Getting Around

[Ms. Kathy]

[This article is from the America Foundation for the Blind web site located at http://www.afb.org]

[glow=red,2,300]Getting Around[/glow]


Not all people considered blind use a long white cane or dog guide. People who are visually impaired and do not use long canes or dog guides often rely on their remaining sight and auditory and tactile cues in their surroundings for orientation and travel.

How Can You Make It Easier To Move Around Your Home?

• Replace worn carpeting, and remove area rugs. Move electrical cords away from walkways. Use nonskid products to clean and polish floors.
  
• Use contrasting colors to make doors and stairs easier to see.
  
• Move furniture out of the main traffic areas in your home, and keep desk chairs and table chairs pushed in.
  
• Keep cabinet, closet, and room doors fully open or fully closed—not half open.
  
• Make sure that lighting in hallways and stairwells is bright and even.
  
• Use railings when climbing stairs.
  
• Make it easy to locate electrical outlets and light switches, oven dials, hot pads, and doorknobs by using color contrasts.

Are You Concerned About Traveling Safely Outside Of Your Home

• Wear comfortable and supportive shoes.
  
• Plan your route before you go. Identify landmarks that are easy for you to detect and use them as reference points.
  
• Cross streets only at crosswalks. If you are uncertain about when it is safe to cross, don't hesitate to ask for help.
  
• When walking with another person, it may be helpful to hold onto his or her arm slightly above the elbow and walk about a half step behind. This will allow the person to guide you comfortably.

[Ms. Kathy]

Blind children taught to see the world like bats.

By Gareth Rose.

BLIND children from Scotland are to be taught a pioneering
echo-location technique copied from bats in an effort to help
them visualise their surroundings.

The youngsters will be able to build up a mental library of
images of the world around them by clicking their tongue and
interpreting the sound as it echoes back. The technique, which
is used by bats, dolphins and whales to navigate and hunt in
the dark, is being piloted in Glasgow, where 10 children aged
five to 17 are being taught by staff from the charity
Visibility.

There is growing evidence that blind people can use their
advanced hearing to interpret reflected sound as the distance,
size and density of objects around them.

Leading paediatric ophthalmologist Professor Gordon Dutton has
backed the technique and wants it to be taught to the 385,000
blind and partially sighted people in Britain.

"It's very exciting," said Dutton, of the Royal Hospital for
Sick Children in Glasgow. "I have seen echo-location being
used – it's quite stunning.

"Of course there will be scepticism and doubt, but the
benefits are without question. It will make a massive
difference to the lives of blind and visually impaired
people."

Echo-location was pioneered in the US, where people have been
able to differentiate between people, trees, buildings and
parked cars by the pitch and timbre of the echo they produce.

They have even been able to determine the height, density and
shape of objects up to 100ft away.

Distance can be calculated by how long it takes for the echo
to travel back, position by whether it hits the left or right
ear first, and size by the intensity of the echo, as a smaller
object reflects less of the sound wave.

The direction a moving object, such as a car, is travelling
can be calculated by the pitch of the noise, which is lower
if it is moving away from the person.

The project in Glasgow was launched following a year-long
visit by Dan Kish, a 41-year-old man from California who
pioneered the technique and uses it to ride a bike and even
distinguish different types of fruit on trees.

Another practitioner of echo-location, teenager Ben Underwood,
who lost his sight when he was three, has become a celebrity
in America because of his ability to use it to ride a bike and
go skateboarding.

Source URL:
news.scotsman.com/scitech/Blind-children-taught-to-see.3762761.jp

[Ms. Kathy]

Teaching one child about his school campus, I have had him help me to put braille room labels for each classroom and office at the school. Since he is also a new braille reader, it helps with learning multiple digit numbers as well.

The teachers love it and will make sure that ou don't forget their braille label. It becomes an educational tool of awareness and discussion among his sighted peers, too, which is always good!