[Blindtlk] OM vs. Mobility: A Sort of Off-the-Wall Question

[Lloyd Rasmussen]

It's O&M (there is an an ampersand between the two letters). That's the more 
official name for the profession, but people usually shorten it to mobility 
or cane travel.
Orientation (knowing where you are and in what direction you are facing) and 
mobility (planning a route from Point A to Point B via Points C, D, E and F, 
and avoiding obstacles along the way) are both essential skills, whether you 
use a guide dog or a cane.
When O&M was first being taught to sighted instructors in college programs, 
they wanted to call the field peripetology (the science of walking around). 
Fortunately that didn't get too much traction. And I may not be spelling 
peripetology right, either.



Lloyd Rasmussen, Kensington, MD
http://lras.home.sprynet.com
-----Original Message----- 
From: Szostak, Christine via blindtlk
Sent: Monday, May 11, 2015 3:40 AM
To: Blind Talk Mailing List
Cc: Szostak, Christine
Subject: [Blindtlk] OM vs. Mobility: A Sort of Off-the-Wall Question

Hi All,
  I have sort of an odd ball question.

  Whenever I hear about OM (e.g., NFB's website, specialists, people on most 
list serves for the blind...), it is always being referred to either by the 
full title of orientation and mobility or OM. However, and if anyone on this 
list grew up in Stark County Ohio, you probably experienced this as well, 
throughout my entire childhood (from my earliest memories of OM), and all 
the way into college, everyone I knew (my OM instructor, my family, the VI 
teachers (sorry if not the proper title), friends that were blind...) all 
called it mobility. For example,  you would hear  statements like: "go get 
your coat on as the mobility instructor will be here in a few minutes", "how 
did your mobility lesson go today", "ok, it is your turn for mobility"...

  Thus, my question is this, is the term "mobility" without "and 
orientation" included at all acceptable, especially in professional settings 
or is this looked down upon?

  Hopefully that makes some sense:).
Have a wonderful week all and thanks for indulging an odd question:)!
Chris

Dr. Christine M. Szostak
Assistant Professor of Psychology
Department of Social Sciences
Shorter University
Rome, Georgia
szostak.1 at osu.edu<mailto:szostak.1 at osu.edu>
cszostak at shorter.edu

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