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 <mailto:n.griffin-shirley at ttu.edu> Edward C. Bell, Ph.D., CRC, NOMC, Director, Professional Development and Research Institute on Blindness Louisiana Tech University 600 Mayfield Ave / 210 Woodard Hall PO Box 3158 Ruston LA 71272 Office: 318.257.4554 Fax: 318.257.2259 <mailto:ebell at latech.edu> ebell at latech.edu www.pdrib.com ************* "I am somehow less interested in the weight and convolutions of Einstein's brain than in the near certainty that people of equal talent have lived and died in cotton fields and sweatshops." -- Stephen Jay Gould