45
VIDBE-Q Volume 63 Issue 4
Dona Sauerburger, M.A., COMS
Dona@Sauerburger.org
Hey, you know it, we know it, EVERYBODY
knows it –crossings at modern intersections aren't
your grandfather's crossings anymore! Teaching
our students to use traditional O&M techniques to
cross puts them at great risk.
At crossings with no traffic control, people
who are blind have been seriously injured or killed
by using the traditional strategy "cross when quiet."
For example, the woman in the picture to the right
is standing where she was hit and suffered
permanent disabilities when she crossed as she had been taught years ago. She and
her O&M instructors didn't realize that (1) she needs to analyze whether she is in what
we call a "Situation of Uncertainty" before she can be confident that it's clear to cross
when quiet, and (2) she needed to learn what "quiet" means.
Teaching Street Crossings in Our Modern World:
Self-Study Guides and Software Program Now Available
Picture 1. A woman wearing a
poncho and holding a long cane
stands at a corner, facing a street
with no stop sign or traffic signal.