[nabs-l] First O/M lesson

Thu Jun 18 04:28:24 UTC 2009

I just don't see a real shift in philosophy occurring until the NFB has
begun influencing the curriculum in more than one university. Yes, it is
very true that right now there are *many* in the blindness field that feel
their way is better and cast doubts on ours, but I think this is mainly
because their way is the way that they and all their colleagues were taught.
Have you ever met a little child who will ask his mother for homework help
only to protest the easy solution mother showed him because "That's not how
teacher did it!" I think this mentality tends to stick with us long into
adulthood, though perhaps in a more mature context. Preconceived notions
aside, I think the majority of blindness professions would begin to shift
towards NFB philosophy a lot more if the majority of universities supported
and taught it. If more universities began to teach the importance of
sleepshade training and universal navigation skills as well as how to
properly incorporate these into a mobility lesson, more O&M instructors
would believe that this is a valuable part of their instruction that they
should be putting to good use.

On Wed, Jun 17, 2009 at 10:31 PM, Jedi <loneblindjedi at samobile.net> wrote:

> Hi.
>
> As of right now, there is only one university program that directly teaches
> NFB philosophy to its students. Generally, students who are directly
> interested in our brand of philosophy tend to attend Louisiana Tech, and
> those who aren't generally don't. However, I think that our philosophy is
> slowly (and I mean VERY slowly) starting to creep into other university
> programs as our trained professionals interact with other trained
> professionals in the field. More professionals currently in the field with
> inflence on student populations are also reading our stuff and getting
> connected with our philosophy. Some folks are starting to see that it makes
> sense. But in terms of a total integration of our philosophy into non-NFB
> university programs? Nope. At this point,many in the blindness field, for
> all the progress we've made, are still relatively uncertain about the
> usefulness, safety, and practicality of our philosophy.
>
> Respectfully,
> Jedi
>
>
> Original message:
>
>  You sound like you're describing my old O/M instructory as well as the two
>> instructors I met prior to him and blatantly refused to work with for what
>> I
>> felt were very good reasons. That's every O/M instructor I've ever met
>> The NFB, in my opinion, has an excellent idea of how O/M *should* work,
>> and
>> from what I've heard they put it to extremely good using at their centers
>> for the blind. But to anyone's knowledge, has the NFB made any recent
>> efforts to take their philosophy further than teaching O/M skills to the
>> blind? Has anything been done to address this at it's core, at the
>> universities that educate and train the O/M instructors themselves?
>>
>
>  On Wed, Jun 17, 2009 at 3:53 PM, Jim Reed <jim275_2 at yahoo.com> wrote:
>>
>
>  Hey all,
>>>
>>
>  I just had my first O/M lesson under sleepshades, and I was not impressed.
>>> I am not convinced
>>> that my O/M instructor has the time, skill, or proper additude towards
>>> blindness to
>>> teach me what I need/want to know. My goal of O/M training is to be
>>> able to safely travel and navigate non-visually anywhere I want/need to
>>> go in Billings (or anywhere else for that matter).
>>>
>>
>  Given
>>> the goals I just mentioned, I told/asked my O/M instructor  to teach me
>>> under sleepshades, and I asked her to teach me universal
>>> travel and navigation skills, rather than teaching me specific routes.
>>> Before I could turn
>>> around twice, she is teaching me a specific route to campus. Then, even
>>> though I was under sleepshades for the purposes of learning non-visual
>>> techniques, she insisted that I take off my blindfold nearly every
>>> block so that I could check out the terrain ahead, and she also made me
>>> take off my sleepshades quite frequently so that I could visually see
>>> the landmarks that she was pointing out. I must have took off and put
>>> on those sleepshades about 20 times during the lesson. There were also
>>> two times where she told me to take off my sleepshades and walk with
>>> her, "so that we can find the best route visually". I think I probably
>>> walked 4-5 blocks without my sleepshades on. I'm sorry, but I don't need
>>> a
>>> lesson on sighted O/M, I've
>>> been doing that since birth. And what the hell good does it do me to
>>> see a landmark visually that I may not be able to see visually when I
>>> am walking to school at night? Additionally, she wasn't letting me
>>> figure out anything for myself. She was telling me of all the landmarks
>>> that were around, she was telling me everytime there were bushes
>>> sticking out into the sidewalk, or trees overhanging it, she was
>>> telling me everytime there was a bench, lightpost, sign, or any other
>>> obstacle in my way, and she kinda made a gasping sound everytime I
>>> approached a curb at full speed. She was doing all of this before I
>>> even had the chance to detect the obstacle with my cane, and she was
>>> doing all of this without having seen me run into anything; I guess she
>>> just assumed that I would not/did not have the skills to be able to
>>> detect and avoid obstacles on my own.
>>>
>>
>  Towards the end of the
>>> lesson I got sick of her pointing out where every curb was, and I told
>>> her that she wasnt doing me any favors by pointing out every curb. She
>>> seemed to be taken by suprize at this, and she said something like
>>> "fine, I'll let you walk off the curb". Whenever we get our next lesson
>>> I intend to tell her to stop pointing out every little obstaclle, and I
>>> intend to leave the sleepshade on for the duration of the lesson.
>>>
>>
>  Additionally,
>>> I asked my O/M instructor  if she herself actually gets under a
>>> sleepshade
>>> and
>>> travels. Her response was, " I was trained under a sleepshade, but I
>>> havent been under one for years." A blind friend of mine (who wants to
>>> become an O/M instructor) made a good point that I am begining to agree
>>> with, she said, "if your O/M
>>> instructor can't/won't travel under a sleepshade, then she really
>>> doesnt have any buisness teaching O/M. All the theoretical knowledge
>>> learned in O/M masters programs are nice, but without practical
>>> application of the theoretical knowledge, she will never be as good of
>>> an O/M instructor as her counterparts who routinely practices or works
>>> with clients under sleepshades."
>>>
>>
>  Thoughts?
>>>
>>
>  Jim
>>>
>>
>  "From compromise and things half done,
>>> Keep me with stern and stubborn pride,
>>> And when at last the fight is won,
>>> ... Keep me still unsatisfied." --Louis Untermeyer
>>>
>>
>
>
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