Cane Travel

Cane Travel

The Braille Monitor

April 1997

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Teaching Cane Travel

Blind?

by Arlene Hill

From the Editor: Some months

ago Arlene Hill wrote the following article about teaching cane travel as a

blind instructor. Here it is:

When I was invited to write this article, I wondered what I

could possibly say. I was asked to write about any special problems blind people

have teaching orientation and mobility. In my view this notion is one of the

greatest misunderstandings in the blindness field. The differences, philosophical

and practical, seem to arise from the different techniques employed by sighted

and blind instructors.

I grew up in Iowa. I attended both the Iowa Braille and Sight

Saving School in Vinton and Knoxville High School, the local public high school

in my hometown. I never had a cane in my hand while I was growing up. I believed

that canes were for blind people less capable than I. My attitudes were no better

than those of most sighted people. The common belief is that blind people are

really not very capable when it comes to independent mobility. Though well-trained

blind people overcome this myth, it persists among most sighted people because

they have not undergone extensive sleep-shade training.

After graduating from high school, I became a student at the

Iowa Commission for the Blind in Des Moines, where I was introduced to the long

white cane--long enough to reach my chin. I was taught how to use this cane

by a sighted instructor who had undergone extensive sleep-shade training. It

was immediately obvious to me that this cane was not just a symbol of blindness

but a tool that could be used to achieve true freedom. I have been a user of

the long white cane for more than thirty years; and, as time has passed, the

length of my cane has increased until it is now as tall as I am. Some may find

this fact curious; however, as one increases in both skill and confidence, one's

walking pace naturally increases. Thus one needs more stopping distance in which

to react to potential obstacles, and the increased length affords that distance.

My education after attending the Iowa Commission for the Blind

was in the field of special education, with emphasis on teaching the mentally

disabled. I taught blind, mentally handicapped individuals in a state hospital

school for some years. I then taught for three years at Blind Industries and

Services of Maryland in Baltimore and nine at the Louisiana Center for the Blind

in Ruston, Louisiana, where I am currently employed.

As I see it, the major differences between blind and sighted

instructors are philosophical. Different techniques follow naturally from the

different philosophies. It seems to me that the variation in techniques causes

some of the so-called problems we blind instructors face.

Let's begin with what we call ourselves: orientation and mobility

(O&M) specialists versus cane-travel instructors. As a blind person I teach

other blind people how to use the cane properly. The technique is straightforward

and simple and is one of the easiest tasks for most students to learn. However,

what follows mastery of this technique is what seems to make the difference

between those taught by blind and those taught by sighted instructors because

this later instruction enables the student to develop self-confidence and the

problem-solving skills necessary to achieve true independence. O and M specialists,

on the other hand, seem to spend much time with pre-cane techniques, sighted-guide

training, and protective methods. For example, like me, most blind instructors

I know use route travel in teaching our students. We send them on assigned routes

which have been carefully planned to teach students how to deal with various

types of travel problems, using problem-solving skills.

As a blind traveler and a blind instructor, I believe there

are two keys to being a good independent cane traveler. They are the same things

that make good drivers: self-confidence and problem-solving skills. Building

self- confidence is as important in learning to drive as it is for blind persons

learning to travel independently. As children grow, they cannot wait to drive,

but when they sit behind the wheel for the first time, they find it pretty frightening.

The same is true for a blind traveler: the first time he or she goes out on

the street with a cane is very frightening, because this, too, is unfamiliar

territory, requiring the use of undeveloped skills. The sound of traffic and

the thought of potential harm may be overwhelming to many blind travelers, just

as being behind the wheel of a fast-moving vehicle is to many young drivers.

In both cases they return from their first trip and all is well--or at least

it was not quite as bad as they thought it would be. Each future trip becomes

less frightening. As time passes, the drivers, as well as the blind travelers,

build confidence until they truly believe in themselves.

Most people, blind and sighted alike, tend to do and become

what others expect them to. If their instructor has high expectations for them

and they have high expectations for themselves, they learn that they can travel

everywhere, mostly unassisted.

A good blind traveler believes in his or her ability to negotiate

obstacles and expects to take on travel challenges throughout each day. Most

sighted persons, unless extensively trained under sleep shades, do not believe

that a blind person can successfully traverse the many unfamiliar hazards they

might come across daily. Yet since a blind instructor is used to facing these

challenges, he or she will expect and encourage students to do likewise.

The next key is problem-solving skills, important for both

drivers and blind cane travelers. Can the person learn to use the entire environment

to remain oriented or, when confused, to reorient? We teach drivers always to

keep watching, their eyes constantly moving. The good driver looks continuously

for landmarks, signs, traffic patterns, and traffic cues. As a travel teacher

I also teach blind persons to use everything around them for the same purpose:

the sun and breeze as directional tools, traffic cues, traffic patterns, sense

of smell, familiar and unfamiliar sounds, and landmarks found with the cane.

