Podcast Summary:
Orientation and mobility (O&M) gives blind and low vision students the skills to travel safely, confidently, and independently—at home, at school, and beyond graduation. In this conversation hosted by State Services for the Blind (SSB), O&M specialists Jennifer Pelletier and Abdi Mumin, along with Transition Coordinator Shane DeSantis, talk with parents, teachers, and students about what O&M really is: not just cane skills, but problem solving, confidence, and building a mental map of the world. They stress that independence is personal, but expectations should stay high—students can do more than many people assume when given chances to practice. Parents learn practical ways to support independence at home, from chores and finding dropped objects to letting kids lead routes on errands. The episode also highlights tools like tactile maps, campus visits, and Cane Quest, and explains how school-based O&M and SSB can work together to prepare students for college, work, and adult life.
To find out more about the services provided at State Services for the Blind, and what they can do for you, contact Shane DeSantis at shane.desantis@state.mn.us or call Shane at 651-385-5205.
Full Transcript:
Jeff Thompson:
Welcome to Blind Abilities. I’m Jeff Thompson.
Orientation and Mobility Information for Parents.
Orientation and Mobility. Two important factors that when combined, gives people who are blind and low vision the ability to travel confidently, independently, and safely. Parents of children who are blind and low vision, teachers and some students are here tonight in a discussion about orientation and mobility. Heading up the conversation will be Jennifer Pelletier and Abdi Mumin.
Two orientation and mobility instructors from State Services for the Blind, SSB, along with Shane DeSantis, Transition Coordinator from SSB. So let’s tap into this conversation.
[MUSIC]
Shane DeSantis:
Welcome. Thank you so much for joining us tonight. If anyone would like to introduce themselves, just state your name and where you’re from.
Deb Davidson:
I’m Deb Davidson. I’m a vision teacher in the northwest corner of Minnesota.
I cover regions one and two. I’m here on behalf of a parent that isn’t able to attend. I know it’s going to be recorded, but I wanted to attend just to get the information.
Shane:
Thanks for joining, Deb.
Paul Olsen:
This is Paul Olson with North Dakota Vision Services and we have a short term program week with teens. We weren’t really sure what to expect, but we thought this is a topic that’s pretty important. And these students who come from around the state live in small communities and large communities.
And I keep telling them orientation and mobility is important if you’re going to be out in the world of work someday. So we’re just listening in.
Abdi:
Awesome.
Shane:
Absolutely.
Brianna:
My name is Brianna and this is my mom, Alisa next to me.
Alisa:
Hi, I’m Alisa and Brianna’s mom. And so we thought we would just jump in and check this out.
Shane:
Absolutely. Hi, Brianna. So good to see you.
Brianna:
Hey, Shane. How’s it going?
Shane:
I am good. I’m going to be down in Fairbault next Friday if you’re going to be in class.
Alisa:
Oh ,we’re unfortunately, we’re leaving this week for Texas. So we’ll be gone next week.
Shane:
Oh, shoot.
Alisa:
That’s why she’s home tonight.
Shane:
So awesome. Well, again, if anyone wants to introduce themselves, feel free. Oh, hi, Alisha.
Alisha:
Hi, Shane. I’m here. I’m a parent.
I’m in St. Paul. My daughter is Kira and this is my boyfriend Wade here with me tonight. We’re excited to learn more about orientation and mobility.
Ugin:
Hey, this is Ugin. I’m Charlotte’s dad. So I’m listening in learning more.
Shane:
So great to have all of you. We want tonight to be informal, kind of an open dialogue between us and all of you guys. So feel free to join in on the conversation, ask questions.
Jenny and Abdi are two of our orientation and mobility specialists here with state services for the blind. They cover the entire state and work with individuals who help them in their mobility goals. So they do have a slide deck. But like I said, we want to make this as much dialogue and back and forth as you all would like. So feel free to come off mute, ask any questions. And if there’s anything tonight that we didn’t get into or if you have any personal questions or stories you’d like to share, know that we can address them offline with anyone at any time if you would like. So I’m going to hand it over to Jenny and Abdi.
Jenny:
All right. We’ll describe these slides as we go, but we thought it just might be nice to have something to kind of keep us on track here a little bit over the next hour. But like Shane said, we really want this to be more of a dialogue and really wanting to focus on connecting with parents out there today. But it’s great that we’ve got some students here too, because like Paul said, it’s all about you guys, you students and how parents and all of us can help and help to empower you.
Both Abdi and I work together here at State Services for the Blind. And like Shane mentioned, we travel all over the state and work with students wherever they may be, whatever, whether it’s at home or at an on a college campus or a work setting.
