Through Our Eyes: Taking that First Step
The journey of rehabilitation, which at Alphapointe is about learning to live with vision loss, is filled with challenges and milestones. Adults navigating vision loss must build skills in everyday tasks like cooking, laundry, and managing money. They also gain experience with adaptive technology and, in many cases, braille.
But perhaps the most essential skill is learning how to move through the world independently … safely, confidently, and on their own terms.
On this edition of Through Our Eyes, in honor of Vision Rehabilitation Week, I sat down with Alphapointe Certified Orientation and Mobility Specialist, Jason Bushland, to talk about the work he does with clients and what it really takes to help someone build confidence and independence.
Q: What is your position here at Alphapointe?
A: I am a certified Orientation and Mobility Specialist, and I teach Alphapointe clients and members of the community safe, efficient and independent traveling skills.
Q: What initially drew you to Alphapointe and made you ultimately decide that you wanted to work here?
A: Alphapointe has a great program that I had heard about for years, it has quite the reputation in the BVI community. I love all the different services that Alphapointe offers, even their youth programs like beep kickball. Also, my family lives in the Kansas City area and my sister who is a COMS as well has worked with Alphapointe in the past, making moving to Kansas City and working for Alphapointe an easy choice.
Q: Why is orientation and mobility such an important skill for individuals living with vision loss to master?
A: Not only is O&M an absolute necessity for navigating someone’s world, both in a private setting like a home, as well as a public setting like a work building or independent travel, it also teaches problem solving and confidence. In order to apply many of the skills that I teach, you must trust and be confident that you are doing them correctly. If you are performing a skill such as street crossing or utilizing public transit, it is important that you have faith and confidence in yourself and your ability to perform those tasks. Problem solving comes into play because not every route is going to go smoothly every time. There will be instances where something unexpected has changed, and when that happens you must be able to think on your feet, and make quick adjustments to your plan, and once you have achieved a successful route adaption, that in turn also builds the feeling of confidence. When someone knows they have that ability to solve an unexpected problem, it builds on their confidence and problem solving not just in independent travel or O&M, but other aspects of life as well.
Q: Do you recall an instance where you saw improvements in someone that you provided services to, and it resonated with you in some fashion?
A: Upon starting our program here at Alphapointe, one of our clients was convinced that he would only be able to navigate by himself indoors and in a controlled environment. He basically only wanted to learn enough to get around his home or a workplace.
Now he is walking through the Country Club Plaza by himself, taking himself out to eat at restaurants, acquiring a new apartment, moving to a whole new city and doing all of this with a confidence that I can only describe as inspiring.
Q: Do you have any additional thoughts or anything you would like to add?
A: There is an amazing world out there that should be explored, and having vision loss is no reason to not be able to explore, experience and enjoy everything the world has to offer. If someone is living with vision loss, and is interested in getting out into that world but doesn’t know where to begin, that is where Alphapointe comes in… that’s where I come in, and I would love to help anyone who is interested, develop the skills to be able to go out and experience the world for themselves.