All of these skills--listening, feeling sun, locating objects with a cane, and

quickly assessing the situation--must be taught. Who knows these skills better

than a person who depends on them daily for normal, safe, and efficient travel?

This is not to say that every independent blind person can teach cane travel.

It is, however, true that a capable teacher who has become a good independent

cane traveler through daily practice can impart this skill and knowledge to

another blind person naturally and easily.

It is very important that the blind instructor go on travel

routes with any new student for the first several trips, then observe the student

closely, especially at key trouble spots. Some would say that having to do so

much walking is a problem for a blind instructor. A sighted instructor can hop

in a car and observe the student from comfortable heat or air conditioning,

while the blind instructor is out in all types of weather. However, since the

blind instructor is right there, he or she can much more easily and quickly

communicate with the student when necessary. Initially, constant communication

is essential to remind the student to look for landmarks, listen to traffic,

cross parking lots efficiently, and so forth. Therefore, what most sighted specialists

would consider a problem, I consider an advantage. Many of these skills must

be reinforced more than once, sometimes more than just orally. Often a hands-on

method works best. The blind instructor is right there to give immediate help

and advice.

The biggest problem blind instructors have, according to most

sighted ones, is that we cannot see the environment in front of the student

in order to protect him or her from tree limbs, construction, or other barriers.

I do not agree. In my view this is a legitimate difference in professional philosophy.

Sighted orientation and mobility specialists generally have a protective attitude

toward their blind students, whereas blind instructors use a realistic approach

in their teaching.

Sighted specialists seem to believe that blind people need

protection and are not able to travel with genuine independence anyway. Blind

instructors are independent cane travelers themselves, so they have no doubt

that blind students can learn to travel as well or better than the instructor,

if they can acquire the self-confidence. The reality is that occasionally a

branch will be in the way, and the blind traveler may strike it. There is sometimes

construction on a travel route. The student must learn how to identify these

things and how to deal with them. It is an advantage to travel in real-life

situations during training in order to learn to use problem-solving skills.

If a blind student is protected from real-life experiences, of course, he or

she will not travel much independently when the training ends. Because the protective

sighted instructor does not teach the student to handle such things, the student

naturally concludes that it is not possible for a blind person to cope with

them. If, on the other hand, students face these things during training, they

will learn that they can face and master any travel situation that comes their

way.

At first blind students are frightened and need much encouragement.

Seeing other blind people using canes to move about capably and efficiently

can make a big difference to a frightened student. All of us, blind and sighted

alike, look for role models in new situations. The blind instructor can be that

role model to the new travel student.

Having said all this, I believe that the biggest problem facing

a blind cane-travel instructor is the almost constant discrimination from his

or her sighted peers. Blind cane-travel instructors are told they cannot do

the job, in spite of the many successful independent cane travelers they have

taught. In my experience, most blind people prefer being taught by a blind instructor,

because they have confidence in the instructor's ability and because they know

their instructor's skills are tried and true and are used daily by thousands

of other blind people. Being constantly criticized and told that you are limited

in what you can do because of blindness can become a real problem. However,

the success of the many blind independent travelers taught by blind instructors

provides the most convincing proof.

Compare these results with the travel skills of the more protected

and sheltered blind people taught by sighted O&M specialists. I am not arguing

that the profession of cane- travel instruction should be limited to blind persons.

I am saying that we, as blind instructors, have valid methods that should be

considered on their own merit. The alternative methods used by blind instructors

are just as sound as the usual prescribed certified methods of cane- travel

instruction advocated by sighted O&M specialists.

Finally, an ongoing problem for blind instructors is that they

are not fully certifiable by the Association for Education and Rehabilitation

of the Blind and Visually Impaired (AER). Because our methods are different,

blind instructors are barred from the high financial benefits paid by many of

the state and private agencies to sighted O&M specialists. I look at some

of the advertisements for O&M specialists, and the money looks wonderful.

We blind instructors cannot obtain these jobs simply because we do not meet

the requirements established by sighted O&M specialists, although we have

helped hundreds reach true independence.

I realize that this article does not talk much about the problems

blind instructors face on the job. This is because, after searching my mind

and heart, I honestly do not believe that there are many problems that blind

instructors have that they do not share with sighted instructors. I have been

as honest as I know how to be, after twelve years of teaching in both a metropolitan

city with buses and subways and a small town with cabs and walking. The most

prevalent problem facing blind cane-travel instructors is caused by the dichotomy

between the philosophy of blind, non-certifiable instructors and that of most

sighted, certified instructors. If this discrepancy could be eliminated, there

would be more candidates to fill vacancies in cane-travel instruction; therefore,

more opportunities would be available for blind people to learn independent

cane travel.