So we do quite a bit of traveling. Anything you want to add there, Abdi?
Abdi:
No. Yeah, that sounds like you got it.
Jenny:
Please ask questions at any time.
Go ahead and unmute yourself or put something in the chat. But I guess right off the bat here, wondering from your perspectives out there, is there something in particular that you hope to come away with today? Is there anything in particular that folks would like to learn? And that might be helpful for us as we move forward.
Paul:
We’ve brought students to the Twin Cities in the past. We plan to do that again, make an excursion and there’s lots of modes of transportation.
One of our students, I think who’s been there, Ryder, do you have anything in particular you’d like to ask or know about?
Ryder:
Just like maybe just like having more transportation experience in different ways of transportation. But yeah, I know like any cities you can give up on that. The white way of what I’m called, but I’m not sure I know the other modes of transportation you can use. Does any like apps or anything that you can use to help you in the cities get around and stuff?
Speaker1:
Good question.
Jenny:
So your question is about particular like navigational apps and things like that that you’re interested in?
Ryder:
Yes.
Jenny:
All right. Great. Yeah. Anybody else have some questions that you’d like to ask right away?
Shane:
Jenny, I see a good question that came in on the registration.
Okay. Any tips on convincing a teenager to regularly use their O &M skills? That came from a parent.
Jenny:
Awesome. And maybe the teenager’s present will have some ideas too. All right. And Abdi jump in here at any time. Our question that Abdi and I wanted to ask all of you is if you can tell us and again, just having this conversation of what is O &M? What does that mean to you as a parent or as a student? What is O &M and why is it so important?
Why do we care?
Abdi:
I really like that Shane brought that question because it leads so perfectly into this presentation or just discussion of what is orientation and mobility. Once we understand that, then maybe we can understand on how to convince someone who needs to not only work and expand upon their O&M skills, but continue to work on their O&M skills. How do you convince them to use those O &M skills? So hopefully I think this question could lead to that eventual answer. So I would love to hear some takes.
So feel free to unmute, but again, from parents, from students, anyone, what is O &M and why is it important?
Brianna:
This is Brianna here. Hi, Mrs. Pelletier.
Jenny:
Hi Brianna.
Brianna:
O &M is like where you go out, you know, use your cane, practice street crossings and do lighted intersections.
Jenny:
Awesome. Yeah, all those things.
Thanks Brianna.
[Sound of Street Crossing Automated Voice saying “Wait, Wait” “Highway47 …”]
Ryder:
I just read the add-on to that. I had it put up. She just said it’s also like a safety reason like, you know, to keep you safe and help keep you safe so that, you know, when you’re causing the street break. Especially because I’m like, are there cars, may be able to like see you too?
Where can you be going? Just maybe to keep you safe so you don’t fall down a bunch of places too. So yeah.
Jenny:
So safety is a big part of O &M.
Jeff:
I have a question. When you have low vision and you use a cane, sometimes you use it for identity to maybe explain why you’re looking at things differently than other people that don’t have low vision. And I know there’s a struggle between someone that may want to hide the cane and not use the cane. I know myself, I’m at the point where I should be using the cane more than I do.
So I guess my question is, do you find that common in people as they’re losing more vision?
Jenny:
Well, and we can come back to that too as well, but I’ll just throw out one of the reasons why Abdi and I wanted to do this is for that reason that we see a lot of our transition students who may decide a few weeks before they start college that maybe they should be using the cane or, you know, things get really serious very quickly in terms of the realization of why that’s important. And so trying to get us all to think about these things a little bit earlier, if that makes sense.
Yeah, we can kind of come back to that more specifically as well.
Are there other thoughts about what is O &M? And why it’s important. The safety one is really a good one. And there’s lots more, I think too as well.
Parent1:
Hi, I just want to jump in here and say that for my daughter who’s 14 going on, you know, 20, independence is really important to her. And she really likes to be able to hop on a bus and go somewhere. But for me as mom, safety is super important. So thank you to that kid that brought up safety because I think that’s the trick here and like she doesn’t want to hold the cane or be burdened with more stuff either or maybe it’s about hiding the fact that she has a disability.
So she won’t use the cane and I sometimes worry about her going out and exploring and people not recognizing that she has an impairment and that she does need accommodation sometimes. So safety is paramount, but independence too.
Jenny:
Thank you. Yeah. Keep those thoughts coming.
I’m going to put up here on our board that there’s many definitions.
