Human Guide: Getting started as a guide!
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. Making contact. The guide should alert the follower that they are ready to be the guide by taking the back side of their hand and lightly touching the back side of the follower's hand. This technique tells the follower that they are ready to guide and helps the follower place their hand in the correct position at their elbow.
Making contact
Step 3. Ensure grasp, hand placement and stance are correct. The guide will keep their hands at their side and be a half step in front of the individual they are guiding. The follower will hold onto the guide’s arm just above the elbow. If the follower is a child, they can hold onto the guide’s wrist. If the follower is much taller then the guide, they can hold onto the shoulder of the guide.
Grasp
Hand placement
Stance
Child grasp
Step 4. Get moving. The guide should ask the follower if they are “ready” and if so they can start on their way to their destination. The guide should describe the surroundings as they travel and never leave follower without letting the follower know that they have left the area or room.
Extras!
Narrow Spaces. When approaching a narrow or tight space, the guide should move their arm behind their back to alert the follower that they need to move directly behind the guide. This position tells the follower to move directly behind the guide so they can fit through a smaller space.
Doors: When approaching a door, the guide should move their arm behind their back to alert the follower that they need to move directly behind the guide. The guide should let the follower know if the door is opening away or towards them and on the right or the left.
Stairs. When approaching stairs, the guide should slow down and pause at the edge of the stairs. The guide should then tell the follower if they are going up or down the stairs. The guide should then pause slightly as they reach the top or the bottom of the stairs or at each landing.
There are a lot of great resources that go into much more detail regarding human guide. I have listed below some resources for you to reference as needed. Use your Orientation and Mobility Specialist as your expert on human guide so feel free to ask them questions as needed!
~Gwyn
Resources:
Sighted guide information sheet: http://www.afb.org/info/friends-and-family/etiquette/being-a-sighted-guide/235
Sighted Guide info sheet by Sight Connection: http://www.sightconnection.org/wp-content/uploads/sighted-guide.pdf
Seeing Beyond Vision Loss: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2-DEJOLIUoU
AFB Sighted Guide video: http://www.afb.org/section.aspx?SectionID=164&TopicID=515&DocumentID=3403&rewrite=0
Sighted Guide by Mark Wilkinson: https://webeye.ophth.uiowa.edu/eyeforum/tutorials/sighted-guide-technique.htm
CNIB Sighted Guide PDF: http://www.cnib.ca/en/ontario/Documents/CNIB%20-%20Step-by-Step%20-%20A%20how-to%20manual%20for%20guiding%20someone%20who%20is%20blind%20or%20partially%20sighted.pdf
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