So one of the first things that a newly blind person and their family will be taught is the use of "Human Guide" formerly known as "Sighted Guide." This happens hopefully before they leave the hospital or as one of the first lessons in early intervention and school for those who are congenitally blind.
This does not always happen, but families adapt and come up with their own versions. Unfortunately these ways are usually very slow or dangerous. Most notably in the movie "Sent of a Woman" Al Pacino plays the part of a stubborn blind Veteran who gets pushed around to everywhere he goes. We joke in class because this movie sent back the field of Orientation and Mobility because of the lack of research that was done for the movie.
How human guide works is a blind person loosely attaches themselves onto the arm of the person guiding them and follows one step back and to the side. When different obstacles occur like a door or a narrow passage the information is then systematically transferred to the blind person through deliberate movements of the person guiding. (My classmates and I will be making some short videos to show some of the techniques that I am talking about)
Well in my first class we already had to adapt this. Some were actually helpful to the person being guided. First think about this Cactus is guiding me I am to her right and a step back, then we have a blindfolded student on my right arm to the right of me and a step back. We are taking up a lot of room going down the hallway. So what happens when we come to a narrow area in the hallway like an open doorway or just a tight squeeze or going through a bunch of non attentive college students. Luckily Cactus and I have been a team for many years, and she is very good about alerting me to such obstacles. So what must happen is that I get single file behind Cactus, then using the standard act like I am grabbing my left pocket get the student behind me. Now how do I know we have passed the obstacle and it is safe for us to get out of the single file line? Interesting question.... The explanation is tricky basically it is me trying to gage what the obstacle is using what is known as "facial sight" No it is not actual sight. Facial sight is feeling the difference in the air and sound of the world around you. This is how well adapted blind people can walk almost a straight line down a hallway. Then it is feeling the amount of pull from Cactus. Cactus slows down when an obstacle is getting close, and speeds up after we get around an obstacle.
So now comes the fun part first Cactus and I go back to our normal traveling setup, then using that facial sight I must double check to make sure it is safe for me to bring the student back to our three wide format. To do so I make a deliberate move with my arm act like I am trying to grab sideways my front right pocket. Note for the first number of lessons I was blind folded as well to force me not use what residual vision I have and to really refine my skills.
Successes all of that just to traverse a fire barrier in the middle of a hallway. How many of those exist in your place of work?
Next installment will be on going through doors.
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