Past and Current challenges in international scenarios of the orientation and mobility training of individuals with visual impairment

Abstract

Background and objectives: Orientation and mobility (O&M) is a key area of the habilitation and rehabilitation of people with visual impairment. As a field of science, O&M has a short history of less than a century. In this article, first a brief history of the international development of the field is scratched, together with how definitions of the concept of O&M have been changing. Then, the most important challenges experts are currently facing are highlighted.

Method: The most important changes in international scenarios of O&M are introduced through revising online resources of some of the most important organisations of the blind and visually impaired in the United States of America (e. g. American Federation of the Blind). Issues of defining O&M and the challenges of the discipline are summarised based on O&M-related journal articles published after 2010 in the Journal of Visual Impairment & Blindness and British Journal of Visual Impairment.

Results: Literature confirms that O&M is a dynamically developing discipline. O&M trainers thus are not always able to keep track with technological improvements and with changing needs of their clients.

Summary: O&M is an interdisciplinary field of science, which requires that experts involved work together as a team, and that their high-quality professional formation should be provided.