For most folks in Lebanon, a walk around the downtown area is a pretty routine endeavor but for Suzanne Luallin and her students, it is a little more complicated. Luallin conducts classes on Wednesdays in which she escorts and teaches three to six school-aged children who are visually impaired or blind, how to walk safely in their own environment, including how to use a cane.
“We spend an hour in orientation and mobility training,” she explained as she guided her students down a Madison Street sidewalk that included an unexpected obstacle.
“Here we have something unexpected,” she told them as they approached and touched a chain link fence that cordoned off a construction area but also blocked their path. “Now how do we get from here to there?”
After a short discussion, it was determined that the safe thing to do was to turn around and go back to the previous corner and cross the street there. She explained that they should not step down into the street because it wouldn’t be safe.
For more on this story see Saturday's print or e-Edition of the LCR.
