05/09/2026
When I look back, long cane training wasnāt the hardest part.
Coming home was.
Weād come from all over Queensland to attend the 2 full days of training.
Abd fir the 1st time in my vision loss journey, I was surrounded by people who got it.
We had different conditions - degenerative, age-related, tumours, retinal detachments and more.
Yet our experiences of living with low vision or blindness were similar.
We shared, laughed, cried and exchanged tips.
Those moments were life-changing.
And that feeling of connection was immediate.
Then we went home.
We returned to our different towns, lives and routines - and using the cane became real.
When I felt lost and alone again,
one person made a lasting difference:
my orientation and mobility specialist.
She suggested we meet soon after the training, while everything was still fresh.
We walked my regular routes,
Tried different tips and canes,
practised my techniques and
developed strategies for the places I regularly visited.
That follow-up gave me confidence and kept me accountable. Without it, it would have been easy to put the cane away and slip back into pretending I could see more than I could.
The training gave me the skills.
The follow-up helped me use them in everyday life.
What made things easier when you returned homeāand what support do you wish had been there?
[ID: A square graphic divided into two sections. On the right, Jo sits on a wooden bench in a leafy park, wearing sunglasses and a coral dress with a botanical print. She holds her white cane with its red handle and looks thoughtfully into the distance. On the left, large black text reads, āComing home was the hardest part.ā Rust-coloured quotation marks appear above the text, with Joanne Cabot below.]
