Transcript:
Penny: So Chapter one is Rev It Up, laying the foundation for Finding Wheels. And we see our gentleman who is pumping gas here.
Each of the chapters has objectives. These objectives are geared more towards professionals for IEP writing. They're helpful for travelers to know what they're going to have covered in that chapter and they're helpful for family members who may not be thinking about some of these topics. So the objectives help you get oriented to what's going to be covered. And then as you move through the chapter, the numbers that are referenced, for example, 1.2 Describe the role of the orientation mobility specialist, you're going to find that you can easily go to section 1.2 to locate that information.
In "Finding Wheels" we talk about three kinds of travelers, independent travelers, interdependent travelers and dependent travelers. The goal for all of us is that we want to be independent travelers. We want to take control of our transportation budget, problem solve. But you know what? At the same time we're all interdependent travelers because I don't know about you, but the last time I flew a 737 it was only in my dreams. Okay? So there are times that independent travelers are interdependent and that there are times when others are doing the driving. There may even be times when others are doing the planning. But the deal when you're a strong traveler is that you balance being an independent traveler and an interdependent traveler. Dependent travelers lack the skills and or the motivation to be interdependent or independent. So this book, Finding Wheels, really is geared towards folks who are independent and interdependent travelers. We're again assuming that you have goo d orientation and mobility skills if you're a traveler using this book.
I want to just talk briefly about wearable devices and there's a lot of devices that are coming and going on the market that are designed to help people enhance their use of vision as they travel or do other activities.
So for example, we have Aira. Now Aira- you can do an app on your smartphone and that's what most people do. But for awhile they had glasses, um, that you could wear that would allow you to point your head in the direction of what you wanted to see and their agent would describe it for you. We have devices like OrCam, which is a pair of glasses that you can push on the button and, and it will speak what you're seeing.
Well, you have ESight and you have NuEyes. Those devices are shown on this picture and these are big kind of goggle, um, virtual reality type of glasses.
Regardless of what type of wearable technology a traveler is wearing, there needs to be some caution. First, these devices are only intended to be used when you're stationary, so you're standing still and needing to get orientation to an environment. You need to get some information from a sign. That's when you're going to use these devices. You're not going to move around the environment, these devices.
The other thing to keep in mind is that your peripheral vision is going to be restricted and so that can be problematic. Your field is going to be restricted just because of the device itself. So if you're a traveler, you want to try out several different devices in several different environments, ideally before deciding on which device is the best one for you. If you're a professional, you want to expose your travelers to different devices in different environments. I have found for myself that going to a conference where there's a lot of technology vendors gives me a way as both a professional and a consumer or a traveler, an opportunity to check out different devices.
