[nabs-l] Doing Sighted Guide with Blind Students

Steve Jacobson steve.jacobson at visi.com
Thu Feb 9 18:45:51 UTC 2017


Roanna,

It is really hard for most of us to answer your question since we don't know
your level of travel skill, so any answer is somewhat generic.  However, it
is possible to do the task you mention, but we need to break down what
really needs to be done.

First, if a sighted person comes to the church for the first time, they will
need to take at least a little time to become familiar with the layout.
They will likely concentrate on the part of the church they need to know
first and then learn more as the day goes on.  You need to gather
information differently than does a sighted volunteer, but some of the same
approaches are still relevant.  You are not going to need to know the whole
church but only where the kids are likely going to need to travel.  The kids
are not going to need to go just anywhere right away, either.  If you were
to arrive a few minutes early, you could make sure you know how to get from
where the kids will be arriving to where they need to go first.  That will
likely involve one very specific path.  Once that is done, it would make
sense to learn where bathrooms are and other places they are likely going to
need to go such as a lunch or break room.  If the setup is more complicated,
such as different age groups go to different places, you could probably make
some arrangement to find out to which group you will be assigned.

In any group of kids, there is going to be different skill levels
represented.  Whether you are sighted or not, it is not going to be possible
to take an entire group of kids as sighted guide.  To some degree, the
problem will be similar whether sighted or not.  Be aware of how many kids
are in your group.  I would imagine that some of this is already taken into
account by those planning the activities, though.

I think the bottom line is that one has to take any task and break it down
into its important parts and then deal with each part.

Best regards,

Steve Jacobson
 
-----Original Message-----
From: NABS-L [mailto:nabs-l-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Roanna Bacchus
via NABS-L
Sent: Thursday, February 09, 2017 9:43 AM
To: National Association of Blind Students mailing list <nabs-l at nfbnet.org>
Cc: rbacchus228 at gmail.com
Subject: Re: [nabs-l] Doing Sighted Guide with Blind Students

Can I still do this even know I don't know my way around church because I've
never been there before

Sent from my iPad

> On Feb 9, 2017, at 10:34 AM, Jamie P. via NABS-L <nabs-l at nfbnet.org>
wrote:
> 
> If you know your way around the church, I imagine you would simply lead
them to where they need to be. You can do this by having them follow you
while you very audibly say where you're going, or have them put a hand on
your elbow or shoulder (while still using their canes of course) and follow
you that way. 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone
> 
>> On Feb 9, 2017, at 07:46, roanna bacchus via NABS-L <nabs-l at nfbnet.org>
wrote:
>> 
>> Dear Students,
>> 
>> I hope all of you are doing well.  Tomorrow I will be volunteering at the
East Florida Braille Challenge all day from 8-00 Am to 4-30 Pm.  The Braille
Challenge is sponsored by the Braille Institute in Los Angelis, California
and regional competitions are held each year in all of the fifty states.  I
have been assigned to be a sighted guide for a group of older blind students
during this event.  Two other people and I are responsible for keeping track
of these students and getting them around the church.  Since I am totally
blind, how do I perform the sighted guide technique with these students?
Hope to hear from you soon.
>> 
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