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Published: Dec. 13, 2018, 2:11 a.m.

Show Summary:

(Full Transcript Below)

Please welcome Teen correspondent, Simon Bonenfant, as he steps into the interviewer role for Blind Abilities. While attending and presenting at the Pennsylvania NFB convention, Simon pulled out his recorder and went to work. Conducting 5 interviews from vendors and presenters. In this interview, Simon talks to Retired Teacher of the Visually Impaired/Orientation and Mobility Instructor Keith Ford. They talk about the importance of braille and how modern technology is changing the way teachers teach and Keith gives us some insight into the field of a Teacher of the Visually Impaired along with some tips for Transition age students.

Join Simon and Keith in this brief look back at the journey Keith has gone through and his optimistic view of the future of technology and training.

Check out previous interviews with Simon Bonenfant:

TVI Toolbox: Summer Academy, Total Transition to College Experience – Welcome Back Simon Bonenfant and Meet Fellow Student, John Dowling

TVI Toolbox:  Science, Technology, Engineering and Math: Carving His Pathway Towards Success, Meet Simon Bonenfant

Contact:

Thank you for listening!
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On the web at www.BlindAbilities.com
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Get the Free Blind Abilities App on the App Store.

Full Transcript:

TVI Toolbox: A Conversation with Keith Ford l- Retired Teacher of the Blind and Visually Impaired and Orientation and Mobility Instructor

Keith Ford:
I got a Masters Degree as a teacher of the visually impaired and a certification as an orientation and mobility instructor.

Jeff Thompson:
Welcome to Blind Abilities. I'm Jeff Thompson. Blind Abilities presents Keith Ford.

Keith Ford:
Back in the old days it was just kids that were just partially sighted and totally blind but over time I had to learn to adapt my instruction to meet the needs of lots of different children and actually learn new skills.

Jeff Thompson:
A retired teacher for the blind and visually impaired and orientation and mobility instructor.

Simon Bonenfant:

I used the Perkins Braille writer for math because you could have lines horizontally, vertically where when the Braille was placed just a flat and horizontal surface and you can't do the spatial element of Braille which is missing but on the paper you get that.

Jeff Thompson:
This podcast was made possible by our team correspondent, Simon Bonenfant.

Keith Ford:
With this device that's being developed at the University of Michigan, it'll be like a Braille iPad which will just be like a sheet of Braille. The way it will produce lines and make it do graphs.

Jeff Thompson:
For more podcasts with the blindness perspective, be sure to check us out on the web at www.blindabilities.com, on Twitter @BlindAbilities and download the free Blind Abilities app from the app store and Google Play store. That's two words, Blind Abilities.

Keith Ford:
I'm real pragmatic. I would always tell students that they want to get into something that's going to lead to employment after college.

Jeff Thompson:
And now here's Simon Bonenfant with Keith Ford.

Keith Ford:
Well you certainly want to have dual certification as an O&M instructor and a teacher of the visually impaired, that's really important to have that flexibility.

Simon Bonenfant:

Hello Blind Abilities. This is Simon Bonenfant here and I'm here at the state convention in Pennsylvania of the National Federation of the Blind. I got a chance to talk to a man named Keith Ford. How are you doing, Keith?

Keith Ford:
Hello.

Simon Bonenfant:

Very nice to talk to you.

Keith Ford:
Okay.

Simon Bonenfant:

Keith, you are a retired mobility instructor, is that correct?

Keith Ford:
And a teacher of the visually impaired.

Simon Bonenfant:

Oh, very nice. It's very interesting because as I was talking to Keith I found out that he's not blind and he's sighted so we were talking about how that worked. How did you get into the field of orientation, mobility and teacher of the visually impaired?

Keith Ford:
That was way back in 1985 where I decided to make a career change and I thought something that a helping professional would be more something I was interested in pursuing and I guess it has to do with attitudes and interests and abilities and just a certain view of life. Maybe you just feel more comfortable working in a helping profession than something else. Maybe that's it.

Simon Bonenfant:

Yeah. Did you get a degree to do this kind of job?

Keith Ford:
Yes. I went to the University of Pittsburgh and I got a masters degree as a teacher of the visually impaired and it also had certification as an orientation and mobility instructor. I graduated in August of 1986.

Simon Bonenfant: 

Wow. Very nice. Did you do orientation, mobility and TVI all in the same kind of job?

Keith Ford:
As an itinerant teacher, yes.

Simon Bonenfant:

Okay. As you were working in this field, what did it teach you? What did you learn the most from your students as you were teaching them?

Keith Ford:
In the time that I taught you saw a lot of change occurring where in the early years most of my students were just partially sighted or totally blind, but then as time went on you saw more multi-impaired children. We like to use in the profession terms like life skills and learning support. You had more and more students like that and then you saw more and more autistic children who were visually impaired and then more and more students that are called cortically visually impaired where that deals with trauma to the brain since you have more and more premature babies being born.

Keith Ford:
CVI, cortical visual impairment, usually involves a long list of visual behaviors because it's trauma to the brain, it's not to the eye or the optic nerve. That's a whole different ballgame and it's still a relatively new aspect to what teachers of the visually impaired do.

