[nabs-l] Training: As needed, or all at once?

[Arielle Silverman]

Hi Jim and all,

Your question is a good one and one that all of us have grappled with
at some point, regardless of our vision status or level of prior
training. There is no hard-line NFB answer to this question, and the
decision of how much and what kind of formal blindness training to get
is a highly individual one.

I also attended the Louisiana Center for the Blind (LCB) after
graduating from college. In hindsight I can say that I still would
have been a functional blind adult, and still would have done most of
the things I do now, without going to the center. But, the center
added a good deal of refinement to my existing skills and, most of
all, enabled me to grapple with challenging blindness-related
situations with less frustration and negativity than I did before.
While it didn’t necessarily “save” me or change who I am as a person,
it definitely made blindness easier and less of a nuisance for me,
even though I have been blind for all my life.

I will say that one thing you get from a residential training center,
which you won’t get from day instruction, is continuous practice and,
as others have said, immersion. I think this is important when you’re
learning new nonvisual skills (such as Braille and cane skills) that
require you to pay more attention to your other senses than you may be
accustomed to. For example, I think the biggest single gain I got out
of LCB was continuous practice with using my hearing to recognize
traffic patterns and changes and to detect echoes and other key
environmental sounds. I had had cane training for many years prior to
LCB, but never so much at once, so doing intensive training all at
once gave me enough reinforcement to really sensitize me to those
sounds. Also, even though I only have a tiny bit of residual vision,
training under blindfold really forced me to pay much more attention
to what I was hearing. It is a lot easier to teach yourself to use
your vision along with these nonvisual things than to learn the
nonvisual stuff while also being distracted by your vision. The
problem with doing cane training only a couple times a week is that
the practice isn’t continuous, so it takes longer to build up
sensitivity to all those subtle tactile and auditory signals that we
use to be effective cane travelers. Though I learned Braille as a
child, I would imagine that developing fluency in Braille would
require the same continuous, day-in-and-day-out practice as what I am
describing with cane travel. I think one of the tricks of the
residential centers is that they take us out of work and other
obligations and force us to practice these skills constantly without
our being distracted by other things going on in our lives. For
example, if you have to go to work or school every day and be on time,
it’s all too easy to just use your vision for the sake of efficiency
rather than practicing new cane skills which, at first, will be a lot
less efficient.

Of course, giving up this time for intensive training requires you to
put plans on hold for a while, which is the trade-off. The advantage,
though, is that with immersion training in blindness skills you only
have to do it once, regardless of whether your vision or life
circumstances change.