One is orientation mobility is understanding where one is in a space and how to move through it efficiently and safely and confidently as independently as possible. There’s a lot of important words there, but you know, we really strive for all of that.
I’ve got a couple photos here that I’ll describe and these are from working with students at the University of Minnesota campus. On the left, we’ve got one of the buildings there on the mall right by Northrop Auditorium. I can’t remember the exact name of this building, but it’s as you’re facing Northrop, it’s on the right closest to Washington Avenue.
These tall pillars and there are handrails and if you were to hold on to those handrails and follow it up, you’d walk right into a wall, the base of the pillar. Why they designed it this way? I don’t know, but the student that I was working with that particular day did just that, but luckily he did have his cane in front of him which prevented him from walking right into that stone wall.
Even on the right, there’s another picture there too of there’s no railing, but if you walked up in that particular space up the steps, you’d walk right into this pillar. And so making sure that students have experience doing these things independently without someone next to them telling them that there’s something in front of you or move left or move right because that friend or that parent or that teacher isn’t going to be with them that day that they need to get up these steps to get to class.
So really practicing that autonomy in O &M in high school.
Paul:
Jenny, one of our students has a comment or a question.
Ryder:
I just have a question. Let’s say you do go up like a flight of stairs, but there isn’t like a railing. Is there any like tips or tricks to kind of help you because especially for someone who doesn’t have good balance, it’s like if you can’t see or have good balance, is there any good tips for getting up the stairs? There’s no hand railing, for somebody who can’t see or doesn’t have good balance.
Jenny:
Yeah, I mean, in that example, there is that wall. So I mean, you could kind of trail that wall or feel that wall, but you still obviously you’d still want your cane, right? The cane doesn’t help with stability or support, but it’s going to let you know what’s in front of you. So super, super important. And again, the point being practicing these things without a parent or a family member giving you that information ahead of time, right?
If you’re used to traveling with a sighted family member, it’s hard for them, but super important that they’re not giving you all that information that you’re discovering it on your own.
So I have another picture here. This is from the University of Minnesota campus. Again, actually it was that same day. It was sort of a frustrating day for me actually.
There were just so many things that were brought to my attention. These are two pictures that show standing in one spot in the sidewalk. If you were to turn your body 90 degrees to the left, there is a sidewalk and half of it is a bike lane and half of it is like a pedestrian area. And on that side, the bike lane, it’s on, let’s just say, like the south side of the sidewalk. If you were to turn 90 degrees the other direction, suddenly that bike lane is now on the north side of the sidewalk. It makes no sense. But the point being that in this particular instance, the bike lane is not consistent.
It moves from one side of the pavement from another.
And there’s just things like this on a campus that are just kind of crazy and inconsistent. And in time, I mean, again, if you were to do a campus visit ahead of time, you’d maybe discover these things. But if there’s a whole lot of people there, people riding their bikes around, it may be a little bit confusing. But this is where having that time to visit campuses ahead of time is super important. But just knowing that there’s these sort of inconsistencies that are a little bit different than what you might be used to if you’re only traveling in your neighborhood or around your school or that sort of thing. So just a very different environment.
Anything you want to add there, Abdi?
Abdi:
No, I think you hit it right on the head. Honestly, the best way I could put it, and I was going to put it in my two cents in earlier.
But I think with orientation mobility, I think you spoke right to it, which is it feels like we really want to help, especially when you’re watching someone who you think is struggling. But honestly, it just looks like they’re discovering, right? They’re looking around. They’re creating their own mental map. And sometimes when we step in, I know for sure I always tell my family, I’m a cane user. And I tell my family, I’m like, it seems like you’re helping me. But in truth, now I have an unfinished picture in my head of what that room looks like because you decided to step in. And it’s counterintuitive sometimes, or it feels like we’re really not helping.
But sometimes just being hands off could be the best way that we can help someone with O &M, that orientation and that mobility, which is too very separate, but more just as important to the person developing their independence and their confidence. Those two words mean a lot. They’re not just buzzwords.
They’re very distinctive and very special in their own way.
Jenny:
The next slide here says, what is independence? And what might that mean post high school? So thinking, whether it’s yourself as a student or for those of you who are parents, thinking of your son or daughter and thinking of their level of independence. Yeah, what is independence?
Brianna:
I think independence is being able to get around without relying on anybody’s help, especially in like new areas.
Like you should be able to know the resources to help you get around without a human to rely on.
Jenny:
Excellent. Thank you. Yeah. That’s a great definition. And there’s more than one definition. Some of you might have a different thought about what independence is like for you or your child and think about how different we are.
Think about if you have an additional disability or other circumstances that may affect your independence. It may look a little different.
