CROSSVILLE, Tenn. — Ed Daszkiewicz Jr. walks upwards of six miles a day along the streets of his East Tennessee city. 

“We’ve got quite a few sidewalks, relatively speaking, but most of them need a little bit of refinement,” Daszkiewicz told the Crossville City Council Tuesday during a work session. “The up-and-down sidewalks and corners are issues. Where they’re old and swollen and settled with freezing and thawing, they have some issues that sometimes you can do flips or cartwheels off of them.”

In micropolitan cities nationwide, even an activity like taking a neighborhood walk can present large-scale challenges to the visually impaired residents who call the cities home.

Daszkiewicz, 58, a veteran of the U.S. Army, lost his sight to a genetic disorder following his military service.

“I have walked up to 7.9 miles a day just for the fun of it,” he told the Chronicle. “My wife thinks I’m nuts, but I’m a diabetic and it has helped tremendously with my insulin and my weight. It helps. It’s not a cure, but every little bit helps — but it’s hard to walk down Cook Road.”

He uses a white guiding cane and a GPS system that alerts him to his location. 

“Push this and it will tell you where you’re at,” he said. “It’s just like a regular GPS, except it doesn’t have pictures, maps, but it tells me how to get there.”

He can also add permanent obstacles so the device warns him as he approaches those. He has about 50 items recorded.

He wears a reflective vest so motorists will see him — especially when he doesn’t have sidewalks available. Daszkiewicz pointed to the lack of sidewalks along some heavily traveled streets, such as Cook Road. While there is not a lot of business or industry on the street, it does have a large residential population and an elementary school. 

“I don’t like to walk in the street, but I’ve got no option,” said. 

When he reaches sidewalks, he still has challenges.

In a number of U.S. cities, tactile paving, sidewalk strips and accessible pedestrian signals offer the visually impaired crossing warnings and added awareness of their surroundings.   

Local sidewalks are not constructed to allow Daszkiewicz to use his cane to stay on the pedestrian path. The corners in many places are even with the roadway, making it difficult for him to know if he is still on the sidewalk or not. Pedestrian crossings also do not have sounds to alert the visually impaired when it is safe to cross.

“You’re walking along the sidewalk because there is nothing to guide along the left or the right — you keep running into stuff on the left,” he explained. “I always use the curb when I can. But on the sidewalks on the right, there is sometimes grass. Sometimes there is a parking lot you can go veering into…They’re not clearly marked. You feel for a hump where the driveway crosses the curb. There should be something to guide a cane, but there is not on a lot of them.”

He said that has led him to walk into traffic on a local thoroughfare.

“That’s not good,” he said. “You’ll figure it out. I tell you, you’ll figure it out.”

He also has trouble with signs placed at the edge of sidewalks — because that’s where he’s trained to walk so that he can use his cane.

“Every time they are [right next to the edge], I pick them up and I put them over there [by the business] because I don’t want them where I’m walking. I have to be able to see,” Daszkiewicz said.

Trees and shrubs on sidewalks also cause problems. He noted there are trees planted in sidewalks in some areas. These sometimes poke him in the head as he is passing by.

“I’m sure they’re pretty,” he said. “But they are hazards to the blind.”

According to American Federation of the Blind spokesman Chris Danielsen, better sidewalks and crossing measures wouldn’t just make pedestrian travel safer for the visually impaired, but for all citizens moving from one place to another while on foot.

“While blind and low-vision individuals don’t tend to need extensive physical modifications to the environment, the elimination of walking hazards is beneficial to everyone, including the blind,” Danielsen said.

Danielsen also said municipalities should comply with the Americans With Disabilities act and other applicable laws to minimize potential obstacles and dangers.

Crossville Councilman Scot Shanks walked with Daszkiewicz recently.

“It’s amazing how differently you see a sidewalk,” Shanks told the council. “We don’t think of it because we can see. But it’s amazing how busy our sidewalks are. It’s amazing on Main Street all the things that are on the sidewalks. It makes it very difficult.”

Though efforts to revamp the cities sidewalks have failed in the past, Shanks is committed to future sidewalk construction and updates in the area.

Daszkiewicz urged the council to consider the mobility needs of all citizens, including those using wheelchairs. 

He told the Chronicle these challenges to mobility can affect people’s ability to survive and thrive in the community. He would also like to see the city improve its existing sidewalks and build a new sidewalk on at least one side of Cook Road.

“I have had to tell people that this would not be a good place to move to if you’re blind because there are no sidewalks and not really cabs. There’s no real bus system.”

The Crossville, Tennessee Chronicle contributed details to this story.