By SARAH BROACH

Staff Writer

Students learned more about how the blind get around thanks to a workshop given Oct. 12 and 13.

The Louisiana Center for the Blind and the Institute on Blindness teamed up to present the workshop in the Student Center, Main Floor.

Brook Sexton, a Tech graduate of Teachers of Blind Students, said the workshop was for the benefit of non-blind students.

“We demonstrated how to use a cane and then allowed students to see how to use the cane with a trained instructor,” Sexton said.

“We also showed [sighted students] how to use Braille.”

Meet the Blind Month was launched in October 2002 by the National Federation of the Blind.

“[The workshop] was for education,” Sexton said. “It’s been an opportunity to connect with the public and answer questions as a part of Meet the Blind Month.”

The Louisiana Center for the Blind established the Institute on Blindness at Tech in 1999, and it became a department in 2001.

The Institute on Blindness offers two graduate courses: orientation and mobility, and teachers of blind students.

Paula Briggs, a graduate student of O&M and TBS, said the workshop helped sighted students get answers to their questions about the blind.

“We’ve reached a lot of students who had questions about how blind people get around, how they find signs and how they use their canes,” Briggs said.

Joleen Kinzer, a graduate student of O&M, said students need to know that the blind are just like everyone else.

“Some see blind people and are either overly helpful or overly avoidant,” Kinzer said. “I think it’s important for people to understand that blind people are still people - they just happen to be blind.”

Sexton said the workshop was the first the center has put on and plans are not definite on when another workshop will be offered for sighted students.

“It may end up being a yearly event,” Sexton said.

Sexton said the Institute on Blindness often presents lectures at places around Ruston and other cities.

“We do a lot to let people know about our master's program at Tech,” Sexton said.

Brad King, a sophomore business major, said he would be interested in learning more about the blind.

“I had two blind people in one of my classes, and after about two weeks I noticed that they had figured out exactly where their seats were, but I didn’t know how they did it,” King said.

King said if there was another workshop for sighted students in the future, he would stop by.

The Louisiana Center for the Blind is located on 101 S. Trenton St. For more information, contact Roland Allen, cane travel instructor, at 251-2891.