|
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.
Best Regards,?
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:?http://australianbiopticdriver.blogspot.com
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.
|
Hi Belinda,
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.
I hope that is helpful.
Best,
Laura
Laura Bozeman, PhD, COMS, CLVT
Professor and Director: Vision Studies
Chair: School for Global Inclusion and Social Development
UMass Boston
Laura.bozeman@...
781-588-4274
toggle quoted message
Show quoted text
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.
Best Regards,?
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:?http://australianbiopticdriver.blogspot.com
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.
|
?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.
Best Regards,?
toggle quoted message
Show quoted text
On 7 Aug 2024, at 6:57?AM, Laura Bozeman <Laura.bozeman@...> wrote:
?
Hi Belinda,
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.
I hope that is helpful.
Best,
Laura
Laura Bozeman, PhD, COMS, CLVT
Professor and Director: Vision Studies
Chair: School for Global Inclusion and Social Development
UMass Boston
Laura.bozeman@...
781-588-4274
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.
Best Regards,?
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:?http://australianbiopticdriver.blogspot.com
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.
|
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?
~ ~ ~
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.
Best Regards,?
On 7 Aug 2024, at 6:57?AM, Laura Bozeman <Laura.bozeman@...> wrote:
?
Hi Belinda,
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.
I hope that is helpful.
Best,
Laura
Laura Bozeman, PhD, COMS, CLVT
Professor and Director: Vision Studies
Chair: School for Global Inclusion and Social Development
UMass Boston
Laura.bozeman@...
781-588-4274
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.
Best Regards,?
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.
|
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
 ???
 ?
?
?
?
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.
|
Hi Belinda,
Please fee free to contact me off list and we can chat.
?
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
 ???
 ?
?
?
?
|
You don't often get email from beloconnor@....
|
|
CAUTION: EXTERNAL SENDER
?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.
toggle quoted message
Show quoted text
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:?http://australianbiopticdriver.blogspot.com
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.
|
Belinda, ? You and I have some visual history in common. I am a congenitally legally blind COMS, now semi-retired. I was a bioptic driver up to about three years ago. I stopped driving at that time after nearly 50 years of bioptic driving, not because of any significant decline in vision, but because realistically, all physical functions slow down as we age. I was in my late 60s, and I wanted to stop driving on my own before it would become apparent that I should have done so. I consider myself still able to monitor students for safety, but I have purposefully slowed my practice down to a very part time schedule. I do not feel that I need to be out there working with four or five or mor students per day five or six days a week as I did at one time. ? Being a COMS was a second or third professional change for me. I could not have become a COMS when working on my first Master’s degree back in the 1970s. As you probably know, legally or totally blind people were not allowed to sit for the COMS exam until 1994. I thus did other things in the rehabilitation and education professions, and went back to Graduate school to prepare to take the COMS exam in 2010. I practiced for the most part full time until 2021. ? When in Graduate School at Texas Tech, I recall asking Dr. Griffin-Shirley? why there was not more literature or research on how legally blind and totally blind people adapted techniques to? monitor for safety, and effectively teach. ?She answered that the process was very individualized. She gave a few examples of adaptations they had made, but she did not seem to really want me to study the techniques that other legally blind people used as much as she wanted me to develop my own that I could prove worked for me in order to monitor and keep people safe while nonetheless teaching effectively. ? I will mention just a few ways in which I teach differently than some other COMS who are fully sighted, ?that I have had the opportunity to observe. First of all, I back off as students increase skills as any COMS does, but I probably do not back off as far. When a student is ready to work routes without my being in the physical intervention position ?behind them. I am probably still closer to them than most instructors would be. I do not want to miss small details of cane use, positioning, gait, etc. that I might miss at further distance. I discuss this with the student ahead of time so that they understand what I am doing back there. After discussing my techniques with them, I probably physically touch their hands, arms, or shoulders more than totally sighted instructors would. This helps me evaluate the subtleties of grip, hand positioning, cane placement, etc. that I might miss or not see accurately. It did not initially occur to me ?that I was doing these things to accommodate my own visual impairment, I worked for several years in the field of deafblindness prior to entering COMS training, and I may have developed some of these techniques to accommodate communicating tactually. In terms of techniques most directly related to ?safety, I think I walk routs more ahead of teaching them than most COMS do. Because of some personnel changes at the agency where I did my internship, I actually worked under two COMS as an intern. Both of them would often scout out a route by driving it. They would spot broken sidewalks, elevation changes, speed bumps and other environmental features that might impact safety or orientation when I could not spot these while driving or riding in a car. ?I believe that anyone can pick up more of these features by actually experiencing them firsthand, but as a legally blind COMS, I believe that doing this is essential for monitoring and safety. ? I notice that Dr. Bozeman has sent you a second message while I have been writing this telling you that you may feel free to contact her. She is much better qualified than I am to talk with you about training processes to become a COMS. After all, that is her expertise, while I have just been a