| Description | Interview with a group of women who work as home teachers for people with visual impairments. They talk about the low salaries paid to home teachers compared with welfare officers, which they believe explains the shortage of home teachers. They talk about their love of their job, the long hours and their differing views about the ability of blind home teachers to carry out administrative tasks. They talk about the limited employment prospects for many of the people they work with, partly because of the economic recession, and the higher salaries paid in the south of England. They discuss their feelings of frustration about the future of blind welfare and their apathy about campaigning for change.
They discuss the ways in which conditions for blind people have improved, the poor recordings of talking books, plans for the integration of blind people with people with other disabilities to alleviate their sense of isolation, the unscientific nature of blind welfare and the greater opportunities for young people at pre-vocational training centres. They consider that loss of sight is a greater limitation than many other disabilities, and that older people find it harder to adjust themselves to blindness. They discuss their lack of knowledge about the long cane, their greater consciousness of blindness in wider society, the importance of teaching mobility, the absence of mobility training in the home teacher syllabus and the methods they use to guide blind people. They consider that the training offered to home teachers is not good enough for the job they have to do; they need people with practical experience in working with blind people to teach the courses. They think that mobility is the essential skill to learn, that learning Braille is less vital, and that teaching rush and cane work is outdated. (tracks 1-9).
Total: 32.48 mins
Dubber's reference number: PLA KF565D0769780 |