Blind persons and mobility instructors

Can blind teachers instruct other blind people in using the white cane? 

 

Sometimes we simply get our brains locked into a particular rut and refuse to think.  Of course there are places that a blind Orientation and Mobility(O&M) instructor has no business taking a student who is new to blindness. 

But there is no firm and fast rules.  Each situation is unique and must be carefully structured to benefit the student.  Success is the name of the game, not fear and fright.  When Cathy is working under sleep shades, or if I am working alone with a student, we never head out into uncharted waters...or streets.  There are times that I walk ahead of my student, crossing a wide street just in case there might be a crazy blind person driving.  Sometimes I work alongside my student in order to be close enough to stop them in event they miss the first step in a flight of stairs. 

Before we ever step off the porch we have had long discussions and much practice inside the house or apartment building. 

Since we are working with older folks, we are usually looking at very specific goals.  The student needs to be able to exit their home and go to a bus stop.  They may need to walk down a rough alley to get to their mail box.  Or they could be close to a strip mall and want to go to several shops and cafes.  We are not teaching our students to chase down the 7:45 subway train, or work their way through the many obstacles now blocking folks trying to catch a plane. 

Nonetheless, many of our newly blinded elderly students are immobilized with fear over the thought of leaving their apartment and walking alone down the hallway to the dining room.  The problem is not that they don't know how to walk.  It is not that they have forgotten what a hallway looks like or how to follow their nose to the food.  It is fear of the unknown that stops them.  Stepping out into darkness.  That is the place where we normally begin. 

Finally, I would suggest that many of us blind folks who've been around a while, also have this unreasonable fear of the unknown.  And that is why we would never allow a blind O&M instructor to take us out the front door and down the walk. 

 

Carl Jarvis