Visions of the Blind

What is Human Guide? Human guide or Sighted Guide is a set of techniques that ensure safe and efficient travel for those who are visually impaired or blind. These techniques use a guide to detect hazards or obstacles in an environment for individuals who are sight impaired and need travel assistance. As an O&M instructor, I teach human guide techniques all the time, and I am always asked, “Can you write that down for me?” So, I decided a write a simple “how to” to get anyone started with the basics as a human guide. (For explanation purposes, the person performing the guiding will be referred to as the “guide,” and the individual with the visual impairment needing travel assistance will be referred to as the “follower.”) Step 1. Initiate assistance. The guide should never grab someone who is visually impaired. They can simply ask, “Do you need assistance or would you like to travel with a sighted guide?” If they accept, the guide can move on to Step 2. Step 2. Ma...

Happy New Year from the AIS Vision Team! We are not quite done celebrating all things winter yet, so zip up your jackets, put your boots on, and hang on tight for this week's blog post to be filled with indoor and outdoor winter activity ideas! Of course, these ideas are adapted to be tactile and meaningful for our children who are blind and visually impaired! Indoor Activities A sensory bin is always a great place to start for winter! You don't even have to leave the warmth of your home! This wonderful sensory bin is filled with yummy treats and ingredients for hot chocolate!   Another wonderful idea is to make your own hot chocolate! Here are a few recipes that use different ingredients from around your home! It is always fun to mix and match the flavors and try something new!   Sometimes it is not possible to get outdoors, so bring the snow inside! Homemade snow can be very fun and it has the same consistency as real snow, just without the cold! This is grea...