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ICQ

The person born blind or born with severe visual limitation does not adjust to a new way of life; he simply learns to deal with his environment according to his condition. His experience of his environment depends on information gained from his other senses and on what little sight, if any, that he has. If, however, he is born with limited sight and at a later time this sight is reduced, he is forced to make an adjustment in his way of functioning. His vision, though limited, was an integral part of his ability to function. Thus, he will react emotionally to this loss just as a fully sighted person who loses a major part of his sight.

Similarly, the congenitally blind child is not born with a set of attitudes concerning his condition. He incorporates the attitudes of his parents. If his parents allow him a wide and rich experience of his environment, if they stress his abilities and help him to deal realistically with his limitations, he develops a good self-concept. He knows what he can and cannot do. His expectations of himself and of others in his social milieu are realistic. He does not repeatedly attempt things that are beyond his ability, nor does he assume he is functioning adequately when in fact he is extremely dependent on those who can see.

The parent who makes excessive demands on a visually impaired child fosters in him a feeling of inferiority. Because he cannot meet the demands, he fails, and in time develops a concept of himself as a failure. He will repeatedly demonstrate such an attitude during the course of mobility training. Since he has failed so often, he expects to fail; and unknowingly, he meets his own low expectations.

If his performance is to improve, his self-concept must also improve. Considerable effort is required to achieve this goal. The instructor must first determine that such a student has the native intelligence and the physical ability to acquire competency in traveling. Once the instructor has made this determination, he must bring the student slowly but deliberately to a new self-concept during the process of mobility training. He must take him through each phase of training in carefully graduated steps. Each mistake confirms the student's low self-esteem; and each success he experiences, even though small, adds to his image of himself as a competent person. For this reason, it is extremely important that what the student is expected to do should be done right the first time, if at all possible. This can be accomplished by making sure the student understands what is expected, and by keeping the travel task simple. This procedure is, of course, more important during the early phases of mobility training. In this way, the improvement in travel skills and in self-concept will take place concurrently. The gradual acquisition of travel skills will improve the student's self-image; and the improved self-image will make possible more consistent improvement in travel skills.

Some congenitally blind persons have the converse problem. They have a good self-concept, but it is totally unrealistic. The parents of such a person have extremely low expectations of their child. They compliment him for such inferior performance he does not even know how inadequately he is performing. At age seven they compliment him for eating behavior he should have mastered at age four. They heap praise on him when he learns to tie his shoes at twelve years of age. He may not even know that most other children have been tying their shoes since they were in kindergarten. The critical factor for such a child is that, being without sight, it is more difficult for him to compare his behavior with that of most other children. We should not condemn these parents for what they have done. In all likelihood, they do not know what a person without sight is capable of doing.

However, they have managed to give their child unrealistic standards by which to judge his performance. He may think he is doing well when, in fact, his performance is minimal.

The instructor cannot help such a person by continuing the pattern set by the parents. The student must be helped to see himself in terms of normal expectations. He must be told what normal goals are, that is, normal in terms of the larger blind population. Then he must be helped to understand how far below standard his own performance is. He needs positive reinforcement for what he does, but the reinforcement should be realistic. He can be complimented for trying if this is all the instructor can say for a particular lesson. But, the student should not be told he has done well when his performance is sloppy. He should be complimented for any improvement he shows on a specific mobility task; but the approval should not be excessive if the improvement is slight. In other words, "That's better than the last time, but I know you can do a lot better." The process of putting the student in touch with reality will be gradual. It would be difficult, if not impossible, to change in a few months a pattern established over a period of eighteen or twenty years. Further, to attempt to tell a person too bluntly that his self-concept is unrealistic would be brutal and shattering. It would also antagonize him. Instead, the instructor must work lesson by lesson to bring the student's self-concept closer to reality while at the same time helping him to bring his performance up to normal standards.

Motivation

Undoubtedly, most congenitally blind persons have normal motivation. They want the same things most people want. As they grow up they would like to become independent. For their accomplishments they want recognition And they would certainly enjoy satisfying relationships with other people. They aspire to such goals and work toward them.

Other persons born blind, however, want the same goals but do not know how to work toward them. They are limited in experience and in knowledge. They have been so controlled by parents that self-directed activity toward a specific goal is beyond their means.

Some of these persons only need someone to point the way. Mobility training may be the means toward that goal. Once they have acquired travel skills, they begin to think of eventual independence. A few may want the same things but do not seem motivated enough to work toward a goal. Their behavior seems to contradict their wishes. But what seems to be lack of motivation may be anxiety stemming from limited experience. Their childhood environment was so circumscribed that they fear any novel or different experience. Where this is the case, the instructor must work cautiously to expand the familiar environment it is possible that some extreme cases of deprivation may never respond to treatment. However, it is always worthwhile to explore the possibility that there is some childhood experience that can be used as a foundation for expansion of the environment. As the environment of the person is gradually and carefully expanded, his anxiety diminishes.

A further possible explanation for apparent lack of motivation may lie in the family interaction. The family may have fostered dependent behavior to such an extent that the blind person has no desire or reason for achieving independence. Why should he go through the ordeal of learning to travel without help when the family meets all his travel needs? They may suggest that he take mobility training, but the suggestion is half-hearted. The student may request training because his friends are taking it, but basically he is satisfied with what his family does for him.

Where such an interaction exists, it is extremely difficult to develop the blind person's motivation toward independence. It may be accomplished only with great pressure from friends and professional workers or long term psychotherapy. Progress is slow and tortuous. The instructor must decide if such effort is worthwhile when there are other persons who need help and who are already motivated to work toward a specific goal.

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