Autun. Blind, she uses a connected cane to help her find her way: "It tells me the names of the streets."

“I rely on the sound of cars to know when I can cross or not. If I hear them moving alongside me and not in front of me, it means the pedestrian light is green.” Valérie Richard finds her way around Autun with astonishing ease. With her cane held out like an extension of her arm, she always seems to know exactly where she’s going. At each obstacle, a beep sounds to alert her. “Actually, it’s a device that attaches to a regular cane . You download the app that goes with it and it works all by itself. The best thing is that it tells me the street names. It really helps when getting around.”

Born in Autun in Saône-et-Loire, Valérie Richard had 31 years to memorize its streets before losing her sight due to diabetes. "In August 2000, I thought everything was falling apart. To resume my daily life, I spent three months in a specialized center in Marly-le-Roi (78)." Two years later, she welcomed her first guide dog, Sola. "She changed my life. After her, I had Freedom, who died in 2024. Emotionally, losing them one after the other was terrible. It's very hard to take another dog. And then I have other health problems that no longer allow me to take care of it properly."

In the absence of a new dog, she received her electronic cane a few months ago. "One day, Alain Saunier, from the Déclic & avenir province association (read elsewhere), came to my door. I don't know how they knew. The box costs around €2,000, I received it for free and without having to do anything. Everything is horribly expensive in disability, luckily the associations are there . They did everything and they were always very kind." In her daily life, Valérie Richard also relies heavily on her smartphone, configured for the blind, which she bought on credit. "When I lost my sight, I had to stop working as a caregiver. I live on a disability pension . One day, someone insinuated that I was pretending to be blind to take advantage of the system. Fortunately, this kind of stupid remark is rare."

Walking around Autun with Valérie Richard is a good way to realize how difficult mobility can be when you have a disability. "I prefer Avenue Charles-de-Gaulle to the small streets around it because the sidewalk is wide. I prefer going down rather than up, but that's related to my back problems. Pedestrian crossings are better with raised markings on the ground, and it would be even better with audible signals." She also regrets having had to "give up gyms because dogs, even guide dogs, weren't allowed. Now I can't go much because of my health." Finally, Valérie Richard admits to "never going shopping alone. The loss of autonomy is really the hardest thing to live with." Thanks to her electronic cane, she has at least recovered a little.