<story><title>The secret button at pedestrian crossings</title><url>http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/blogs-ouch-22706881</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>mixmax</author><text>A good friend of mine had an amazing experience showing what blind people are capable of. He overheard a middle aged man who had obviously been blind for a long time schooling a young girl who had recently gone blind on how to get around. They were standing on one side of the road in a quiet neighborhood, and the man was teaching the girl how to assess the distance across the road. The way he did this was absolutely incredible: tap the cane on the curb, and you can hear the echo from the curb and buildings across the road. With experience you can hear how far it is.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>RyanMcGreal</author><text>A few years ago, Paul McCartney performed at the White House. Toward the end of &quot;Hey Jude&quot;, where there were a lot of people up on stage singing the &quot;Na na na na...&quot; part, McCartney accidentally knocked over a mic stand while crossing the stage back to his piano. Stevie Wonder, who was standing nearby, shot his hand out and caught the falling mic stand.&lt;p&gt;Here&apos;s a video:&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h3OC_mKo2Fk#t=341s&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h3OC_mKo2Fk#t=341s&lt;/a&gt;</text></comment>
<story><title>The secret button at pedestrian crossings</title><url>http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/blogs-ouch-22706881</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>mixmax</author><text>A good friend of mine had an amazing experience showing what blind people are capable of. He overheard a middle aged man who had obviously been blind for a long time schooling a young girl who had recently gone blind on how to get around. They were standing on one side of the road in a quiet neighborhood, and the man was teaching the girl how to assess the distance across the road. The way he did this was absolutely incredible: tap the cane on the curb, and you can hear the echo from the curb and buildings across the road. With experience you can hear how far it is.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>toki5</author><text>There is (or was, at least) a group of blind mountain bikers who used echolocation to estimate obstacles in their path. I was floored when I read the article[1] about them; that ability always sounded like a superpower to me.&lt;p&gt;[1]: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/sensory-superpowers/200907/mountain-biking-the-blind&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/sensory-superpowers/2009...&lt;/a&gt;</text></comment>