Arielle


On 5/12/09, Jedi <loneblindjedi at samobile.net> wrote:
> Colleagues:
>
> I am a graduate of the Louisiana center for the Blind, one of the NFB's
> three training centers. I have partial vision. I have been trained in
> two methods of blindness. In grade school, I used a duel-media system
> that attempted to give equal time to vision and non-vision. This
> training was not intensive; it was done in chunks. After high school, I
> went to the LCB to learn non-visual skills specifically and
> intensively. These are my findings.
>
> Low vision is hardly stable. Your eye doctor may say that your
> condition is stable, but it really isn't. At least, not in the
> functional sense. Not only does low vision change with the environment,
> but it can change over time simply via the aging process. For that
> reason, it's never a bad idea to learn non-visual techniques to prepare
> for the future and also to be ready for times when the environment
> makes it tough to use your vision efficiently. Environmental changes
> might include changes in lighting, the difusion of lighting, contrast,
> visual clutter, chromatic difference (the use of color), and the
> position of objects (are they in your field of view?). The social
> environment may also inhibit the use of your vision. for example, you
> may be able to read large print, but having a book in front of your
> nose makes giving a speech a real problem. You may be use a CCTV, but
> you can't take a CCTV everywhere with you unless you use a portable
> magnifier (which is often  more expensive than braile or asking someone
> to read something to you). Even then, portible magnification has its
> limits: the more magnification you need, the less you can see in terms
> of actual area. The same goes for monoculars and other low vision
> techniques.
>
> Non-visual techniques are more likely to work in a variety of areas at
> any given time. You can read Braille in just about any environment
> (except where it's wet). A cane and orientation skills will take care
> of any changes to the visual environment as you travel. Tactile
> exploration skills can help you navigate gracefully when searching for
> something. While all of these techniques are unusual compared to how
> sighted people do things, they allow a visually impaired person to stay
> on top of things.
>
> Let me move on to blindness agencies and training. Most blindness
> agencies prefer a vision first approach. The goal here is to maximize
> low vision and insert blindness techniques where necessary. There are
> two major issues here, and I've experienced both under this approach.
> The first is that your vision may change and you'll be forced to
> retrain. You may also find that your non-visual skills may not be
> prepared to the extent to which a situation may compromise your vision.
> In other words, you may know how to use a screen magnifier with some
> speech. But what if you encounter a web site where the visual elements
> are too hard to handle visually? A screen reader may be useful here,
> but you've not been trained in screen reader use since your training
> has focused primarily on your vision. For most of us, simply not
> completing the task won't cut it.
>
> The opposite approach is a blindness first approach. Here, non-visual
> techniques are stressed and low vision fills in the gaps where it's
> either natural or necessary. When I say natural, I mean to say that you
> don't have to strain to see something. For example, I may be walking
> with a cane and all my blindness techniques in active use. But if I can
> see a poll, I'm certainly going to avoid it. However, if I don't see
> the poll, my active blindness techniques will certainly keep me from
> hitting it. another example. If I've dropped a paper and can see it,
> there's no rule that says I can't use my vision to pick it up. However,
> if I have to turn my head in a number of contortions just to search for
> it, it may be easier, less stressful, and more efficient to search for
> it using non-visual skills. When I say "necessary," I speak of those
> occasions where something isn't nonvisually accessible but can be if
> your vision is sufficient for the task. for example, if your computer
> isn't talking and you have no other way to figure out why, low vision
> may be useful in getting some answers.
>
>  A blindness first approach prevents the need for retraining. In the
> case of those who ordinarily read print, there's no reason why you
> can't still do so. Learning Braille is still an option when print won't
> work for some reason. If you're worried about losing the skill, set
> aside some time each night and read your favorite book in Braille to
> maintain the skill. That way, it will be around when you really need
> it. those low vision persons who use Braille and print often say
> they're glad to have learned Braille even if they don't use it as often
> as others do.
>
> I have been trained under both vision first and blindness first
> approaches. I personally got more out of the blindness first approach
> than the vision first approach. I consider myself to be more versitle
> now that i have the blindness approach down. The blindness first
> approach also teaches other transferable skils that have nothing to do
> with blindness specifically such as problem solving, resourcefulness,
> mapping and spacial awareness, cooking, technology, and even social
> skills. More important, I realized that blindness really isn't a
> handicap to living life. A vision first approach often misses this all
> important truth because of the higherarchy of sight (to have some sight
> is better than to have none). With a blindness first approach, we're
> confronted immediately with our misconceptions, as well as those of
> others. We are called upon to deal with them head on and are therefore
> able to surpass them.
>
> As for training length and intensity, it is better to train all at once
> because more concentrated time is spent in each subject. This
> concentration and intensity of time means that you're more likely to
> remember what you learn because you have to use it more often. I train
> students to use computers. Those I intensively train get the material
> faster and more efficiently than those I train less often. They are
> also more likely to use and retain the skill afterward. My
> non-intensive vision first approach took me twelve years. My intensive
> blindness first approach training only took six months. I only had to
> go through intensive training once (that's six months). Those who go
> through chunked training may have to spread their training out over
> time which will definitely mean more training time in the long-run.
>
> In general, intensive training in blindness means access to positive
> blind role models who can mentor you during off hours while you're
> having fun. Many times, these experiences prove more powerful than the
> training itself. those who go through non-intensive training (often in
> their community) don't have access to blind role models and so they
> remain isolated during this critical time.
>
> Finally, I want to put something to rest. The blindness first approach
> doesn't force anyone to do anything. If you attend a center that uses
> sleep shades, a particular kind of cane, a particular teaching method,
> or a particular philosophy, then you have chosen to use these methods.
> You can't force the willing. The NfB centers are optional. People are
> there because they want to be, not because they are forced to be. If
> you feel like you're being forced, then you haven't exercised informed
> choice. Choose a different center that has the methods you want. Just
> choose wisely. I find it rather ironic and quite revealing that we
> never hear of centers forcing participants to use low vision, but we
> certainly hear of centers forcing students to use blindness techniques.
> Just a thought.
>
> Respectfully,
> Jedi
>
>
> Original message:
>> Ashley and Jim.
>> I've attended a state run training center in Utah in 2001 and although I
>> have significant usable vision to where I'm considered legally blind I did
>> have to wear a blindfold in at at least one of the classes that I took. It
>> was the Adaptive Daily Living Skills  because the instructor was trying to
>> make it a level playing field for the totally blind people in the group. I
>> also got out of doing O&M because I basically told them that I didn't need
>> it during the day which was the time that it was being done. I also said
>> to
>> them I need  O&ME training more at night because that's when I have a
>> harder
>> time traveling. The only other time I was forced to use the blindfold was
>> in
>> a Braille class. Pretty much all the other classes I didn't have to use
>> the
>> blindfold. Now, a Staunchly NFB member is now in charge of running the
>> training program.  I know the person who runs it now because he was one of
>> the assistive technology trainers at the center.
>> Jessica
>> ----- Original Message -----
>> From: "Ashley Bramlett" <bookwormahb at earthlink.net>
>> To: "National Association of Blind Students mailing list"
>> <nabs-l at nfbnet.org>
>> Sent: Monday, May 11, 2009 6:03 PM
>> Subject: Re: [nabs-l] Training: As needed, or all at once?
>
>
>>> Hi Jim,
>
>>> This is my opinion and  I will be in the minority and hope not to be
>>> attacked.  If your vision is stable and you
>>> can function well with print and other visual skills, then don't do
>>> training now.  Yes its a lot of time  and effort on your part to learn
>>> skills you'll likely never need.
>
>>> Some visually impaired people I know never learn braille and they do
>>> well;
>>> they are successful at work.
>
>>> NFB centers imerse you in nonvisual skills and you are blindfolded.  Does
>>> your state offer a state rehab center?  Often state centers allow you to
>>> use low vision techniques and use nonvisual ones as needed.  What state
>>> do
>>> you live in?  You may consider a state center where you can choose what
>>> you need rather than a nfb center first.
>>> So I think if your vision is stable there is no need to go for blindness
>>> training now.  I commend your decission to learn to use a cane. Many high
>>> partials like yourself never try it.  Learning and using a cane will not
>>> only help you travel better but it will identify your visual impairment
>>> and eliminate the need to explain sometimes.  I have usable vision
>>> although not as much as you.  We both have tunnel vision.  So I've always
>>> used visual and nonvisual techniques to function.
>
>>> Ashley
>
>
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>
>
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