work-a-day practitioner out there chasing blind and low vision people through the environment. If you would like to talk peer to peer, however, I make the same offer. ?Feel free to contact me. I will place my contact information at the end of this message. ? One other thing that I might suggest. We low vision people who can drive with a bioptic are a kind of a strange hybrid bunch. We get to do something that most blind and vision impaired people can not do. We can drive, but we consider what routes we are going to drive more carefully and do more ?conscious route planning to avoid driving situations that we know might be difficult for us. You can transfer some of these techniques to the planning of walking routes. ?This is a skill that comes more naturally and easily to us low vision drivers. ? I remember writing in one of my scholarship applications to get funding to return to COMS school, that I felt that in an ideal world, a blind or legally blind student, would be able to work with a blind COMS, a low vision COMS, and a sighted COMS. There are aspects of the work that each of these categories of people can naturally do best.? They may each have to work a little harder to master the areas for which they are not naturally well equipped, but they all have an important role to play in the profession. ?Needless to say, we are not in this ideal world. Many blind individuals do not get the opportunity to work very much with any COMS at all, and certainly not with a group of COMS. Thus, COMS candidates in each of the categories of vision simply have to work a little harder to emphasize the parts of the work that do not come as naturally to them. ?I think a further example of this was something I realized when I stopped driving. I think I was always competent at teaching the use of fixed route buses, but I found I became even better at teaching these skills once I had to use these buses for almost all of my daily travel. The everyday user learns tricks that the teacher of skills looking in from the outside may never know as intimately. ? Well, I just read back over this post, and I am not particularly happy with it. It is rather disorganized and I have wondered around from topic to topic. This is probably because, although I feel it is a very important topic, I still ?struggle with how to organize and present information concerning it. Again, I extend the offer, if you think any of this seems helpful and want to talk further, feel free to contact me. ? Michael Byington, Certified Orientation and Mobility Specialist (COMS) > President of Kansas Association for the Blind and Visually Impaired, Inc. >> Membership Coordinator for Friends In Art of the American Council of the Blind >> 712 S. Kansas Avenue >> Suite 414D-F >> Topeka, Kansas 66603 >> (785) 221-7111 >> ByingtonCOMS@... ? ? ?? ?
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From: [email protected] < [email protected]> On Behalf Of Laura Bozeman Sent: Tuesday, August 6, 2024 3:58 PM To: [email protected]Subject: Re: [OandM] Low vision O&M instructors strategies ? 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) 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.
|
?Just wonderful Michael! Thank you!
I resonate with all you say.
This is my second major career change which I plan to continue for decades and into semi-retirement for life. I spent just over 20 years in the Australian federal public service across various portfolios in public policy and statutory compliance at both
officer and executive level (middle management).?
I hear you regarding public transport travel, route planning - skill transfer. As I have only been driving for eight years I spent the majority of my life using public transport but I also ride pushbikes and did use them on public transport, where are
allowable. Big push here in Australia for active travel.?
In my O&M placement I’ve used my vision impaired life experience in responding to questions by clients in public transport and travel in general. Clients may use that as a starting point to understand what someone else might do and then consider how they
can apply that for themselves.?
I absolutely agree with you disabled people don’t just take the strategies that others use and apply them. They consider what changes may be necessary to adapt for their own impairment/disability and apply to each context. We disabled people inherently
do this because we live in a world that was not built for us.?
In becoming a bioptic driver I sort out adaptions and worked out what works for me and applied that. But I could only do that from the role modelling through social media that was offered by USA based bioptic drivers. Again against the background of no
Occupational Therapy driving instructor in my state that would take me on as a vision impaired driver and having to go interstate to do lessons and then return to my state and use a usual driving school that were willing to learn how to teach a bioptic driver.
And yes, supervisors I’ve had too did their review by driving the route. Again I was told to pull out my bioptic to do the same. The constant explaining why I need to walk the routes, and where I’ve had opportunity which is by myself I do with the cane.
So much good stuff you’ve written!?
I’ll leave it there and be in touch.
toggle quoted message
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On 8 Aug 2024, at 6:12?AM, Michael Byington <ByingtonCOMS@...> wrote:
?
Belinda,
?
You and I have some visual history in common. I am a congenitally legally blind COMS, now semi-retired. I was a bioptic driver up to about three years ago. I stopped driving at that time after nearly 50 years of bioptic driving, not because
of any significant decline in vision, but because realistically, all physical functions slow down as we age. I was in my late 60s, and I wanted to stop driving on my own before it would become apparent that I should have done so. I consider myself still able
to monitor students for safety, but I have purposefully slowed my practice down to a very part time schedule. I do not feel that I need to be out there working with four or five or mor students per day five or six days a week as I did at one time.
?
Being a COMS was a second or third professional change for me. I could not have become a COMS when working on my first Master’s degree back in the 1970s. As you probably know, legally or totally blind people were not allowed to sit for
the COMS exam until 1994. I thus did other things in the rehabilitation and education professions, and went back to Graduate school to prepare to take the COMS exam in 2010. I practiced for the most part full time until 2021.
