Journal of O&M Experiences

June 7 – It is the first day of class. I need a big note book for the class. We worked on sighted guide activity today. It was fun. We just went down the hall and back. We were in pairs. One person had a blindfold on and was holding on the other persons arm above the elbow. The person that could see led the other person around.

June 8 – We picked up canes today. It was a nice walk over to Spring Annex. The canes are measured from the sternum down to the floor. This helps to find the right size cane for you.

June 9 – Today we talked about guide dogs and did a little sighted guide work. We had a person come in talk about her experiences with using a guide dog. We saw the guide dog move through a little optical course. It was interesting to see the dog guide his master around. He shielded the master from the objects in the path. We practiced trailing down a wall and worked on sighted guide more. I learned what it feels like for my kids as they try to travel down the hall. You are dependent on your guide to keep you from hitting things as you travel. When you are trailing ye feel every little thing along the wall.

June 14 – Today we got to try on different glasses that simulated cataracts, glaucoma, and reitnitiour premotoma. It was very interesting to experience what it is like to have these eye conditions. I actually ran into a chair my first trip out in the hall. After that I grabbed my cane to travel.

June 15 – I tried a vision simulator that was 20/400. I could see real blurry shapes but not much detail. When I was moving around the room, I felt like I was on a ship that was rocking around. I felt very unsteady. I only had the simulator on for maybe 5 minutes, but since I was not used to the unsteady feeling I had, I started to feel motion sickness. Interesting experience.

June 22 – Today we practiced trailing and sighted guide again. I first worked on trailing. I started from the room and went to the part of the building with the elementary hall. There is a big tactile dragon on one of the walls. I took time to feel the dragon. I had one instance where I took a side trip into a bathroom. That was not intended. The sighted guide practice went well.

June 23 – We did a lot of cane work and trailing today. It was an interesting experience. It really is fascinating to experience what it is like to travel without being able to see. There were times that I ran into things on the walls like a fire alarm or into doors that were open. At other times I found that I got turned around and lost. I did not know where I was in space and did not know what direction I need to go. It was a real eye opening experience.

June 24 – Today we did a lot of work with the cane. We worked on the touch technique or the 2 point touch. This is when you hold the cane in the correct position, in front of you at the belly button, and move the cane from side to side an inch past your shoulders. You tap the can tip on the ground in each direction as you walk. We started close to some stairs outside an entrance to the building. We traveled down to the side walk until we found the curb to the parking lot. We then turned left and traveled down the sidewalk. The curb was our shore line or land mark to keep us from weaving around and to stay on the sidewalk. We followed the sidewalk until we came to the end and ran into the grass. We turned right as the sidewalk turned. We took a few steps and then turned around 180 degrees to the left. We then walked until we found grass in front of us again. It was a few steps. We then turned left and traveled down the sidewalk the way we had come. This time we had a shore line of grass on right. We traveled down until we lost the grass shore line. At this point we turned right and followed the side walk with the grass shore line. We traveled until we came to some steps. We walked up the steps and found the doorway into the building.
It was an interesting experience. You had to do a lot of things at the same time. You had to keep your arm in the correct position. You had to move the cane with your wrist and not your whole arm. You had to keep the shore line on your right and not lose it. You had to listen to instructions. You also had to keep in step with the taping of the cane. The left foot moves when the cane is taping on the right side and the right foot moves when the cane is taping on the left side. You also had to know where you are in space. All of these things came into play.