Earlier this week, Utica College’s physical therapy students visited our organization to learn about the lifestyles of the blind and visually impaired.
Over 30 students participated in activities such as cooking at home, writing a check, placing medications into segmented slots, and more. Students had the opportunity to wear a blindfold at certain activities and a vision simulator at others, which provided them a real-life feel of what our consumers live with on a day-to-day basis.
Aside from the activities, we focused on their communication skills during their brief moments of vision loss. The students learned how to instruct each other by utilizing basic communication and listening skills to complete the given tasks.
They quickly realized that communication and listening are large aspects of the visually impaired and blind community.
One of the activities involved throwing a ball to each other. It required one student to place a blindfold over their eyes and, on the opposing side, one student to direct them. Needless to say, the ball rarely ended up in the hands of the person wearing the blindfold, but the participants learned valuable skills.
In the three hours we spent with the students, their knowledge and awareness of the day-to-day lives of the blind and visually impaired community were heightened. We are extremely thankful that we can provide sessions like this for Utica College’s students and educate the public on what services CABVI offers!