MY CANE IS MY WING.

At times I think, why do birds have wings to fly? What does flying mean? When I asked my mom this question, she said, “Flying means the capacity to fly in the air”. As a blind kid, I asked my mom how the action of flying takes place. “How I can feel that mom?” I questioned again. She took me to our garden, raised, stretched my hands and moved my hands up and down in the air.  My mom told me this is how a bird flies in the sky. That is the first time in my life, I felt the wonderful and magical feeling of flying. I realised how gracefully the wings move up and down in the air. I then admired the way a bird travels.

In the coming days, I started questioning myself. If birds can travel for miles across the oceans, with full freedom and choice, why can’t I? Where are my wings? How am I going to fly up in the sky? How can I travel around the world? How can I travel as a blind? Is my disability, a barrier for my travelling?  How can I admire the beauty of the whole world? How could I explore the culture of my fellow beings? Am I going to stay idle in one place, for the whole of my life? Can I also experience the sense of energizing and refreshing that sighted people experience because of travelling?

Days and years passed by and my thirst for travelling was increasing. Still I couldn’t find the answer for my question, “where are my wings?” One fine day, I found that my cane which I use for my mobility, was missing. I searched for my cane a whole day, but I couldn’t remember the place where I left it. So I planned to order for a new cane and I understood that it will take almost a week to  receive the cane for which I ordered. Things started bothering me as I couldn’t move even from my house to my school without my cane. It went for a week to ten days almost. Usually people tell that “we will not be able to realise the worth of a person or thing who or which is always around us”. It so happened with my cane.

                                                           YES…..it is at this point I understood that my wings are   “MY CANE”!

After that nobody could stop me from flying. I made a promise to myself that I will never miss my cane, it means I made a commitment to wave my wings. Some people started questioning me, can a blind travel across the country, behind the national and international borders? How can they go independently without a sighted guide? The only answer I told piercingly and confidently to the whole world is “My cane is my wing”, and I don’t have any limitations or boundaries like the birds to explore the planet in which we live.

\"I stretched my wings as wide as possible with my cane, started exploring, opening my mind to the external world, feeling the breath of independence,  collecting unforgettable memories for lifetime, discovering myself, experiencing the value of humanity and different cultures, developing a new attitude and passion, and a blind girl of strong and better deter­mination\".

I would like to let the whole world know this: It doesn’t matter whatever my travel plan is. It may be official or personal. It may be within my nation or out of my country border. It may be travelling in a bus or car or flight. It may be a lonely travel or with my blind and sighted friends…. I always have just one sentence I say to myself, “YES! Tiffany, it’s time to stretch your wings”.

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