben and Mylo, her German Shepherd Seeing Eye dog, and India stays entirely focused on guiding Kiran.

The video cuts to a commuter train pulling into a station. Haben stands on the platform with her Seeing Eye dog Mylo.

Haben (voiceover): Lots of dogs can memorize routes, but Seeing Eye dogs are so well trained they can guide in places they’ve never been before. Seeing Eye dog Mylo takes cues from me. I need to know which train to take, and once it arrives then I can tell him to help us find the door.

When Haben gestures with her hand Mylo swiftly guides them to the nearest door. He waits for her to find the step, and then they both climb inside the train.

The video cuts to Haben speaking.

Haben: Thousands of hours and dollars go into training these amazing dogs. The Seeing Eye is a registered charity, and if you’d like to make a donation or volunteer your time, go to SeeingEye.org. It’s International Guide Dog Day, so please share this video and encourage people to support The Seeing Eye.

As cities embrace bicycles, let’s not forget pedestrians. Thousands of bikes parked on sidewalks in Amsterdam force pedestrians into streets where they face even more bikes. Seeing Eye dog Mylo rose to the challenge, and I felt safer having him by my side. It’s my hope city planners around the world design obstruction-free pedestrian pathways, and implement policies so they stay barrier-free.

Seeing Eye Dog Mylo Navigates Amsterdam

Descriptive Transcript

Seeing Eye dog Mylo and Haben, wearing a puffy purple coat, walk down a red brick sidewalk.

Haben: Amsterdam’s narrow, crowded streets energize my guide dog Mylo! He weaves through the people.

Mylo and Haben quickly approach a group of three people who part to let them through.

Haben: Vans half on the sidewalk, he glides past them.

Mylo navigates around a large delivery van that has two tires up on the sidewalk. 

Haben: The really hard part… all the bikes! 

Mylo pauses as three bikes zip past us. He cautiously maneuvers around parked bikes on the sidewalk. 

Haben: So many bikes! And they pop up quickly. From behind. From in front, from all directions!

Mylo looks over his shoulder, then swings his body protectively in front of Haben. A biker zooms by. After the bike passes, Mylo continues walking.

Haben: A lot of the paths where we were walking were shared with bikes. On one sidewalk, the street was on one side and on the other side the canal. But between us and the canal, is a railing, and hundreds of bikes were using that railing as their bike rack. 

A line of parked bikes face boats floating in the canal. On the street, a car – followed by a moped – makes a slow turn to avoid a group of people on bikes.

Haben: As we were walking down, a person coming towards us had to step into the street to go around because the sidewalk plus the bikes just didn’t have enough room. 

Mylo keeps Haben on the narrow sidewalk as people step into the street to get around.

Haben: Then Mylo stops. I reach down…

She touches his nose and he nudges her hand toward the object.

Haben: …and it’s a bike! Of course, it’s Amsterdam!

Haben Girma and Mychal Threets: The Mental Health and Disability Connection

Thank you to the Berkeley Public Library for hosting this conversation between Haben Girma and Mychal Threets! This clip is an excerpt from the library’s YouTube page.

Video description

Haben, Mychal, and an ASL interpreter sit in the front of a large room.

Haben, a black woman in her 30s, wears a colorful flowing dress. Her long black hair cascades over her shoulders. She reads from a braille computer on her lap as Mychal speaks. Mychal, a man in his 30s with brown skin and braids, smiles and speaks expressively. On the far right sits the interpreter, an older woman who is wearing a black shirt that contrasts with her light skin and hair.

Mychal: So someone has asked, “Do you think mental health and disabilities have a connection?”

Haben: Absolutely! One of the things I advocate for is teaching people that psychiatric disabilities are also protected under the Americans with Disabilities Act. And if you need accommodations due to psychiatric disabilities, mental health, you have a legal right to them, and you can ask for them.

And another piece of this is that ableism creates exhaustion, stress. It can trigger depression, it can create anxiety. For example, I get denied rides by taxis, Lyft and Uber regularly. And when I call one I’m nervous that there might be another denial.

So ableism, again, which is the belief and practice of treating disabled people as inferior to nondisabled people, that can definitely trigger and exacerbate mental health issues. So when we are working to remove ableism from our communities and make our communities more accessible, we’re also supporting the mental health of our communities.

Mychal: So I suffer from a great deal of mental health things. I suffer from depression. I suffer from anxiety. I suffer from panic attacks. I suffer from nightmares…nightmare disorders, and I suffer from PTSD. And I’m also currently on my own journey to discover if I’m diagnosed with autism and/or ADHD. So I deal with mental health for quite a bit. I’ve dealt with it since I was – now I know since I was eight years old, so I’ve had a long journey with mental health. And I mentioned all that to say I didn’t realize that a lot of people consider mental health to be a disability until I met Haben at the White House.

I was lucky enough. It was, it was Haben’s birthday. When we were at the White House. And I got to go to her birthday party, which is the unofficial bucket list item to go to Haben Girma’s birthday party. And I met her, I met her brilliant friends, which Haben is a brilliant person, and her friends are equally brilliant. We were talking about mental health, and they were emphatic in saying mental health is a disability, can be a disability. It is Disabled. And I think that’s a connection that we don’t often talk about.