| Description | Interview with Lee Farmer from Chicago, United States of America, instructor on a training programme for orientation and mobility instructors. He compares blind welfare systems in the United States of America and Britain and expresses his feelings about the attitudes of some people who still see long cane techniques as experimental. He talks to Charles Parker and Philip Donnellan about the mobility techniques he teaches, which he feels give blind people the independence that is vital for them to be complete, contributing members of society. He talks about attitudes of prejudice against minorities, comparing racial discrimination against black people in the United States of America and discrimination against blind people, and considers that the situation would be the same in Britain if the black population was as large as it is in America. He thinks that discrimination in employment is similar for black people and blind people, both in America and Britain. He talks about the need for each person to be assessed as an individual, his ways of coping with racial prejudice against him, the need for mutual respect between blind and sighted people and hostility felt by blind people towards sighted trainers (tracks 1-4).
Interview with Victor Horsley, a student at the pre-vocational training centre at Torquay. He talks to Philip Donnellan about the importance of independence to him and the means of gaining this independence and confidence through mobility training. He discusses his changed concept of the world around him after being trained in the use of the long cane, his thoughts about the future before and after coming to Torquay, his new orientation skills and use of auditory clues, and the confidence they give him to travel around on his own, go to unfamiliar places and take on responsibilities. He talks about his image of the world based on touch and use of the long cane, and his sense of being re-born (tracks 5-7).
Track 8: silence 2.18 mins
Track 9: silence 2.23 mins
Track 10: tape noise 10.23 mins
Track 11: tape noise 11.44 mins
Total: 48.58 mins
Dubber's reference number: PLA KF549C0062680 |