Implications of final regulations on O&M instruction - orientation and mobility regulations in amendments to 1973 Rehabilitation Act - Orientation and Mobility for Blind People

The final regulations implementing the 1992 Amendments to the 1973 Rehabilitation Act, as amended, require state vocational rehabilitation (VR) agencies to include, as part of that agency's state plan, policies and procedures to establish and maintain a comprehensive system of personnel development designed to ensure there is an adequate supply of qualified rehabilitation personnel, including professionals and paraprofessionals, available to meet the rehabilitation needs of that state agency.

Section 361.18 of the final regulations and, in particular, paragraph (c) (1) (ii) of this section, is especially relevant to VR agencies serving the blind when considering the employment of qualified personnel for the provision of orientation and mobility (O&M) services to blind people. More specifically, this requirement in the final regulations is especially applicable to the concerns many state agencies have with regard to the issue of hiring blind O&M instructors.

Many state VR agencies as well as many community rehabilitation providers currently employ blind O&M instructors who are successfully providing vitally deeded rehabilitation services to blind individuals. However, since national certification standards pertaining to the O&M profession have historically required the presence of normal vision in order for an instructor to meet these standards, blind instructors have historically been prohibited from obtaining national certification due to their disability. As stated in the preamble discussion of Section 361.18, "The Secretary is cognizant of the particular difficulty experienced by blind individuals who, historically, have been excluded on the basis of their disability from becoming certified as O&M instructors. The Secretary emphasizes that these regulations do not inhibit designated state units (DSU's) or other VR service providers from hiring blind individuals as O&M teachers even though those individuals may not meet current certification requirements. To the extent that a DSU employs blind individuals who do not meet the `highest requirements in the State' applicable to the O&M profession, the state agency's plan under paragraph (c)(1)(ii) of this section must identify the steps the agency plans to take to assist employees in meeting these requirements."

The preamble discussion further mentions that if the current certification standards for this or any other rehabilitation profession are discriminatory on the basis of disability, the standards should be reviewed for compliance with Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act and with the Americans with Disabilities Act.

When considering revised certification, licensing, or registration standards as they apply to blind O&M instructors which would meet the "highest requirements in the State," as set forth in Section 361.18 paragraph (c)(1)(ii), a state VR agency could develop and adopt standards which do not require the use of vision of visually-based functional abilities, or the use of a sighted assistant as a condition for certification, but would otherwise require a blind instructor to qualify as an effective O&M instructor in all respects. One proposed alternative teaching method, which does not rely on the use of vision as a an essential component of its basic instructional style, has proven to be effective and is currently being successfully practiced by many blind O&M instructors in the field. This teaching methodology is known as the "discovery model" of teaching and is based on the principles which have been drawn from cognitive learning theory. This model of cane travel instruction utilizes discovery methods of learning to develop a sense of trust and self-reliance on the student's own internal feedback system as a way of assessing one's travel performance, rather than relying on guided teaching techniques. Since the discovery model relies on internal feedback from environmental cues and self-monitoring techniques, vision would not be required as an essential part of the job qualifications and, therefore, blind individuals would not be excluded from qualifying as O&M instructors under certification standards incorporating the model.

The following articles are being presented here to assist state VR agencies in gaining a better understanding of this alternative teaching method used by blind O&M instructors and to also stimulate further creative thinking in the field regarding the use of various teaching approaches which can be applied in a variety of environmental settings, such as in rural and urban travel and in specialized situations, such as in the case of the elderly-blind and the deaf-blind.

COPYRIGHT 1997 U.S. Rehabilitation Services Administration
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