Abdi:
Yeah, I definitely think so.
I think I always try to push this with my students. Independence is a very subjective word. We all have our own definition and I think we’re all right in our own way. The only way you could be wrong in defining independence is trying to take it away or trying to fit a square peg into a circle hole or vice versa.
Because everyone has their own definition of independence. Today I can say, well, I want to take an Uber. I have the independence to pull my phone out and have the skills.
Don’t forget that part. To order an Uber, to use my cane to get down to the first floor and walk out my apartment and go wherever I need to go. If I have the independence to make the decision that I want to use human guide or I make the independent decision to get a guide dog, I tell my students anytime they make a decision that is an autonomous decision that they made on their own with their own fruition in their own decision making. That is the true definition of independence.
Jenny:
Again, going back to how different we all are and Abdi and I of course work with a lot of different students and it is very different for each one. Especially in terms of communication might be different for everyone. Hearing and visual abilities might be different for everyone. Some students are using a long white cane with a walker or a long white cane with a wheelchair. There’s just so many different things, different circumstances.
And so what I’m going to bring up here on our slide. Here’s a dictionary definition of independence being not subject to control by others, not requiring or relying on something else. Not looking to others for one’s opinion.
But also, here’s a little bit closer to the definition maybe we’re looking for, which is what Abdi just referred to. Independence is subjective. It depends on the person and what independence means to them. Every student will have a slightly different level to achieving independence. I guess I would add though that we need to hold the bar high and the standard high because I think we find that students can do a lot more than we give folks credit for.
Abdi:
I love that you said that. I really do because I completely forgot to add to that aspect and the skills aspect, which is you have the independence, you have to have the training, you have to have the skills because you can’t make a decision if you can’t do it. That’s what I always tell my students.
You can’t take an Uber if you can’t order an Uber because of your technology skills or because of your cane skills.
I’m not a parent. Jenny and I, like Jenny said, we are so different in so many different ways, but I’m not a parent, but I can definitely tell you right now. I tell my mom, I tell my students, I tell their parents just because the person has a disability does not mean you lower your expectation.
Hold your child that is visually impaired to the same expectation you would with all your other children or children their age. They still have chores to do. They still have anything else. I just love the fact that you mentioned that expectation aspect.
Jenny:
Yeah, I think that’s huge. And now, like kind of getting back to Shane said that there was someone who wrote in a question about how can you convince your teenager, right? That O &M is important and that’s a little tricky because you have to have that inner motivation, right?
Which is kind of what we’re getting to. But on our slide here, it says how can a parent help in supporting independence? So here’s what parents you can do and this is where students will probably be, “No!” Probably won’t like this so much. Have high but reasonable expectations. Just like what we’ve been talking about.
It’s so, so important and it’s interesting. One of the things that I was telling Abdi about is we’ve had exchange students in the past in our household and a couple of them were blind. And one came from a country in a household where there were expectations to do the dishes and fold your clothes and do household chores and that sort of thing. And another one came from a household where the bed was made for him and the meals appeared on the table in front of him and very, very different. And guess which one had really good O &M skills and guess which one really struggled with O &M skills?
Any guesses there?
Ryder:
I think he was like trying to do the things he could probably had but we’re going to want to do O &M skills just because he had the one that would have more and do the things that he needed to do and like learn how to do it. But he didn’t do that part but he struggled because he didn’t know anything.
But yeah but then he was just giving it to him and didn’t know anything.
Jenny:
Yeah and it starts early too. I mean even in elementary school and things like that. So this kind of goes along with encouraging, this is the next piece on the slide, it says encourage your child to do household chores just like any other kid. And it’s important to know that your food doesn’t magically appear and how does it get there and where does it go? You take it to the dishwasher and understanding how the dishwasher opens, where do you have to stand in order to be safely in front of it. When you put things away, how do you orient yourself to appliances and things like that?
It’s so so important and that goes along with finding your shoes. And we find this too with adults and older adults that we work with. If there is a spouse and as family members, whether it’s a parent or a sibling or as you get older, if it’s a spouse there’s always somebody who wants to help and that which is wonderful.
And sometimes you’re in a hurry and you just have to find your shoes and get out the door and that’s the way it is. But more often than not, if you can take the time to practice your search techniques, find your socks, find your shoes instead of having someone hand them to you.
And like Abdi said, make your own decisions. Maybe you’re walking with your family or walking with a friend who is sighted. But you as the blind low vision individual is making the decision of where to go, when to cross, how to get home.
All of those things as best that you can. It makes a huge difference versus following all the time.
