Dear NOMC,
Pasted below is an invitation for you to participate in a survey of how
blind mobility instructors are taught. This primarily applies to those who
are university trained.
In full disclosure, I do feel I should tell you a little background. Neither
I nor Louisiana Tech is affiliated with this study. When the researchers
first contacted me about this survey in November I told them that the survey
was a bit off-putting and offensive because our program was built from the
ground up to be accessible to the blind and so accommodations were not
necessary. To their credit, they asked me to help them Taylor the questions
so it would be appropriate and not offensive. I did work with them on some
of the questions and I have agreed to post this to you all.
So, you should feel free to participate in this survey if you wish to. I
neither endorse nor deplore the survey and I have no vestment in its
outcomes.
****
Invitation Letter - Survey for Orientation and Mobility Specialists
Greetings,
I am writing to invite you to participate in a research project titled
"Survey for Blind Orientation and Mobility Specialists". Currently I am
working with a research team (Dr. Laura Bozeman, Director of Vision Studies,
UMass Boston, School for Global Inclusion and Social Development, University
of Massachusetts Boston; The Nguyen, Vitalis Othuon, Kyle Steinle, TTU
research assistants; Anita Page, TTU research aide) on a research project to
learn about the accommodations, teaching strategies, and resources used when
blind orientation and mobility specialists are teaching orientation and
mobility to students who are blind/visually impaired. The results of this
research project will help us develop a list of accommodations university
preparation programs in orientation and mobility can use when they have
students in their programs who are blind/visually impaired.
In this project you will be asked to complete a survey with some basic
demographic information (e.g., education, gender) and information concerning
the identification of accommodations, teaching techniques, and resources you
use to teach orientation and mobility (O&M) skills to students with visual
impairments. This survey will take about 15-20 minutes of your time, and we
will use the results for this research study. We will not identify you
individually. It is anonymous. To show our appreciation for your
participation, upon the completion of the online survey, you will be offered
an opportunity to win a $25 gift certificate for Amazon in a random drawing.
A total of four gift certificates will be given in this study.
For further information about this research, please contact Dr. Nora
Griffin-Shirley (806-834-0225 or n.griffin-shirley at ttu.edu).
If you are interested in participating in this project, please follow the
following link for the survey.
https://educttu.az1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_9HaiRhzDYNtCyhf
Once again, thank you very much for all of your time.
Sincerely,
Nora
Nora Griffin-Shirley, Ph.D., Professor
Coordinator of O&M Program
Director of Virginia Murray Sowell Center for Research and Education in
Sensory Disabilities
Texas Tech University
Box 41071
Lubbock, TX 79409-1071
(806) 834-0225
(806) 742-2326 FAX
n.griffin-shirley at ttu.edu