OMSA hasn?t brought this issue up yet but it?s something we need to keep on our radar, Whether they do or not. I have some contacts at Helen Keller national center and some of them are based in Louisiana. after the holidays I will try to take the pulse and see what Helen Keller center thinks about this whole occupational therapy, deaf blind intervener stuff. I really think occupational therapist need to stick to motor skills and Deaf blind a specialist need to concentrate on deaf blind skills. I try to stick to blindness independent travel skills but even I get swept up in low vision nonsense when my agency forces me to evaluate clients for monoculars and sunglasses. Within the parameters of structured discovery philosophy, I?m all in favor of what Texas called cross functional integration. sometimes, without a good base of philosophy, it just gets crazy. It?s like the guide dog schools say, you can?t teach one dog to do everything. You can?t teach one professional to be all things everybody in the disability community. I believe people really do need to specialize to some extent. Yet, as a blind person who is also a long time rehabilitation professional, I have taught people how to cook over an open fire, how to work on their braille skills, and even, God forbid, how to sew with a needle and thread. Call a limited way I have been forced to teach people how to type because I was working in a cross functional program. I made it work and people who knew more about technology than I did always picked up where I left off and left the cane travel to me. The difference is in the structured discovery philosophy, we work as a team and we play to our strengths. No one forced me to teach computer skills beyond my level. There was always somebody to pick up the slack when a client got ahead of me. In that world, even the rehabilitation counselors pitched in and worked on some skills training when they had the ability. Usually these were blind counselors who were using this technology as part of their daily lives. Also, I trusted these counselors to reinforce the cane skills I was teaching because I knew how they traveled. In the rehabilitation community that is not set up on a foundation of philosophy, the rehabilitation counselor knows very little about blindness, the rehabilitation teacher has only the skills that she or he have actually mastered while all of the other blindness skills founder. the orientation and mobility instructor is asked to play with sunglasses. and monoculars while told to stay in your lane when it comes to advocacy training. I ask you, who better to teach advocacy skills then a person who teaches you to go out into the public arena and ask for directions? maybe I should end that sentence in exclamation Point. What with rehabilitation agencies being so scatterbrained, how can we trust an occupational therapist to know how to intervene for a deaf blind person or to teach anybody how to swing a White cane left and right within the confines of their rehabilitation institution? It could turn out to be the camels nose in a tent. Sorry guys I?m ranting again. Just frustrated and sick of dealing with government nonsense. I just finished a very hard, fast paced week of training with 12 consumers and a staff who know as much about blindness as my cat knows about Thanksgiving dinner, as in, she isn?t invited. Some clients learned something good, most clients learned a little bit here and there but frankly it was like shooting in the dark with no ability to judge distance by sound. I love group trainings when we do it correctly, when I?m working with a structured discovery team but frankly when I am working with a bunch muggles, it just frustrates the hell out of me. So before the family gets here on Thursday and I have to be in a good mood, let me rant and rave and complain because I don?t have to go to work tomorrow. I have the rest of the week off and I can concentrate on the kids and the younger kids and the turkey and everything else I want to do. Everyone have a wonderful Thanksgiving and forget for a few hours that you work for government agencies who know as much about blindness as anyone knows about the inside of a black hole. Right now I am more interested in finding out about the inside of a turkey breast. Jane Lansaw Class of 2000 Tulsa Oklahoma Sent from my iPhone

On Nov 20, 2022, at 8:01 PM, Justin Salisbury <PRESIDENT at alumni.ecu.edu> wrote:

? Hi all,

One other detail that may complicate this conversation about certifying occupational therapists is that there is an effort at LSU (Louisiana State University) to certify occupational therapists to be DeafBlind interveners. I don?t know very much about DeafBlind interveners, but it appears to be something that is coming up through occupational therapy. My understanding is that the team working on this is having a hard time to get schools or government agencies to accept the certification that they are developing.

I met a guy named Michael Norman, PhD, from LSU, who is involved in this effort. He seemed like a really nice and cool guy when I met him briefly at a conference a few days ago. He spoke very highly of our Louisiana Tech programs in the Institute on Blindness, and he also shared that he has a student who is dually enrolled at Tech.

I am very skeptical of the ACVREP idea, but the DeafBlind intervener idea might be a whole different ball of wax.

Aloha,

Justin

Justin Mark Hideaki Salisbury he/him/his

Phone: 808.797.8606 Email: President at Alumni.ECU.edu LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/justin-salisbury ResearchGate: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Justin_Salisbury

?Once social change begins, it cannot be reversed. You cannot un-educate the person who has learned to read. You cannot humiliate the person who feels pride. You cannot oppress the people who are not afraid anymore.?

Cesar Chavez

From: NOMC <nomc-bounces at lists.nbpcb.org> On Behalf Of Jane Lansaw Sent: Sunday, November 20, 2022 2:17 PM To: NOMC Mailing List <NOMC at lists.nbpcb.org> Subject: [Nomc] Fwd: OMSA November Town Hall

Heads up, you guys might want in on this zoom. It?s OMSA with a speaker from ACVREP talking about certifying occupational therapists.

Sent from my iPhone

Begin forwarded message:

From: Orientation and Mobility Specialist Association <oandmassociation at gmail.com> Date: November 20, 2022 at 12:56:15 PM CST To: Jane Lanslaw <widearc2000 at gmail.com> Subject: OMSA November Town Hall Reply-To: oandmassociation at gmail.com

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Join us for OMSA's November Town Hall Meeting!

Kathie Zeider, President/CEO of ACVREP, will discuss ACVREP's development of a certification for licensed/registered Occupational Therapists in blindness/low vision.

Wednesday, November 30, 2022 7PM (Eastern Time)

The OMSA board is interested in staying current on what is happening in the O&M world, and in exploring how best to advocate for our members and the O&M community. Issues brought up at the Town Hall meetings may be discussed at upcoming board meetings. Members may request that OMSA take action on issues and may be asked to present to the OMSA board on issues of concern.

Topic: OMSA Town Hall Meeting Time: November 30, 2022 07:00 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada)

Join Zoom Meeting https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86590953291?pwd=Qy8wVGlGajVYb2IyNFFKckRta0h0Zz09

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