Disability-Specific Skills Training

Disability-specific (also known as blindness) skills training includes areas of instruction such as orientation and mobility (travel training), home and personal management skills (taking care of one’s person or living quarters), and communication skills (reading and writing with braille or optical devices, assistive technology, etc.). These skills involve using nonvisual techniques or alternative skills to accomplish what most people do relying on vision.

Young adults preparing to exit from high school are usually ready to transition into either postsecondary training or employment. They are often expected to move from their family homes and relative dependence on their parents and other caring adults into more independent living situations and the assumption of their adult roles. Depending on their levels of independence, these individuals may find themselves in need of disability-specific skills training.

Adults who lose vision later in life may also find themselves in need of disability-specific skills training because they have always functioned as fully sighted individuals and after losing their sight they may find that they need to know more about how blind and partially sighted people manage everyday tasks. Even seemingly simple tasks such as telling time, walking to the bus stop, or reading prices in a store may seem challenging since they will have typically used sight to do such things previously.