Indoor & Outdoor Travel Skills for People who are Blind or Have Low Vision

An Introduction to Orientation and Mobility by Dona Sauerburger, M.A., COMS®, Orientation and Mobility Specialist

Dona Sauerburger, M.A., COMS

Dona is a Certified Orientation and Mobility Specialist, and provides itinerant orientation and mobility services to blind and visually impaired adults and teenagers in Maryland and suburban Washington, DC. She earned a Master's degree specializing in Orientation and Mobility (O&M) from Western Michigan University and has a special interest in working with people who are deaf-blind.

Her book, Independence Without Sight or Sound: Suggestions for Practitioners Working with Deaf-Blind Adults, published by the American Foundation for the Blind, received the C. Warren Bledsoe Publication Award. You can learn more about her book, including ordering information, at the VisionAWARE Bookstore [3]. She is also the recipient of the prestigious Lawrence Blaha Award for outstanding contributions to the field of Orientation and Mobility.

What is Orientation and Mobility?

Orientation and Mobility (O&M) is a profession specific to blindness and low vision that teaches safe, efficient, and effective travel skills to people of all ages:

• "Orientation" refers to the ability to know where you are and where you want to go, whether you’re moving from one room to another or walking downtown for a shopping trip.
• "Mobility" refers to the ability to move safely, efficiently, and effectively from one place to another, such as being able to walk without tripping or falling, cross streets, and use public transportation.

Orientation and Mobility Specialists

An Orientation and Mobility (O&M) Specialist provides instruction that can help you develop or relearn the skills and concepts you need to travel safely and independently within your home and in the community. O&M Specialists provide services across the life span, teaching infants and children in pre-school and school programs, as well as adults in a variety of community-based and rehabilitation settings.

The Academy for Certification of Vision Rehabilitation and Education Professionals [4] (ACVREP) offers certification for vision rehabilitation professionals [5], including O&M Specialists. A Certified Orientation and Mobility Specialist (COMS) must adhere to a professional Code of Ethics and demonstrate knowledge and teaching skills in areas such as the following:

• Sensory development, or maximizing all of your senses [6] to help you know where you are and where you want to go
• Using your senses in combination with self-protective techniques [7] and human guide techniques [8] to move safely through indoor and outdoor environments
• Using a cane and other devices to walk safely and efficiently
• Soliciting and/or declining assistance
• Finding destinations with strategies that include following directions and using landmarks and compass directions
• Techniques for crossing streets, such as analyzing and identifying intersections and traffic patterns
• Problem-solving skills to determine what to do if you are disoriented or lost or need to change your route
• Using public transportation and transit systems.

Orientation and Mobility for Adults

If you are an adult who is blind or has low vision, you may have experienced several – or all – of the following O&M problems and concerns:

• Bumping into furniture, such as a corner of your coffee table
• Falling or tripping on an obstacle or step that you cannot see
• Feeling unsafe when crossing streets
• Becoming lost or disoriented, either inside your home or out in the community.

An O&M Specialist can work with you to plan an individualized program of instruction that reflects your personal needs, skills, and goals, which can include any or all of the following goals:

• Getting around safely inside your home
• Learning the route to your mailbox
• Taking a walk around the block
• Shopping independently
• Using public transportation to get to work
• Traveling around the world independently

O&M instruction is usually conducted on a one-to-one basis, and can take place either in the community where you live and/or work (called “itinerant O&M”) or at a rehabilitation center (called “center-based O&M”).

To locate an Orientation and Mobility Specialist in your home area, see VisionAWARE's state-by-state listing of vision rehabilitation services [9], which includes information about Orientation and Mobility instruction.

You can read more about O&M Specialists and O&M instruction at the Orientation and Mobility Division web site of the Association for Education and Rehabilitation of the Blind and Visually Impaired [10].

History of Orientation and Mobility

The profession of Orientation and Mobility began to develop during and immediately after World War II, when soldiers who had been blinded in battle were sent to recuperate at Valley Forge Army General Hospital before entering Avon Old Farms Convalescent Hospital, the U.S. Army’s former experimental rehabilitation center for blind soldiers in Avon, CT.

In order to better serve the large number of blind soldiers who required special training and services, the military recruited Richard E. Hoover [11], an army sergeant, who was assigned to the center for the treatment of blinded soldiers at Valley Forge Army Hospital in 1944. During the same year, Russell Williams [12], who was blinded by enemy action in France, received medical rehabilitation at the Valley Forge Army Hospital, and in 1947, C. Warren Bledsoe [13] joined the Hospital. Both Hoover and Bledsoe had previously worked at the Maryland School for the Blind. These three men made significant contributions to the development of a new profession: Orientation and Mobility (O&M).

The blinded soldiers were highly motivated to be successful, and Richard Hoover believed that the traditional strategies taught and used to travel independently were inadequate. In response, he developed a technique for using a cane that is lightweight and longer than support canes. This technique and cane revolutionized independent travel for blind people and are still used today.

To learn more about the development of the orientation and mobility profession, see Orientation and Mobility Living History: Where Did Our O&M Techniques Come From? [14]