Simon Bonenfant:

Right.

Keith Ford:
But they're predicting that CVI students will be the new face of blindness or visual impairment in the future.

Simon Bonenfant: 

Wow.

Keith Ford:
It's always been, to answer your question, over the time I taught there was just so much change. Back in the old days it was just kids that were just partially sighted and totally blind but over time I had to learn to adapt my instruction to meet the needs of lots of different children and actually learn new skills. Nowadays in orientation and mobility programs you're getting a lot more emphasis on students that are totally blind and totally deaf so that there's instruction involved with those kinds of students, which wasn't a part of my instruction back in 1985.

Keith Ford:
But the field is always changing because the population is just changing. Nowadays kids that are just partially sighted or totally blind, they're in the minority. You're also seeing a lot of new approaches to orientation and mobility. Back in the old days we were always taught that you had to have a control mechanism to cross an intersection, like a stop sign or a traffic light.

Keith Ford:
But now more and more travelers are encountering situations where there isn't a control mechanism so there's this emphasis on crossing at intersections where there isn't any control mechanism. There's a decision-making process involved in that called acceptable risk and non-acceptable risk. It's still a relatively new thing but it's blind and partially sighted travelers are running into situations now where they have to cross where there isn't a control mechanism.

Keith Ford:
Not that every crossing could ever ... There's some crossings you just can't make, they just can't be done, you shouldn't try it. The whole idea of acceptable risk and unacceptable risk is something you have to learn. There are decision-making skills you have to learn for that. It's something that's happening more and more in making those kinds of crossings.

Keith Ford:
Overall I would say what I've learned from my students is just learning new skills to work with students that have other handicapping conditions. That would probably be the most I've received from my students is I had to learn to adapt and learn new skills.

Simon Bonenfant:

Did you have to learn Braille when you were becoming a TVI?

Keith Ford:
Oh yes. We had a heavy emphasis on Braille back in the old days, certainly. Braille is very important, but there are some students that are lower functioning that just can't understand Braille so they can't use it.

Simon Bonenfant:

 Right. I'm sure you've seen a lot of changes in your time in the blindness field in terms of technology.

Keith Ford:
Oh yes.

Simon Bonenfant:

Were you using the Perkins Braille writers back when you started?

Keith Ford:
It's always going to be there, the Perkins Braille writer, because technology breaks down.

Simon Bonenfant:

Exactly. Yeah.

Keith Ford:
But the assistive technology they have nowadays is a much higher quality, much more reliable. Back when I started we had the VersaBraille P2C, which in its day was a wonderful thing but they had a lot of breakdowns and by the end of the school year you'd have to send the Versabraille P2C back to the manufacturer and they'd have to kind of do an overhaul just to replace things or just upgrade it to get it back to where it's totally functional for September.

Simon Bonenfant:

 Yeah.

Keith Ford:
But as time went on you'd have little glitches here and there but the quality of the equipment they have now for visually impaired students is a whole lot better, plus you're seeing ... Like say the iPhone, you have the accessibility options are built into the technology so it's technology that is used by sighted people but also could be used by blind and partially sighted so that brings the cost down.

Keith Ford:
You're also seeing, which I'm kind of excited about, up at the University of Michigan they're trying to build ... They're developing this ... It's like an iPad that will have refreshable Braille that will be less expensive. I've heard they're using, whether it's compressed air or some kind of gel technology to reproduce Braille cells on an iPad-like device with lines of Braille rather than the refreshable Braille units that are electronic and cost a lot more money.

Simon Bonenfant

Yeah, I know. Braille is very important.

Keith Ford:
But getting the cost down is really important. There's probably always going to be a need for paper Braille but I think as time goes on the paperless Braille is going to be more the case.

Simon Bonenfant:

Bring down the cost.

Keith Ford:
It'll be more common.

Simon Bonenfant:

Okay, yeah.

Keith Ford:
Being able to carry Braille in a small device like you have with you now certainly makes a lot more sense than those bulky Braille books.

Simon Bonenfant:

Yes.

Keith Ford:
But we're always going to have paper Braille and Perkins Braillers because things break down and you want to have a hard copy.

Simon Bonenfant:

Yeah.

Keith Ford:
But in their day I think the Perkins Brailler came out in the late 1950s. That was a really big deal when it came out.

Simon Bonenfant:

Oh, I know. I still use the Perkins Braille writer. When I transitioned to the Braille writer I used to think, I don't know if I'll ever use the Perkins Braille writer. But then I found a use for it and I'm like, you know, technology breaks down, stuff happens. With the Perkins Braille writer you don't need a battery, it works. Sometimes the best low-tech solutions are the most high-tech to get things done.

Keith Ford:
Yeah. I have a Perkins Brailler at home I used when I was working. It's a very reliable, very well-made piece of equipment and you always have to respect it. It'll always be there. 100 years from now it'll be still being used.

Simon Bonenfant:

Oh yeah.

Keith Ford:
But it's exciting to see all the new technology because it allows for blind and partially-sighted people to have greater access to the world in getting employment and right along with sighted people. It is a positive thing in the long-run.

