Dear Colleagues,
I am a new NOMC on the job market, and I have been communicating with a number of prospective employers in search of the right opportunity. I have encountered one position opening with some interesting details and am writing to ask for some opinions.
The position in question is at a state-run training center which has a total of 3 O & M positions, one of which is currently vacant. The overall agency director expresses support for Structured Discovery Cane Travel, but the manager of the center tells me that I am going to have to teach O & M in other ways for a considerable amount of time. The manager and O & M supervisor believe that SDCT only works for some students, so all instructors must be flexible. I asked them to describe a student for whom Structured Discovery Cane Travel was not appropriate; I'm sure you all would have shared in my entertainment at their dumbfounded response. They informed me that I would have to share my students with the other O & M instructors, who are seasoned veteran traditional instructors. I would have to adapt my teaching style for continuity with those of the other instructors so that the students could "benefit" from all of us. On any given day, one of the other instructors could be working with one of my students.
I have a hard time imagining that I would be able to make a lot of progress with my students if my colleagues were undoing that progress each time they worked with them. One positive way to look at it may be that I would have a chance to impact every student, but how much would my message of empowerment actually be received? I could imagine that students might listen to me because I would be the blind O & M instructor, but I don't know how well I could impact their lives if I were the black sheep instructor.
How do you all look at this opportunity?
Thank you,
Justin Salisbury
Justin Salisbury, NOMC
Graduate Student
Professional Development and Research Institute on Blindness
Louisiana Tech University
Email: President at Alumni.ECU.edu