As part of our curriculum, students often venture out in public to train. We’ll practice our cane travel skills in the heart of Victoria’s busy downtown core, for instance, so we become accustomed to heavy vehicular and pedestrian traffic. It’s a thoroughly positive experience, as our blind training staff are experts and well equipped to handle anything that comes their way.
Unfortunately, we do sometimes encounter people who are skeptical about our method of training. Some have even been known to make derisive comments about ‘the blind leading the blind,’ as if a sighted person could be the best option to teach blindness skills competently. Instead, we’d argue who is better to teach a blind person how to make their way from one side of town to the other or cook a four course meal for eight people, than someone who performs these tasks competently on a regular basis without the need for sight?
It is for this exact reason that the Pacific Training Centre for the Blind exists. Through our programs, we will bring an end to these misconceptions. In truth, blind people are every bit as capable as sighted people and there is no one better to teach them that than another blind person. The proof can be found in our students who, through direction from our blind training staff, reach new heights of achievement every year.
