Blindness and Low Vision Studies
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Each summer, students in the Blindness and Low Vision Studies (BLVS) program, Salus at Drexel University, don sleep shades and skillfully maneuver long white canes through the streets of Chestnut Hill. This summer, they will have the opportunity to showcase their growing expertise and confidence in navigating the world with vision loss.
As part of the summer residency to put into practice the theories and concepts learned from a large majority of the online curriculum, students in the Master of Science and Certificate programs in Orientation and Mobility will use constant-contact cane techniques - moving their long white cane with the reflective shaft, red bottom, and marshmallow or jumbo ball tip gently side-to-side the width of their shoulders without ever lifting the tip off the ground; in a windshield wiper like motion; as they transverse the rich environment of Chestnut Hill and other municipalities. They will learn, practice, and teach the skills they will one day instruct as future Orientation and Mobility specialists (OMS).
Why is the historic Germantown Avenue area an ideal learning environment? For starters, the quieter residential streets of Anderson, East Meade, and Arleigh offer reduced vehicular traffic, making them perfect for practicing foundational street crossing skills.
To do a deeper dive into using non-visual strategies to understand the complexities of today’s intersections, students will move along to the busier streets of East Evergreen and West Gravers Lane. Walking along sidewalks, standing at the corners to feel the sidewalk changes as it transitions into the street, listening and analyzing traffic sounds, and learning about intersection geometry. To truly understand the impact of street-crossing tasks visually impaired pedestrians must implement to safely, efficiently, independently, and confidently cross the street, O&M students are literally walking a mile using eye coverings and low vision simulators.
Secondly, as one of Philadelphia's oldest streets, Germantown Avenue provides environmental flow information and different intersection categories; for example, Germantown and East Evergreen Avenue can be referred to as a dog leg or skewed intersection.
Germantown and other Philadelphia neighborhoods provide O&M students with real-world experience, helping them develop critical thinking and problem-solving skills for teaching intersection crossing by listening for the shift in traffic from idle to moving, signaling the start of the walk interval.
In addition, the cohorts learn as they board public transportation and explore the community under sleep shade or goggles that simulate what a person living with macular degeneration or glaucoma might see as they complete the tasks of travel to various places of interest. According to the Academy for Certification of Vision Rehabilitation and Education professionals, by 2030, approximately 15 million people will be living with moderate to severe vision loss. This enriching experience is a part of the academic program to one day teach these skills to meet the unique and individual needs of this population.
Located on the Elkins Park, Pennsylvania campus, the BLVS program is at the forefront of preparing professionals for careers in this growing and impactful field.
Salus/Drexel is the first and only institution in the country to offer four master’s programs and certificates in BLVS:
These programs combine distance learning with on-campus residencies and extensive fieldwork experiences. Hands-on training and interprofessional collaboration are pillars of all Salus/Drexel programs, ensuring BLVS graduates are prepared.
Story written by Kinshasa A. Coghill, MS, CLVT, CVRT, OMS, recruiter, Global, Interprofessional and Specialized Programming Department, Department of Blindness and Low Vision.
