[nagdu] O&M skills

[Tracy Carcione]

Julie J, these sound like excellent ideas.  How does one get hooked up with 
volunteers, if one isn't part of a church or such?
Tracy

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Julie J" <julielj at neb.rr.com>
To: "NAGDU Mailing List,the National Association of Guide Dog Users" 
<nagdu at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Friday, January 31, 2014 1:09 PM
Subject: Re: [nagdu] O&M skills


> You have to be a client of a VR agency because it is vocational 
> rehabilitation funds that pay for  those services.  The VR agencies are 
> federally mandated to provide services that will lead to employment. 
> There are limited funds and services for non VR clients, commonly called 
> Independent Living or perhaps Older Blind services.  I doubt that you 
> could get much O amd M training through these non VR services though. 
> They are pretty limited and O and M is pretty involved.
>
> If you are willing to privately pay for O and M training, then there might 
> be options.  I know of one lady who is certified NOMC and I don't think 
> she's found a job yet.  I bet if you were willing to pay her expenses plus 
> a fee for her seervice, she could come and work with you.
>
> If you just need specific information about your environment, what about 
> finding a volunteer?  I work in Crimminal Justice and all of my clients 
> need to do community service.  None of them are dangerous.  Lots of 
> college and high school students need to do volunteer work for classes. 
> Quite a few church youth groups/confirmation classes also do community 
> service.  There are others, but these are some resources that aren't often 
> discussed.  Anyhow, the volunteer could walk with you, answering questions 
> and giving you visual information.  It's not O and M training, but what 
> I'm hearing a lot of people say is that they aren'tt as familiar with 
> their environment as they'd like to be.  To me that's different from 
> learning O and M.  In the case where the person isn't able to walk long 
> distances, the volunteer could go out and scccope out routes while talking 
> through the details over the phone.  Then the blind person could ask 
> specific questions to determine if it's a route they wan
> t to invest the time to learn.
>
> Julie
>
> Sent from my iPad
>
>> On Jan 31, 2014, at 11:24 AM, "Star Gazer" <pickrellrebecca at gmail.com> 
>> wrote:
>>
>> So am I. This seems like it could and should be like any other service. 
>> Why
>> isn't it?
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: nagdu [mailto:nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of melissa R 
>> green
>> Sent: Friday, January 31, 2014 11:00 AM
>> To: NAGDU Mailing List, the National Association of Guide Dog Users
>> Subject: Re: [nagdu] O&M skills
>>
>> I wonder if there is a way to get around being a client of rehab just to 
>> get
>> services like O&M.
>> there just has to be a way.
>> I have a really good instructor who also worked at a guide dog school.
>> Not all people are working or going to school.
>> they just want to live their life.
>> Might have to ask my instructor.
>> I am curious now.
>> best wishes,
>> Sincerely,
>> Melissa R Green
>> "Faith is taking the first step even when you don't see the whole
>> staircase." -- Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
>>
>> ----- Original Message -----
>> From: "Tracy Carcione" <carcione at access.net>
>> To: "NAGDU Mailing List,the National Association of Guide Dog Users"
>> <nagdu at nfbnet.org>
>> Sent: Thursday, January 30, 2014 1:17 PM
>> Subject: Re: [nagdu] O&M skills
>>
>>
>> Hi Julie M.
>> I agree wholeheartedly.  Being afraid to go out is very sad.  It also
>> disgusts me to hear of people who want to get training but can't find 
>> anyone
>> to provide it.  It ought to be a basic thing provided by any state agency
>> for the blind, to help any blind person who asks for it get timely 
>> training
>> in O&M.  Is there anything we can do about this?  And I don't mean just
>> telling everyone to take several months out of their lives to attend an 
>> NFB
>> center.  That's useful, but not always practical, IMO.
>>
>
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