Simon Bonenfant:

Oh yeah. Have you heard of the [iWear] application?

Keith Ford:
I've heard about that. I believe it's a device that you wear and then a sighted person at another location tells you what to look for or ...

Simon Bonenfant:

Yeah. It's a connection with a sighted agent and it can help in any kind of activity and it also helps in the mobility aspect. That's come a long way too because there are certain things that are not going to be visible with a cane like street signs or numbers on doors and things. That's something that [iWear 00:09:30] will help out with. The technology has come a long way with mobility and Braille and now we have things that will take print and read it out loud or take print that will put it in Braille material. Braille is getting to be more available these days.

Keith Ford:
Oh yeah. When I used to teach children Braille, children that were included within a regular environment, I used to work with a classroom teacher and we would teach the sighted children about Braille too. We'd have Braille cells all over the place and numbers on a child's desk in kindergarten. We'd have the name of the child in print and in Braille so that they could learn in class and get some experience with what their blind peer in the class was learning. It made it really nice. The kids enjoyed that and it helped the blind child to feel very much a part of the class. When I was teaching young blind children Braille readiness skills I used to do a lot of stuff like that, creative things, to just make everybody aware of Braille and they just thought that was neat.

Simon Bonenfant

Have you also used tactile diagrams, how to utilize them?

Keith Ford:
Well yeah, tactile graphics. I've used software that would produce tactile graphics for different things.

Simon Bonenfant:

Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Keith Ford:
And plus Patton, they would provide ...

Simon Bonenfant:

 They do that. Yeah.

Keith Ford:
Textbooks that had tactile graphic illustrations inside with Thermoform.

Simon Bonenfant:

 They're a wonderful service. That is still used today.

Keith Ford:
Absolutely.

Simon Bonenfant:

I think that's the one thing ... Reading Braille on the electronic display, that's great but I think Braille paper is always going to be needed because tactile diagrams and stuff that can't come up on a flat display. I used the Perkins Braille writer for math because you could have lines horizontally, vertically where when the Braille was placed just a flat and horizontal surface and you can't do the spatial element of Braille which is missing but on the paper you get that.

Keith Ford:
With this device that's being developed at the University of Michigan, it'll be like a Braille iPad which will just be like a sheet of Braille. The way it will produce lines and make it do graphs. From what I'm being told they'll be able to produce graphs and all kinds of tactile graphics on this new device.

Simon Bonenfant:

That's great.

Keith Ford:
Yeah.

Simon Bonenfant:

Keith, my final question is: What would be your advice to blind students who are in high school or either transitioning to college or to the workplace, and also what would be your advice to instructors who are thinking about going into this field?

Keith Ford:
I would say ... I'm real pragmatic. I would always tell students that they want to get into something that's going to lead to employment after college, so any kind of technology field would be beneficial. I would also say that you want to do some vocational interest training or testing. At Penn State here we have the CEDAR program and you can do some vocational interest testing with them.

Keith Ford:
It's always good to gather data about yourself, whatever you've achieved in life, whatever area you've shown any kind of aptitude and interest and you want to get into a field where there's a need for your services. Any kind of technology related kind of degree is always going to give you a better chance.

Keith Ford:
You were talking about ... The other part of your question about the instructors or people getting into the field.

Simon Bonenfant:

 Yes.

Keith Ford:
Well you certainly want to have dual certification as an O&M instructor and a teacher of the visually impaired, that's really important to have that flexibility, you don't want to have just one.

Simon Bonenfant:

Right because you can get work in both and there's a high demand for that.

Keith Ford:
Yeah. The field is always changing. You want to get acquainted with this whole new system of cortical visual impairment. There's a whole new evaluation tool to get acquainted with that so that you can evaluate those kinds of students. You certainly want to gain as much ... And the programs I'm hearing about nowadays are putting much more emphasis on multi-impaired students, deaf-blind students, which wasn't the case when I was getting my university training because it was just a different time.

Keith Ford:
I would also mention the importance of just getting as much information and training and experience in dealing with just a wide range of visually impaired students.

Simon Bonenfant:

Yeah. Well, very nice. Keith, I want to thank you for coming on the program today, the podcast.

Keith Ford:
Okay.

Simon Bonenfant:

Thank you for sharing your insights with all of us. Have a good one.

Keith Ford:
Okay.

Jeff Thompson:
Once again, a big thank you goes out to our team correspondent, Simon Bonenfant and to Keith Ford for sharing with us his experiences as a BTVI and O&M instructor. And a huge thank you to Chee Chau for his beautiful music. That's @LCheeChau on Twitter. Once again, thank you for listening, hope you enjoyed and until next time, bye bye.

[Music]  [Transition noise]  -When we share

-What we see

-Through each other's eyes...

[Multiple voices overlapping, in unison, to form a single sentence]

...We can then begin to bridge the gap between the limited expectations, and the realities of Blind Abilities.

Jeff Thompson:

For more podcasts with the blindness perspective, check us out on the web at www.blindabilities.com, on Twitter at Blind Abilities. Download our app from the App Store, Blind Abilities. That's two words. Or send us an email at info@blindabilities.com. Thanks for listening.