?
When in Graduate School at Texas Tech, I recall asking Dr. Griffin-Shirley? why there was not more literature or research on how legally blind and totally blind people adapted techniques to? monitor for safety, and effectively teach. ?She
answered that the process was very individualized. She gave a few examples of adaptations they had made, but she did not seem to really want me to study the techniques that other legally blind people used as much as she wanted me to develop my own that I could
prove worked for me in order to monitor and keep people safe while nonetheless teaching effectively.
?
I will mention just a few ways in which I teach differently than some other COMS who are fully sighted, ?that I have had the opportunity to observe. First of all, I back off as students increase skills as any COMS does, but I probably do
not back off as far. When a student is ready to work routes without my being in the physical intervention position ?behind them. I am probably still closer to them than most instructors would be. I do not want to miss small details of cane use, positioning,
gait, etc. that I might miss at further distance. I discuss this with the student ahead of time so that they understand what I am doing back there. After discussing my techniques with them, I probably physically touch their hands, arms, or shoulders more than
totally sighted instructors would. This helps me evaluate the subtleties of grip, hand positioning, cane placement, etc. that I might miss or not see accurately. It did not initially occur to me ?that I was doing these things to accommodate my own visual impairment,
I worked for several years in the field of deafblindness prior to entering COMS training, and I may have developed some of these techniques to accommodate communicating tactually. In terms of techniques most directly related to ?safety, I think I walk routs
more ahead of teaching them than most COMS do. Because of some personnel changes at the agency where I did my internship, I actually worked under two COMS as an intern. Both of them would often scout out a route by driving it. They would spot broken sidewalks,
elevation changes, speed bumps and other environmental features that might impact safety or orientation when I could not spot these while driving or riding in a car. ?I believe that anyone can pick up more of these features by actually experiencing them firsthand,
but as a legally blind COMS, I believe that doing this is essential for monitoring and safety.
?
I notice that Dr. Bozeman has sent you a second message while I have been writing this telling you that you may feel free to contact her. She is much better qualified than I am to talk with you about training processes to become a COMS.
After all, that is her expertise, while I have just been a work-a-day practitioner out there chasing blind and low vision people through the environment. If you would like to talk peer to peer, however, I make the same offer. ?Feel free to contact me. I will
place my contact information at the end of this message.
?
One other thing that I might suggest. We low vision people who can drive with a bioptic are a kind of a strange hybrid bunch. We get to do something that most blind and vision impaired people can not do. We can drive, but we consider what
routes we are going to drive more carefully and do more ?conscious route planning to avoid driving situations that we know might be difficult for us. You can transfer some of these techniques to the planning of walking routes. ?This is a skill that comes more
naturally and easily to us low vision drivers.
?
I remember writing in one of my scholarship applications to get funding to return to COMS school, that I felt that in an ideal world, a blind or legally blind student, would be able to work with a blind COMS, a low vision COMS, and a sighted
COMS. There are aspects of the work that each of these categories of people can naturally do best.? They may each have to work a little harder to master the areas for which they are not naturally well equipped, but they all have an important role to play in
the profession. ?Needless to say, we are not in this ideal world. Many blind individuals do not get the opportunity to work very much with any COMS at all, and certainly not with a group of COMS. Thus, COMS candidates in each of the categories of vision simply
have to work a little harder to emphasize the parts of the work that do not come as naturally to them. ?I think a further example of this was something I realized when I stopped driving. I think I was always competent at teaching the use of fixed route buses,
but I found I became even better at teaching these skills once I had to use these buses for almost all of my daily travel. The everyday user learns tricks that the teacher of skills looking in from the outside may never know as intimately.
?
Well, I just read back over this post, and I am not particularly happy with it. It is rather disorganized and I have wondered around from topic to topic. This is probably because, although I feel it is a very important topic, I still ?struggle
with how to organize and present information concerning it. Again, I extend the offer, if you think any of this seems helpful and want to talk further, feel free to contact me.
?
Michael Byington, Certified Orientation and Mobility Specialist (COMS)
> President of Kansas Association for the Blind and Visually Impaired, Inc.
>> Membership Coordinator for Friends In Art of the American Council of the Blind
>> 712 S. Kansas Avenue
>> Suite 414D-F
>> Topeka, Kansas 66603
>> (785) 221-7111
>> ByingtonCOMS@...
?
?
??
?
?
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)
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.
|
?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.
|
Hi Kevin
Do you mind sending me an email please? Or advise on your email?
I have just tried sending you an email to this address, but it has bounced back twice? kevin.hollinger@...
toggle quoted message
Show quoted text
On 8 Aug 2024, at 12:29?PM, Belinda O'Connor <beloconnor@...> wrote:
?
?Thank you Kevin! I like the ‘promote’ safety instead of ‘maintain safety’ and would love to chat further!
Best Regards,?
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.
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Laura Bozeman