I got a little off track, but the next thing on the list here is encourage your child to locate dropped objects, which is I guess what we just mentioned.
That’s just super important if you drop your cane, if you drop whatever it is, you get to practice finding it. Encourage your child to problem solve, which is what Abdi was saying earlier too. That’s huge because when you get to that work site after high school or you get to that college class after high school, you’re really going to have to practice problem solving.
And so it all starts when you’re in middle school and high school and elementary.
I have a couple pictures here. I always like to, when I’m out and about on O and M lessons, I’m always snapping pictures just to kind of show that the world is not predictable. The photo on the left shows chunks of ice that have fallen on the sidewalk. And this was walking alongside a building that had, they were like daggers that day.
There was huge icicles on the edge of the roof and some had fallen and just kind of created these huge obstacles. So you need your cane for that. And Abdi, you probably hear this too, but folks will often say, I know my way around. I don’t need a cane or I know my way around my house or my school or my neighborhood. So I don’t need a cane, but it’s sometimes and more often than not in these familiar places, there can be surprises.
The picture on the right is a supermarket and laying in the middle of the sidewalk is a table saw and another kind of saw. I think one is plugged in.
One maybe isn’t, but I stood outside this grocery store for the longest time and it was a place where I had just finished an O &M lesson and it’s like it’s not something you would expect to find and there’s no person, there’s nobody guarding these power tools, they’re just there and so again, expect the unexpected.
Abdi:
You said so many great points that I really want to press on. The most important part is the problem solving and I can hopefully get to that but with Keynes, O &M is rarely about skill.
Almost every teenager I work with between the ages of 17 to 20 has the Keynes skills, but the biggest thing they’re missing is the confidence and the curiosity to go and problem solve. It’s okay if I get lost, it’s okay that I don’t follow these step by step directions that were given to me by someone who could see. Almost every one of my students waits to be hand-fed this information and that’s more indicative of that self-confidence and that self-image of okay, sure this person can see but what is this person’s information, why is it superior to mine?
Having, I don’t want to say arrogance but the self-confidence to literally go, hey, I have no idea what neighborhood I’m in, I just moved here but I will find out.
It could take two hours, it could take 20 minutes, it could take two minutes. Regardless, I’m going to get myself into some sticky situations but I will get myself out.
To have the confidence to say, I know what I’m doing. A lot of our students are missing that and that’s the problem solving and then back to the self-image, I started going blind when I was 17, 18 years old and I can tell you now today I’m an orientational mobility instructor but back then as a teenager all I did was this long list of things I could not do now that I’m blind and my biggest enemy was that cane.
Because to pick up that cane was to really lean into that image of me being blind to say okay, that’s it, it’s actually happening and if I was having that self-image problem at 18 years old and I was even having that problem at 20, 21, it took me until 22 years old to finally say, hey, I need this for my safety and I need this for my success in life.
Imagine a 12 year old who’s in the middle of elementary school or middle school and they don’t want to feel different, they don’t want to be the only kid that has a cane and that could do a lot to someone’s self-image but instilling that confidence whether it be in a confidence camp over the summer or having just your child be encouraged to use that cane to get around independently and know that they don’t have to rely on anyone to be around other blind people and again just have that reassurance that hey, you’re not alone and you can do this, right? You don’t have to wait for someone with sight, you don’t have to wait with almost this hierarchy of hey, you have to wait for someone else or you have to listen to someone else ensuring that your child doesn’t have that self-image issues and you can do that by saying hey, let’s go on a walk and let’s see you lead and I’ll follow you and I will let you use your cane and you tell me where we’re going.
Something as simple as that can really help out with both problem solving and that self-image.
Jenny:
And I would add too that for parents, the more you know about what your kid is doing at school and their O &M lessons, I think that’s really important too. I used to work at the Minnesota State Academy for the Blind and I know there were so many times where it’d be a Friday and a kid would head out on the bus and their cane is still by the door in the classroom and so then you’re wondering well what’s going on the rest of today and Saturday and Sunday.
So I think unfortunately sometimes there’s maybe a disconnect between you know like home and school and what are the skills that are being worked on and I mean hopefully that’s all coming through at the IEP meeting but just something to really take seriously so that those O &M skills aren’t just environment specific.
You know they should cross all settings and really be a part of a person’s life. I guess there are maybe some exceptions to that but for the most part you know that cane should be with you wherever you go.
