Independence is the ability to go where you want, when you want, without inconvenience to yourself or others.
           Dr. Kenneth Jernigan, long time leader of the National Federation of the Blind


The Professional Development and Research Institute on Blindness (Institute on Blindness) is a department in the College of Education at Louisiana Tech University and is a joint venture between the University and the Louisiana Center for the Blind. The Institute was established by the Louisiana Center for the Blind in 1999 and became a department at Louisiana Tech University in October 2001. The purpose of the Institute is to provide leadership in creating programs and conducting research that recognizes the socially constructed assumptions underpinning the current structure of the blindness system and research being done on blindness. As a result, the Institute on Blindness provides alternative programs and research that expands the boundaries of the blindness field.

The Institute on Blindness currently administers two graduate programs to prepare professionals in work with the blind.
• Orientation and Mobility (M.A. in Educational Psychology with a concentration in O&M)
• Teachers of Blind Students (M.Ed. with Certification in Teaching Blind Students)

The O&M program infuses throughout its curricula a positive expectation for independent travel and the technical skills and knowledge to support this belief system. In addition, it emphasizes non-visual instruction, Structured Discovery learning and highly developed travel skills. Students in this program are expected to demonstrate proficiency teaching the skills and attitudes of orientation and mobility as defined under the Structured Discovery Learning model. Towards this end, the O&M program focuses on the principals of: teaching to promote mastery of the foundational skills of independent, non-visual travel; emphasis on the teaching of problem solving and the transfer of travel strategies to all situations; emphasis on self-initiated movement to promote control over personal travel; and to instill an attitudinal transformation in order to promote healthy psychological and social adjustment to blindness.

Some of the classes in the program include:
• Introduction to Orientation and Mobility
• Advanced Orientation and Mobility
• Social and Psychological Aspects of Blindness
• Developmental Psychology of Blindness
• Rehabilitation Systems and Issues
• Internship in Orientation and Mobility

Persons who successfully complete the O&M graduate concentration are eligible to apply for the NOMC examination offered by the National Blindness Professional Certification Board (NBPCB). The National Blindness Professional Certification Board has been created to certify qualified specialists in work with the blind. At present, this Board offers one certification—the National Orientation and Mobility Certification.

Louisiana Tech University/Louisiana Center for the Blind's Master's program is an innovative and proven concept in university trained orientation and mobility instruction. If you are interested in a career in the field of orientation and mobility, you are invited to call the Institute on Blindness for further details.

Contact:

Edward Bell, PhD
Institute on Blindness
(318) 257-4554
ebell@latech.edu