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<TITLE>New THOUGHT PROVOKER #150- Virtual Blindness, Training The Trainers</TITLE>
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<P ALIGN=CENTER><B><FONT FACE="Arial">Deafblind </FONT></B></P>
<P ALIGN=CENTER><B><FONT FACE="Arial">RE: Virtual Blindness, Training The trainers</FONT></B></P>
<P><B><FONT FACE="Arial">The newest THOUGHT PROVOKER is about the benefits of providing blindness skill training to the people who want to be counselors and teachers of the blind. See what you think. If you have not read the PROVOKER, it follows. Recall that I collect responses and post them upon my web site for all the WWW to read and learn from and that URL is- </FONT></B><A HREF="http://thoughtprovoker.info/"><B><U><FONT COLOR="#0000FF" FACE="Arial">Http://thoughtprovoker.info</FONT></U></B></A><B><FONT FACE="Arial"> If you wish to receive THOUGHT PROVOKERS sent directly to you, just write me and ask, at- newmanrl@cox.net </FONT></B></P>
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<P ALIGN=CENTER><B><FONT FACE="Arial">THOUGHT PROVOKER 150</FONT></B></P>
<P ALIGN=CENTER><B><FONT FACE="Arial">Virtual Blindness, Training The trainers</FONT></B></P>
<P><FONT FACE="Arial">The stress lines on the man’s face visible beyond where the dark cloth of the sleep-shade covered, told the story of his first travel lesson with the long white cane. Probing, tapping, he strove to interpret the information provided by the cane. “Is this a drop-off --- and this metal thing --- could be the upright for a handrail?”</FONT></P>
<P><FONT FACE="Arial">The nearby instructor, cane standing vertical at his side, responded, “What do you think?”</FONT>
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<P><FONT FACE="Arial"> “I got it!” The woman’s finger read the Braille label on the brightly colored tube in her hand. “F, M --- face moisturizer. Wahoo! I made and read my own label.” The woman was one of four sleep-shaded adults working at a round table. In the center of the table, were Braille slates, sticky-backed labels and other materials. In front of each student were bottles, tubes and other personal items.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT FACE="Arial">“I’m not getting this as fast as you, Marilyn.” Spoke up one of her table mates. “And, you guys, I’m going to need to take my meds, so how else can I tell them apart, until I get Braille?”</FONT></P>
<P><FONT FACE="Arial">“What do you think you might do?” A third woman responded. “That is what I think the instructor would say. I know you’ll figure out something for today and you’ll get your alphabet tomorrow.”</FONT></P>
<P><FONT FACE="Arial">The only man at the table held a green pair of pants over his lap, tying the finishing knot to a sewing project. “There we go.” Finger reading the small plastic tag he had just sewn into the waist band. “G, R --- green. I like these tags. And who would ever think you could thread a needle, blind.” </FONT></P>
<P><FONT FACE="Arial">Carrying their canes, all 30 sleep-shaded students met at lunch. “Attention please. This is your first meal you will handle being virtually blind. It will be a learning time --- think, experiment, discover and if necessary ask for instruction. When you look back at the end of two weeks, it will be interesting to see the contrast between now and then. So line up, get your own tray, utensils, go through the line, then find your place at table.”</FONT></P>
<P><FONT FACE="Arial">“Ah--- need to cut this piece smaller.” Spoke up the first person at the table of six.</FONT>
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<P><FONT FACE="Arial">“Yeah, cutting takes some concentration, but hey ---“ responded a tablemate, “I suppose I struggled with it back when I was five with my vision and got it then, so I’ll get it now.”</FONT></P>
<P><FONT FACE="Arial">A third person said, “I came into this knowing the first part of this training was going to be stressful. But I know it will smooth out.”</FONT></P>
<P><FONT FACE="Arial">A fourth tablemate volunteered, “Giving up your sight for a full two weeks, from wakeup to lights-out, no peeking, and proving to myself that I can function non-visually, is going to give me some insights that I’d never have without this opportunity.” </FONT></P>
<P><FONT FACE="Arial">“You know,” contributed a fifth tablemate, “I tried talking my rehab agency into requiring new staff go through 3 to 6 months of sleep-shade training like some services for the blind do, but to no avail. And so when I heard of this two-week training for rehab professionals, I jumped on it.”</FONT></P>
<P><FONT FACE="Arial">“It’s the method of training, the structuring of the learning situation and the insistence on self-discovery, making you work and work at it until you make it yours, that is the part I’m soaking up. These instructors are tough on it --- but hey, guess the results will be in the expectations.” concluded the sixth.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT FACE="Arial">On screen the leader of the workshop spoke to a camera team from a local television station. “We have 30 professionals in the field of blindness participating in this first Virtual Blindness Training in our Train the Trainers series. They are evenly divided between rehabilitation teachers and vocational counselors, all working with adult blind persons in their jobs. The purpose of this training is to provide the student with an experience of virtual blindness, of being newly blind, needing to learn basic survival skills. It is 24-7, for 2 weeks. And I underscore: it is not to experience the reality of what it is to be blind, nor will the blindness skills being learned be fully perfected. However, the participant will come out of here knowing that in his guts, with true conviction, and not just intellectually, that he or she and others can function competently non-visually. Finally, we are using the most effective teaching method for this type of learning, the Structured Discovery Method.”</FONT></P>
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<P><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">Robert Leslie Newman </FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">Email- newmanrl@cox.net</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">THOUGHT PROVOKER Website- </FONT>
<BR><A HREF="Http://www.thoughtprovoker.info"><U><FONT COLOR="#0000FF" SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">Http://www.thoughtprovoker.info</FONT></U></A>
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