Orientation & Mobility

What is Orientation and Mobility?

Orientation and Mobility (O&M) is a profession specific to blindness and low vision that teaches safe, efficient and effective travel skills to people of all ages:

  • “Orientation” refers to the ability to know where you are and where you want to go, whether you’re moving from one room to another or walking into town for a shopping trip.
  • “Mobility” refers to the ability to move safely, efficiently and effectively from one place to another, such as being able to walk without tripping or falling, cross streets and use public transportation.

Orientation and Mobility Specialists

An Orientation and Mobility (O&M) Specialist provides instruction that can help you develop or re-learn the skills and concepts you need to travel safely and independently within your home and in the community. O&M Specialists provide services across the life span, teaching infants and children in pre-school and school programmes, as well as adults in a variety of community-based and rehabilitation settings. 

A Certified Orientation and Mobility Specialist will demonstrate knowledge and teaching skills in the following areas:

  • Sensory development, or maximising all of your senses to help you know where you are and where you want to go;
  • Using your senses in combination with self-protective techniques and human guide techniques to move safely through indoor and outdoor environments;
  • Using a cane and other devices to walk safely and efficiently;
  • Soliciting and/or declining assistance;
  • Finding destinations with strategies that include following directions and using landmarks and compass directions;
  • Techniques for crossing streets, such as analysing and identifying intersections and traffic patterns;
  • Problem-solving skills to determine what to do if you are disoriented or lost or need to change your route; and
  • Using public transportation systems.

History of Orientation and Mobility

The profession of Orientation and Mobility began to develop during, and immediately after, World War II, when soldiers who had been blinded in battle were sent to recuperate at Valley Forge Army General Hospital before entering Avon Old Farms Convalescent Hospital, the U.S. Army’s former experimental rehabilitation centre for blind soldiers in Avon, Connecticut. 

In order to better serve the large number of blind soldiers who required special training and services, the military recruited Richard E. Hoover, an army sergeant, who was assigned to the centre for the treatment of blinded soldiers at Valley Forge Army Hospital in 1944. During the same year, Russell Williams, who was blinded by enemy action in France, received medical rehabilitation at the Valley Forge Army Hospital, and in 1947, C. Warren Bledsoe joined the Hospital. Both Hoover and Bledsoe had previously worked at the Maryland School for the Blind. These three men made significant contributions to the development of a new profession: Orientation and Mobility.

The blinded soldiers were highly motivated to be successful, and Richard Hoover believed that the traditional strategies taught and used to travel independently were inadequate. In response, he developed a technique for using a cane that is lightweight and longer than support canes. This technique and cane revolutionised independent travel for blind people and are still used today.

How Do I Learn to Use a Cane?

When used correctly, the cane searches the ground ahead of each step. It warns you of obstacles and drop-offs, and informs you of what’s in front of you. The correct cane technique, which will provide maximum protection and information, is as follows:

  • Hold the cane with your hand centered in front of your body;
  • Move the cane with wrist/finger movement only, with your arm remaining still;
  • Move the cane tip in an arc that is about an inch wider than your body;
  • Move the cane in rhythm with your feet, with the cane tip always being on the opposite side of your forward foot; and
  • The cane tip either slides along the ground (“constant-contact technique”) or touches the ground at each end of the arc and remains no more than an inch above the ground (“touch technique”).

Although the correct cane technique can easily be demonstrated to you by anyone familiar with the technique, it will not provide you with effective protection until you’ve reached the third or fourth stage of learning, achieved with training from a Certified Orientation and Mobility (O&M) Specialist.

The Stages of Learning to Use a Cane

Stage 1: Beginning to learn

In this stage, you are just beginning to understand how to move and use the cane, and you will need prompting from your O&M instructor to maintain the recommended technique. 

Stage 2: Concentration required

In this stage, you can move the cane correctly, but only when you are concentrating on your technique. If you are distracted by anything, such as a question, another task or being lost in thought, your cane technique will deteriorate and not provide full coverage and safety. 

Stage 3: The cane moves correctly without concentration

In this stage, the cane has become a natural part of you and you can move it correctly even when you are distracted. At this stage, the cane will provide you with protection and information in most circumstances. 

Nevertheless, you can still trip or fall because you may continue to move forward after your cane drops down over a step or curb or makes contact with an obstacle you didn’t expect. This is more likely to occur if you have low vision. 

Stage 4: The cane reliably provides information and protection

In this stage, you have reached proficiency. You always move the cane correctly, and always notice when the cane drops over an edge or contacts an obstacle, even when 

  • you weren’t expecting it
  • you were distracted or
  • the ground looks flat and clear.

At this stage of orientation and mobility learning, the cane provides you with reliable protection in all situations.