?Thank you Kevin! I like the ‘promote’ safety instead of ‘maintain safety’ and would love to chat further!
Best Regards,?
toggle quoted message
Show quoted text
On 8 Aug 2024, at 1:01?AM, Laura Bozeman <Laura.bozeman@...> wrote:
?
Excellent point, Kevin.
?
There is so much involved with safety for the O&M specialist during a lesson, instructor positioning, knowing the student (how they move, how quickly they move) in
addition to what we teach about safety.
?
Best,
Laura
?
Laura Bozeman, PhD, COMS, CLVT
Professor & Graduate Program Director:
Vision Studies
Chair: School for Global Inclusion and Social Development
University of Massachusetts, Boston
Laura.bozeman@...
Cell: 781-588-4274
Fax: 617-287-7787
<image001.png>
???
<image002.png>
?
?
?
?
CAUTION: EXTERNAL SENDER
Good morning, happy to engage in the conversation as I have had over 50 interns in my summer program but I am not a university supervisor or professor. I will encourage you though to consider the language of “maintain“ safety as that the
best we can do is “promote” it!- I feel an instructor should never tell a learner that if they do “X, Y, Z they will be safe”
I have seen numerous times when a traveler has done everything absolutely perfect in terms of strategies and alignment and so on and yet a close call happens or an injury occurred. That includes one of my students getting hit by a car.
We promote safety.
Also, I had interns with low vision and blindness and they implemented many strategies they learned at their university.?
I also had to seek professional development for my staff to learn those strategies because they were not known to us.
?
~ ~ ~
Kevin Hollinger
CATIS, COMS, NBCT-ENS, TVI
Francis Howell School District
kevin.hollinger@...
636-851-6143 office
636-851-6030?fax
On Aug 6, 2024, at 11:01?PM, Belinda O'Connor <beloconnor@...> wrote:
?
?Hi Laura,
It’s wonderful to hear from you noting your experience in this area as a university instructor and participation in the referred research. Thank you for responding!?
The below is very helpful and if you are willing, I would very much like to delve deeper.
I am particularly interested in examples of what it might look like where it is ‘perceived’ or ‘determined’ the student instructor has not maintained client safety. What are some examples that safety has not been maintained? How has that
been communicated to the student instructor and what actions were subsequently employed? Is there a remediation action or period? Does the student fail a subject or a competency or the course? How are reasonable adjustments addressed in the course and practical
placement where the student is learning? Eg, a student and the instructor may not know at the outset of the course what reasonable adjustments are needed. There may be an event which then triggers the need for a reasonable adjustment. How is that addressed?
Or is the student just deemed due to that event not being able to maintain client safety?
What if one supervisor thinks the student instructor is maintaining safety (or has not raised it as an issue) but another supervisor based on the same thing, says safety is not being maintained??
I would love to have a meeting with you sometime if you are willing? Or happy to receive other resources from you.
On 7 Aug 2024, at 6:57?AM, Laura Bozeman <Laura.bozeman@...> wrote:
?
I can respond from my experience with 5 universities. I am speaking for myself. You mentioned the Griffin-Shirley et al research and I am glad to be a part of the
research team.
As you know, anyone can apply to an O&M program regardless of disability. Regarding safety, I?expect the student instructor to keep themselves and the person they
are teaching safe in a dynamic environment-in all environments. They are assessed (in the hands-on course) informally each day and formally, at intervals throughout the course. I?have had people who are fully sighted with no other disabilities who could not
do this. I?have had people with blindness or low vision who could. How?they monitor grip, cane position, and overall safety, etc. may be different.
In the universities where I have worked, we did not ask someone with low vision to undergo any assessments that we did not require for all applicants. Among other
results of our research, being a competent traveler was noted to be necessary.
We would talk with the applicant, all applicants, about what is expected in the curriculum and that particular course.
Laura Bozeman, PhD, COMS, CLVT
Professor and Director: Vision Studies
Chair: School for Global Inclusion and Social Development
CAUTION: EXTERNAL SENDER
Hello orientation and mobility brains trust!
I would be grateful for a discussion with individuals who can provide me with advice about strategies O&M instructors (COMS) with low vision would use to maintain the safety of their clients when delivering itinerant services particularly
new travel routes.
I am also interested in the feedback that students would receive from their placement supervisors as to what it means to maintain client safety. How that is addressed through university/ COMS (ACVREP) assessment criteria to determine if/
when a student has met competency.
Obviously, I understand and affirm an orientation and mobility instructor must be able to demonstrate they can maintain the safety of the client. However there seems to be a very broad application of what this might mean. Is there any assessment
done prior to a vision impaired person undertaking a course to determine if they can maintain a client safety? (Not from what I’ve read) If there has been an incident where it is perceived a clients safety may not have been maintained, how is that addressed?
(There seems to be anecdotal stories)
Currently I am undertaking postgraduate study in Australia to graduate as an orientation and mobility specialist and subsequently to sit the COMS exam.
I was born with low vision and am a bioptic driver for over eight years.?
In Australia, we only have one person with vision impairment working as a COMS. We have had only a handful of other vision impaired people who have attempted to become an orientation and mobility specialist. However,
in my discussions with some of them, some supervisors and university staff, there seems to be a general consensus that vision impaired people are not able to maintain the safety of clients. To me this seems to be a lack of familiarity of how things can be
done and are being done.
Your insights would be greatly appreciated please?
Note: I have read the recent study and been in contact with Dr Griffin-Shirley and Dr Bradley Blair. I’ve also been reviewing Dr Sauerburger’s work on road crossings.
Belinda O'Connor - DLI
Churchill Fellow 2022 "The NRMA - ACT Road Safety Trust Churchill Fellowship to identify success factors and barriers for low vision and telescopic glasses driving”?
Bioptic Drivers Australia (BDA)
Email:?beloconnor@...
LinkedIn:?https://www.linkedin.com/in/belindaoconnor1/
Blog:?
I acknowledge that I live and?work on Ngunnawal?Country?of the Kulin Nations and pay?my respects to First Nations?Elders past?and present.?Sovereignty of the lands and?waters across the continent?has never?been ceded, and?this is and
always will be?Aboriginal and Torres Strait?Islander land.
This e-mail transmission from the Francis Howell School District including any accompanying data or files is confidential and is intended only for the use of the named recipient. If you are not the intended recipient, an addressee, or the
person responsible for delivering this to an addressee, you are hereby notified that reading, using, copying, or distributing any part of this message is strictly prohibited. If you receive this message in error, or are not the named recipient(s), please notify
the sender at the email address above, delete this email from your computer, and destroy any copies in any form immediately. Improper retention of this e-mail and any attachment(s) to this e-mail could subject you to legal action under pertinent federal and
state statutes, and result in civil and criminal penalties.
|
