[nagdu] FW: Why good O&M training is so important

Mon Nov 7 14:06:27 UTC 2011

Lyn, the people I know who have beenthrough those NFB centers are 
different in a whole lot of ways from those who have been through our 
state agency. I'd thought it was just our agency, but it seems in a lot 
of places O&M and other instruction is so lacking that the ones who have 
had the NFB training really stand out! I also find that those 
individuals are the ones I am most likely to end up spending time with 
and doing things with... Only here it is difficult to encounterpeople 
with that training instead of training by the agency, since our agency 
just says "noe" to the NFB centers. Sigh. A few Oregonians have been to 
one or the other of the NFB centers, but not many of them seem to live 
around here or to engage in activities where I get to spend time around 
them. Then again, I haven't been getting out as much as I like because 
of the Road of Certain Doom and lack of money for bus fare, anyway, but 
still!

I did get together with one of my local deafblind friends and was able 
to discuss the ins and outs of crossing at audible signals She has 
recently gotten a cochlear implant, so is aware of sound cues... I 
figure since she talks to other people, too, she can tell others about 
the foly of using an audible signal as the only cue for street crossings 
and so on... We're starting to compare resources and build up a list of 
resources and so forth. She is attempting to work with the Commission 
for the Blind here, and testing them by asking questions by e-mail... 
I'm also talking to her about my evil plan to get information about 
braille curricula and maybe even texts for self-learning into the hands 
of blind people... There's another guy around here who is doing that in 
some formal sense; however, she was telling me she cannot feel the dots 
he produces on a mechanical brailler to feel them to learn the alphabet 
So I let her feel the dots on my old BrailelNote that a friend gave me, 
and that worked for her. Hm...

Our guide dogs were playing with Mitzi's toys at the time, just to bring 
them in to the discussion. /lol/

Tami

Yeah,

On 11/06/2011 12:20 PM, Lyn Gwizdak wrote:
> I looked at the video and wow. I haven't had cane training by the NFB
> centers, but I have seen the good mobility of some NFBers at conventions
> and see the difference!
>
> Thanks for posting this.
>
> Lyn and Landon
> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Rovig, Lorraine" <LRovig at nfb.org>
> To: "NAGDU Mailing List, the National Association of Guide Dog Users"
> <nagdu at nfbnet.org>
> Sent: Friday, November 04, 2011 10:42 AM
> Subject: [nagdu] FW: Why good O&M training is so important
>
>
>> Wow! Here below is what an NFB cane travel instructor, a sighted
>> counselor who was trained by Dr. Kenneth Jernigan at the Iowa
>> Commission for the Blind, and is now working at BLIND, Inc., in
>> Minneapolis, saw when he watched the video on Tommy's need for
>> accessible signals at crosswalks. (Is a state VR agency giving him
>> such poor travel training?)
>>
>> Lorraine Rovig
>> PS: After I was taught cane travel by Dick Davis, I easily passed a
>> 4-mile cane travel test, walking around the city of Des Moines while
>> wearing my sleepshades.
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: Dick Davis [mailto:ddavis at blindinc.org]
>> Sent: Friday, November 04, 2011 2:28 PM
>> To: Rovig, Lorraine
>> Subject: RE: [nagdu] Why good O&M training is so important
>>
>> Hi,
>> Although you can tell from Tommy's commentary that he made a mistake
>> crossing the first street, in the second he hesitates before crossing,
>> neglects to use moving traffic to stay straight, veers to the right, and
>> gets tangled up in a truck that is parked at the curb a distance from the
>> crosswalk. If you use the video in seminar class, I suggest somebody
>> describe what is happening. Check out his other stuff: he can't swing a
>> golf club worth a darn, and flying to Los Angeles for the weekend becomes
>> a major adventure. The fact that he has the man who showed up with the
>> wheelchair lead him through security and all the way to the boarding area
>> demonstrates how independent he really is. They are making a film on his
>> life as a blind person, and if they succeed in marketing it, I think it
>> will do a lot of damage to public attitudes about blindness. Center
>> students might want to see the video and offer comments on YouTube. I
>> thought of adding my own, but I think they would be better coming from
>> blind people.
>> Dick Davis
>> BLIND, Inc.
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: Rovig, Lorraine [mailto:LRovig at nfb.org]
>> Sent: Friday, November 04, 2011 9:05 AM
>> To: Dick Davis
>> Subject: FW: [nagdu] Why good O&M training is so important
>> Importance: High
>>
>> The several emails on this NAGDU listserv topic make a thoughtful
>> discussion in their own right that is completely in line with NFB
>> convention
>> resolutions. The email below is the first in the series. BTW, the archive
>> for an NFB listserv is open to non-members.
>> Lorraine
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org] On
>> Behalf
>> Of Aaron Cannon
>> Sent: Wednesday, November 02, 2011 10:17 AM
>> To: NAGDU Mailing List, the National Association of Guide Dog Users
>> Subject: [nagdu] Why good O&M training is so important
>> Importance: High
>>
>> This video posted on the Yahoo Accessibility blog seeks to demonstrate
>> the
>> need for accessible crossing signals. However, in my opinion it manages
>> to do just the opposite quite nicely.
>>
>> http://yaccessibilityblog.com/wp/blind-people-cross-street.html
>>
>> I find it troubling that he talks about needing the signal "to indicate
>> that it's safe for me to cross the street." Even worse is his comment "I
>> don't have to listen for the traffic coming the other way, I can just
>> listen to the tone."
>>
>> He also calls crossing without a signal "daunting" and "scary".
>>
>> I can understand that such crossings can be quite daunting and scary if
>> you don't have good training or practice making such crossings, so I
>> don't
>> really fault him for that. However, I fear that people, especially other
>> blind people, watching this video will assume that that's how it is for
>> everyone.
>>
>> Finally, I do think that accessible signals can have their place, but
>> certainly not the type shown in this video, which seem like they could
>> actually interfere with listening to the traffic.
>>
>> Anyway, I just thought I'd share.
>>
>> Aaron Cannon
>>
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