Protecting The Vulnerable (Part Seven)

I shared these thoughts at the beginning of our series:

I am very concerned about people being able to defend themselves against a physical attack. That’s why I’ve taught self defense and martial arts for 60 years. I hope you’ve found your classes and articles on this blog site helpful in your training through the years. 

What I’d like to do in this new year is to focus on protecting the vulnerable. I’ve had the privilege of teaching self defense to many “vulnerable communities,” including the blind, deaf, elderly, paraplegics, brain damaged, veterans with PTSD, people with medical conditions, and children with learning challenges. Martial arts self defense has something for all of these people.

Self Defense For Blind People

I’ve had the privilege of training scores of blind people through several decades of teaching martial arts and self defense. The largest class of blind people I taught was more than 150 at a Christian retreat center in Florida almost 20 years ago. We spent almost two hours together training how to protect against physical attack. Can blind people protect themselves? Absolutely.

Some “blind” people are legally blind, while others are totally blind. All of the people I worked with in that class were totally blind, meaning each person carried a foldable cane. Foldable canes for the blind come in a variety of lengths, but most of the people I’ve trained carry canes that are about shoulder height in length. Some prefer canes that are between their chin and nose, or about four inches shorter than their height. Because people are different heights, canes for the blind come in varying lengths. The idea is for the person to walk safely at a normal pace.

For adult first-time cane users, we recommend measuring from your shoulders to the floor. The cane needs to reach about two steps in front of where you are stepping. The speed of your pace and length of your stride will make a difference. More experienced cane travelers may wish to have a longer cane, measuring at least chin height.

For children, teens, and young adults who are first-time cane users, we recommend measuring from your chin to the floor. More experienced cane travelers may wish to have a longer cane, measuring at least nose height.

National Federation of the Blind

Training Process

People who are totally blind are usually quite adept at using their cane. Some canes are solid (similar to a thin walking stick), while others fold into sections that can be quickly deployed to full length. One difference between these types of canes is their strength for self defense. Solid canes are often made from fiberglass. They are straight and tend to be stronger for blocking and striking. Folding or telescoping canes may be less strong, but are more sometimes more flexible.

Most of the blind people I’ve trained use folding canes. They tell me folding canes are easier to use because they quickly fold into a length that works well for traveling in cars, buses, taxis, and planes. The folding canes also work well for sitting at a desk or in a chair. Folding canes usually fold into four sections, making them easy to handle in these kinds of situations.

I teach blind people to use their canes for protection from both “folded” and “extended” positions. A folded cane is about two feet in length (a little longer for taller people). That is a great length for “jabbing” someone in the stomach, chest, throat, or face. I teach them to jab from the center of their body toward the voice of the attacker (if the attacker is talking) or toward the center of an attacker based on how they grab .. from both standing and seated positions.

In addition to ‘jabbing’ an attacker in the face, throat, chest, or stomach, a blind person can use their folded cane as a ‘striking’ weapon. If someone grabs them from the front and the cane is folded, the blind person can grab the cane with their hands near the middle of the cane in a way that allows for several inches of the cane to be extended at each end. I teach four basic directions for striking when holding the cane in this way.

1. Strike from left side across the body of the attacker – similar to a left elbow strike to the right side of an attacker’s face.
2. Strike from right side across the body of the attacker – similar to a right elbow strike to the left side of an attacker’s face.
3. Hold the cane with both hands toward the ends of the cane and raise the cane sharply in a striking manner. That would catch the attacker in the throat, chin, or nose.
4. Hold the cane with both hands toward the ends of the cane and lower the cane sharply in a striking manner. That would catch the attacker in the back of the neck or head. That’s good to use after you strike an attacker in the groin with your knee. The groin strike causes the attacker to double over (most of the time), allowing you to sharply strike the back of their head or neck with a descending blow from the cane.

If the attacker grabs a blind person from their side, the blind person can turn their body toward the attacker and jab at their center mass. Once strong contact is made with the cane to the center mass of the attacker’s body, the blind person can follow up with a strong rising jab toward the attacker’s face. They can also turn to face the attacker (after the side jab), and use one of the four striking techniques described above.

Depending on the blind person’s physical abilities, I teach some how to grab the attacker’s arm with one hand (strong grip) and perform a quick snapping kick toward the attacker’s leg. While continuing to hold the attacker’s arm with one hand, the defender can quickly turn toward the attacker and use the folded cane in the other hand to jab or strike. Because the kick to the attacker’s knee, shin, or top of the foot may cause them to bend forward, the cane may strike them in their face or top of head. While that may sound like a brutal response, I think the real brutality is a sighted person attacking a blind person.

I also teach the blind person to yell as they defend against their attacker. A strong yell can accomplish four important goals for self defense:

1. The yell can surprise the attacker and give the defender an extra second to carry out the defensive technique
2. The yell can draw attention from people who are nearby, witness someone attacking a blind person, and hopefully come to their aid
3. The yell can cause the attacker to reconsider the attack because of people becoming witnesses to the attack
4. The yell can embolden the defender and actually strengthen the veracity of the defense for a short burst of energy

God designed the human body to deal with challenges and hardships in extraordinary ways. Understanding His design of “adaptability” is helpful in training blind people defend themselves. Even as a person loses one “sense,” other “senses” often become stronger. Though they cannot “see” with their eyes, blind people often have a heightened sense of hearing, taste, smell, and touch. It’s as if they can “see” things with their other senses. Keep that in mind as you train blind people. Help them learn how to use their heightened awareness through other senses to help keep them safe from attackers.

Next Time

We will focus on how to “train the cane” in the next part of our special series, Protecting the Vulnerable.

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