The next slide here says what’s the timeline for O &M? Meaning when do you start or when do you start thinking about you know as a transition student O &M being important because there are some students who may come to O &M later in their high school years or maybe they really haven’t used a cane because of low vision but anticipating what’s ahead maybe now goals are a little bit different meaning maybe that person could be or should be using a cane because they’re going to be navigating a huge college campus or whatnot.
So our advice when Abdi and I were talking about this was to start now to be talking with Shane in our Pre-ETS counselors because what we’re finding is that often we’ll get referrals for O &M but school starts in six weeks and there’s really maybe a lot more that needs to be done. So really be thinking about that ahead of time and be talking to your counselor or your IEP team and just making sure that you’re on track and taking O &M seriously. Another piece of advice that we had here is to be in touch with a student school O &M specialist.
I guess we already talked about that and or SSB O &M staff. Encourage your child and I know I’m a parent this is easier said than done. Encourage your child to say yes to activities offered whether it’s through State Services for the Blind whether it’s through North Dakota services through your home school whether it’s Girl Scouts and Boy Scouts, Church activities all of that those social and educational opportunities are extremely important to building autonomy and I guess I’m biased but O &M is a part of all of that.
When we had the exchange students that I told you about you know we went winter camping and we were you know sleeping in our Quincy’s and our students who were blind did you know the ice climbing and cross country skiing and in all of that and it was so much fun. But again O &M isn’t just when you meet with your O &M instructor it’s every day all the time.
Shane:
Jenny and this is Shane and I just want to make a quick point to all the parents in the room tonight that orientation and mobility is a service offered at your local school through the IEP process. Hopefully most of your children have an orientation and mobility instructor with the school. SSB – we also have orientation and mobility specialists we’ve got Jenny and Adi and we bridge that gap outside of the classroom outside of the IEP process to help our students prepare for traveling to destinations that they’re going to be navigating in their future.
So they can get to and from the work site so they can get to and from and navigate a grocery store if that’s in their goals to do their own grocery shopping so that they can make their own money or when they go to work and not rely on just fast food and others making that food appear in front of you.
And so with all of our graduating seniors or students leaving the high school we encourage and I wish I could say require but we strongly encourage all of our graduating seniors to engage in an orientation and mobility assessment with Jenny or Abdi to have some additional conversations about what are your next steps.
Are you going off to college and navigating a brand new environment okay let’s look at that new environment and see what training we can provide an offer so that you’re comfortable navigating that new landscape whether it be a big campus dorm room dining halls, lecture halls, disability office, whatever or a local two-year school where it’s you’re navigating maybe one building and all of your classes are in that one or two different buildings and then getting back and forth to your housing if it’s not on campus. What’s that public transportation aspect look like.
So what I want to convey is that for all of you parents that senior year really take advantage of working with SSB meeting with Jenny and Abdi in talking about those next steps and getting that education and training so that your son or daughter has that knowledge and those skills and that training available to them so it’s not two weeks before a new job or first day of college classes and you’re panicking well where is whatever hall room 304 to go for how do I get there?
We want to during that senior year make sure our students are getting that time to practice yes working with the O & M instructor at the IEP level still but they may sometimes have their limitations on how far they can go with the student or where they can do their training and that’s okay
That’s when SSB really needs to come to that table and work with our students to ensure that they are getting that training to prepare for that next step.
Jenny:
Excellent yeah. I’m gonna come back here and add one more point to when we talk about the timeline for O &M and making sure that like this is a part of your kids life wherever they may be let your student make their own decisions especially when traveling in the neighborhood. We kind of talked about this earlier or out on errands when to cross how to get there where to find things you go get the milk and then meet me back here by you know the in the produce department by the apples or you know you go get these three things and then meet me back here or I mean those things are huge and hopefully become a part of your everyday life.
I have a picture here again this is one of the folks that I’ve worked with has a job at a store in the mall and so this is a picture of clothing racks and tables and you know trying to make sense out of a place like this this is a you know a workplace where it could be a like Shane said, you know a lecture hall or a campus layout or whatever but how to make sense out of that.
And so that’s where also for O &M you know students should have an idea of how to familiarize themselves with a space there should there’s techniques in order to do this and one thing that is also helpful for many is to use a tactile map and so this next slide is a tactile map of the store that you saw before.
We kind of divided it into three different sections and tried to we even numbered it you know like left display area one two three four five in middle display area one two you know trying to label and make sense out of an area. But tactile maps can be really helpful and I think it’s good for students to have in some kind of experience using those.
