What is orientation and mobility? (2024)

FAQs

What is the meaning of Orientation and Mobility? ›

Orientation and mobility is a set of skills that allow for a person who is blind or has low vision to independently and safely navigate their way through their environment.

Orientation and mobility (O&M) specialists teach individuals with visual impairments to travel safely, confidently and independently in their environment. They work with infants, children and adults usually on a one-to-one basis in a home, school, hospital or in the community.

Orientation is the ability to recognise one's position in relation to the environment, whereas mobility is the ability to move around safely and efficiently. Orientation and mobility (O&M) training teaches people to use their remaining vision and other senses to get around.

Orientation and Mobility (O&M): A term used for walking or maneuvering from one location to another by using a long, white cane. AKA: cane travel. Orientation and Mobility instructor: An person who specializes in teaching blind and/or visually impaired individuals how to use the long, white cane.

A house can have an east-facing orientation. Freshman orientation starts you off in a good direction. Your political orientation means your political outlook. Orientation is a relatively new word that was derived in the 19th century from orient, which means to point yourself in a specific direction.

The service of Orientation and Mobility (O&M) evaluates and teaches students with visual impairments to travel safely and efficiently throughout familiar and unfamiliar environments–home, school, and community.

Typically, a person with no prior O&M training and little to no useful vision will need three to six months of training to become as independent as their abilities permit. Students who have had previous training can complete the program in three to four weeks.

independent movement: which includes crawling, rolling, walking, etc. sighted guide: using another person to aid in travel. protective techniques: specific skills which provide added protection in unfamiliar areas. cane skills: use of various cane techniques to clear one's path or to locate objects along the way.

Orientation and mobility (O&M) training teaches a person with visual impairment to use mobility aids such as a white cane or guide dog and move safely through their environment. Professionals usually conduct sessions one-to-one so they can tailor training to a person's specific needs and goals.

Orientation & Mobility experts define clues and landmark as, “any familiar object, sound, smell, temperature, tactile or visual clue that is easily recognised, is constant and has a discrete permanent location in the environment that is known to the traveller.” A clue can include the sounds, smells, temperature, ...

How do Orientation and Mobility specialist assist clients? ›

Orientation and mobility specialists help people with disabilities stay actively involved in society. They teach blind, visually impaired, and disabled individuals how to master the skills necessary to live independently and often encourage them to participate in various educational or recreational programs.

Orientation and Mobility, or O&M, is a profession which focuses on instructing individuals who are blind or visually impaired with safe and effective travel through their environment. Individual O&M specialists can work for schools, government agencies or work as private contractors.

A Certified Orientation & Mobility Specialist (COMS), is a highly trained expert who specializes in working with individuals who are blind, low vision or who have functional visual limitations, and empowers them to achieve their life goals for education, employment, avocation and independence.

In addition, orientation involves increasing awareness of one's body, developing sensory skills, and learning to use landmarks to assist in travel. Mobility refers to the physical part of travel, which includes confident, safe and efficient movement from one place to another.

Orientation and Mobility can include: Spatial awareness. Understanding and being able to follow directional language—left, right, above, below, beside, etc.; cardinal directions—south, northeast, etc. Recognizing and synthesizing environmental cues, including landmarks and tactile or auditory feedback.

noun. the act or process of orienting or the state of being oriented. position or positioning with relation to the points of the compass or other specific directions. the adjustment or alignment of oneself or one's ideas to surroundings or circ*mstances.

In physics, the orientation of an object such as a line, plane or rigid body is part of the description of how it is placed in the space it is in. We can say that it is the imaginary rotation that is needed to move the object from a reference placement to its current placement.

Orientation of locomotor behaviour is usually categorized as either kinesis or taxis. In kinesis, as previously explained, an animal's body is not oriented in relation to a sensory stimulus; rather, the stimulus causes an alteration in speed or direction of movement.