There’s also, I had added actually just today another slide here this is the College of St. Benedict and this is a picture of the map that they have on I think it was on their website. And I think it’s problematic if your low vision and maybe able to pick up on some contrast on this map you’ll notice that it’s at an angle so it’s like this two-dimensional description of a campus which is kind of confusing if you’re trying to think which building is north or south of another and anyway I talked to the people at St. Ben’s about this and they’re like oh we never really thought about that like well it’s a map it should be yeah it should be clear.
But anyway so we might do a tactile map of a campus like this and that can be helpful for some too. Abdi, is there anything that you want to add or that any of our folks here want to add in terms of questioning before I just wanted to mention the Cane Quest class?
Abdi:
Yeah I was looking at the time I was the best way I could whittle this down to is one thing that was told to me when I first started pursuing training to become independent I was told being illiterate and not reading Braille is just as bad as being immobile or being dependent upon others. Right?
The best way I could put that is at least the way I took it Braille is very very important and we’re told today learn Braille because you do not want to be unable to read and Write. Besides technology besides anything when it comes down to it for you to learn your ABCs and read you need to learn Braille.
I think O&M is just that important to be completely independent and to get from point A to point B you need to have O&M in your life and stressing that and having that as a corner piece is how we make well-rounded and productive visually impaired Minnesotans so if you have any questions please let me know I am happy to answer any questions but please go ahead Jenny with the Cane Quest.
Jenny:
Yeah so we’re super excited because this has been many years in the works and we’re 99% sure that this spring we will have our first Cane Quest in Minnesota and do you do Cane Quest in North Dakota do you have that going?
Paul:
We haven’t, Jenny, just because again you know numbers. But I’m very well aware of the event being held nationally you might say we kind of do it on a small scale here some of the same elements but we haven’t had a Cane Quest competition as such.
Jenny:
Okay so just to kind of back up a little bit Cane Quest is sponsored by Braille Institute which is out of California but they have these contests all over the United States. They also sponsor the Braille Challenge which I know we just had that for the first time in Minnesota this last year too. But I’m super excited and Abdi and I have talked about this a lot I’m hoping that every student in Minnesota every blind and visually impaired student will be a part of this contest because it’s going to be a wonderful way to really emphasize these skills.
And if we have time there’s it’s just like a little two minute video do we have time to quick…
Shane:
Sure, I think so.
Jenny:
Okay awesome.
Audio from Video playing:
What you’re about to see is various blind and visually impaired students sweeping their white canes. Cain Quest is an orientation and mobility program where students grades three through twelve were blind or visually impaired. Contestants compete in three distinct skill categories scouts explorers and trailblazers. They are challenged to demonstrate fundamental orientation and mobility skills that are necessary to navigate the sided world from which they live.
Cane Quest is really important to us because it shows Carl that he can be independent and all these skills are going to be really important for his future. We wanted to bring him today to have a little fun with his friends and other people and to get rewarded for all the hard work that he’s done.
We learned routes like sweeping we learned how to get to places to touch places. My favorite, I don’t know all of them were my favorites.
Cane Quest was created to promote independence among blind and visually impaired youth and bridge the gap between high school college and then employment
Programs like this are very important really to mystify higher education for the visually impaired. Oftentimes people discuss the high unemployment rates among the visually impaired adults but how are we going to get them in these seats and have them see themselves in future college campuses. How is somebody going to get from point A to point B?
In comes programs like Cane Quest it’s about creating this confidence among students programs like this are very important because they promote one of the most essential core skills which is navigating the world.
A trailblazer contestant is evaluated by an orientation and mobility specialist on an off-campus route.
We’re the child development team and it is never too early to learn cane skills. This is why we invited our little one here today.
Oliver had so much fun doing all the activities and getting prizes. It’s so important for to me to see that separation from me, you know, to build these skills now when still young. It was really neat to see him open up in terms of his skills and take off on his own he’s only seven years old but to see him with his cane getting around and going through these different challenges apart from me – not always holding my hand was really special.
A scout steps confidently with the use of his white cane. A trailblazer navigates to her next route independently.
All of this is a testament to the Braille Institute community because they make it fundamental to be able to be independent to move with freedom throughout the world. Orientation and mobility should just be held in the highest regard because it is really the most comprehensive tool that helps us live our lives with confidence.
What’s so empowering about Cane Quest is it encourages them to show what their white cane can do for them how it can help them get from point A to point B. Whether it’s high school college or your first job whatever it is that white cane can take you there. Your white cane gives you power and power is what will get you to the next step in life.
Jenny:
And there we go.
Paul:
Jennifer, this is Paul and we have to exit because we have another activity but I want to thank you so much for letting us sit in on this.
We’ve run out of time here tonight for our group to talk about it but we’ll talk about all of this more tomorrow again. We might be taking out well some of these students I suspect will be making a trek to the Twin Cities this coming spring or summer.
Jenny:
Awesome
Paul:
Maybe we’ll look you up.
Jenny:
That’d be great yeah thanks for joining us.
Abdi:
Thank you guys
Paul:
You guys want to say thanks yeah?
(Paul’s group from North Dakota say thank yous)
Abdi:
And I believe we are at 8:05 Jenny.
Jenny:
Parents, I hope that you have kind of an idea of some specific ways that you can help your students around home and in your you know the environments that you travel to but then also just have that maybe a better understanding of how important O &M is.
And I think again just to add that we see students I mean like any teenagers what right you like realize you know like there’s a certain life event like suddenly you’re alone and you know you don’t have your parents there and you’re in a dorm room and you have to do all these things. I mean sometimes you just don’t know what you don’t know until you’re in that environment.
But if we can help our students prepare for that so that they do have those skills and are prepared to make some decisions and problem-solves and be as independent as they can be.
Then I think we’re doing a good job then.
Shane:
Yeah thank you all for joining us tonight definitely orientation and mobility is an important topic important subject that’s why we have Jenny and Abdi on staff is to help ensure our students are continuing that learning and growing those skills.
Abdi pointed out orientation and mobility are really a core aspect of orientation it’s problem solving and figuring out your environment.
And I really want to highlight his point of someone steps in and either tells me or shows me instead of me being able to figure it out for myself and problem-solve that’s taking away some of now his or your son or daughter’s ability to learn and develop.
So I think as parents we work with a lot of students we understand the range of skill development and receptiveness to orientation and mobility training a lot of individuals think while that just involves me learning the cane and yes there’s some students who are very hesitant to the cane. And orientation and mobility training may not begin with learning the cane there’s so much more in this training process that can go into learning about those core orientation skills.
Yes I think any individual who’s blind or low vision the a cane and having that discussion with a certified orientation and mobility specialist is very important and critical and that receptiveness may evolve over time.
But I think having these conversations at home as parents understanding the importance of you know, maybe “Yes hey I’m going on an air and come with me.”
So that you know you’re not being left out you’re getting that incidental learning of getting out there and doing. Do the dishes let’s help out by the way you know if you have a son or daughter who you don’t think has those skills to do the dishes all you have to do is let us know and we can get that training set up so that they have the skills and the non-visual techniques so that they can do it and you can benefit from that on the back end.
But that’s so important though in the meantime of developing that learning, developing those problem solving skills that go so much far and beyond just orientation and mobility or doing the dishes. That equates to real world employment settings being able to problem solve so I think a lot of this you know your students, son and daughters are already doing and they’re giving that exposure and you know as a parent you know we’re doing our best to set our kids up for lifelong success.
Know that there’s resources out there there’s professionals available to help aid in that learning because it’s not all on your shoulders.
Yes tonight was to give some good information tips and tricks maybe things to think about but I’m getting long winded here I’m sorry but I think just knowing those resources that are available and how you can be on that team because you know we’re all here to help our students with vision loss be successful in life and SSB wants to be a core component of that team but involving our parents and our peers in that team I think is super beneficial. And is absolutely needed for that lifelong success.
If anyone has any questions, I know we’re 10 minutes over I’m sorry I got long winded there. But know that we’re available your students counselors are available Jenny and Abdi are available if there’s something you want to like I said earlier dive deeper into you just have to reach out to us and let us know.
We want to do everything and we know that the parent side is very important in helping our students succeed so we want to be here as an ally and as a voice so please do reach out, ask questions, engage in dialogues and again you know create those opportunities for your kiddos as well so that they can ultimately learn and grow and flourish.
Parent:
Thank you guys yeah
Parent 3:
Thank you that was really great information and food for thought
Parent 4:
Thank you guys thank you awesome
Jenny
Yeah thank you parents for all that you’re doing
Shane:
Thanks for coming. Thank you Lisa and Alisha glad to see you guys. Deb, good to see you as well.
(Music)
Jeff:
To find out more about all the programs at State Services for the Blind, contact Shane.DeSantis@state.mn.us. That’s shane.d-e-s-a-n-t-i-s at state.mn.us
Be sure to contact your State Services for the Blind, your Voc Rehab and find out what they can do for you.
Live, work, read, succeed.
[Music] [Transition noise] –
When we share-
What we see
-Through each other’s eyes…
[Multiple voices overlapping, in unison, to form a single sentence]
…We can then begin to bridge the gap between the limited expectations, and the realities of Blind Abilities