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Safe Toddles Talks Orientation and Mobility
Host Dr. Grace Ambrose-Zaken, President and CEO Safe Toddles non-profit discusses safe mobility for learners who were born blind and visually impaired. In 2023 & 2024, I am sharing the over 100 interviews I conducted with adults born blind or mobility visually impaired. I discussed with them their recollections of growing up. and walking before, during and after obtaining orientation and mobility instruction and mobility tools. In 2021/22, I worked with co-host Kelvin Crosby. Together we interviewed belt cane users and people who grew up blind without belt canes. For more information about this blog contact: 845-244-6600, grace@safetoddles.org
Episodes
58 episodes
Audrey Born 1953 working mother who embraced wayfinding technology before it was cool!
Born in 1953, she got the full crazy treatment growing up blind. Yet, somehow she came through it all very well adjusted-a working wife and mother she has the same desires as anyone..Her life is one lived just before the technology boom ...
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Season 3
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Episode 9
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1:22:43
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Mike born 1952, blind due to RLF/ROP a MUST LISTEN for all O&M Graduate Students!: Part 2
This was one of the very early interviews I had done. Twenty-five years ago, late one evening I sat down across the table in my Hunter College office with good friend, Mike Levy. He had come prepared with written statements of memories and fami...
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Season 3
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Episode 8
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1:48:54
Mike born 1952, blind due to RLF/ROP a MUST LISTEN for all O&M Graduate Students!: Part 1
This was one of the very early interviews I had done. Twenty-five years ago, late one evening I sat down across a table in my Hunter College office with good friend, Mike Levy. He had come prepared with written statements of memories and family...
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Season 3
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Episode 8
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59:59
Judy Born 1952 - proof positive you can grow up without safe mobility and enjoy life to the fullest!
Judy is a poster child of success absent safe mobility. As a child, she had light and color vision – and that means she was mobility visually impaired. In the 1950s, she learned to use the long cane, but she wasn’t allowed to take it home until...
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Season 3
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Episode 7
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1:40:11
Don McBride born 1936 became blind at age 11, O&M instructor before it was a grad degree. Part II
In every accomplishment – the O&M instructor in me wishes more value had been placed on his safety. His life is filled with accomplishments and yet- all I can hear is just how freakin’ hard it has been for him to get around safely and...
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Season 3
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Episode 7
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1:35:15
Don McBride born 1936 became blind at age 11, O&M instructor before it was a grad degree.
This week is a real treat- I found Don McBride’s interview, he was born in 1936. He is a great storyteller and gives amazing insight into what it was like to be blind child in the 1940s and 50s- he became blind at age 11, he attend residential ...
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Season 3
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Episode 6
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1:37:57
Frances born 1952, RLF, prefers her Dog Guide over Long Canes
We are entering the 1950s with Frances who was born 1952 seven years after the first white cane was taught to a blinded veteran of WWII. She remembered knowing that she had to wait to learn to use a long cane once she became 15. This is a terri...
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Season 3
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Episode 5
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1:06:24
Taletha born 1951 with no light perception
If you want some assurances that growing up blind, waiting until school age to get the first long cane can result in a well adjusted, fully employed and outgoing adult- then listen to Taletha. She compares working with O&M specialists...
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Season 3
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Episode 4
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1:03:12
Patricia, born 1951 - To Use or Not To Use the White Cane The conflict is real
Patricia Montgomery is a terrific example of the seeds the world has sown. People with visual impairments are expected to be visually capable and blind people are expected to be treated as if they are sighted. Blindness and visual impairment ar...
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Season 3
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Episode 3
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44:30
For far too long adults have held an unrealistic expectation that blind babies will walk independently without the protection of a white cane.
This is the soundtrack of the video posted on YouTube. It shows footage from 1960s and audio tape interviews of children born blind in the 1950s. Marcia new she was blind when she entered kindergarten. She noticed her peers ran around and she d...
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Season 3
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Episode 2
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12:05
BREAKING NEWS! Real Tape of Interview with Maureen born 1950 - Dives Deep into Real Life of Living Blind in NYC and Beyond
Maureen Moscato – a really good friend of mine – she is so funny. I found the original tape – It is worth a relisten!! She is much funnier than I am playing her!! Yay!!Maureen is a real treasure – her stories reveal a woman who grew up i...
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Season 3
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Episode 1
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1:44:28
Marcia born blind in 1950 Classic Story of Growing up Independent without a Mobility Tool
Marcia, born in 1950, is an example of what everyone would like me to understand – she is such a successful person (may she rest). Born blind she was an independent child – from her accounts she hated the long cane as a child, and she didn’t ne...
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Season 2
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Episode 15
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1:48:26
Jerry born visually impaired in 1950 difficulties traveling at night especially winter conditions
Today I’m sharing the interview with Jerry, conducted March 11, 2001. He is visually impaired, but not mobility visually impaired, except at night. His experiences at night in winter snow demonstrate the resilience of mankind in the face of dau...
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1:04:28
Betty born 1950 with ROP first cane 1967
Betty grew up without a mobility tool – she will not admit to having any difficulties in her life, and on the surface one can attest – she is the embodiment of success. She is educated, she has a job, she is well-spoken and capable. As an O&...
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1:06:31
Kathleen born 1946 with low vision and acquired a long cane at age 48
Today’s interview is with Kathleen, born in 1949 with retinopathy of prematurity. Her story life with this vision is one of living in the margins as far as getting services. She had no specialized services as a child, conceivably she was consid...
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Season 2
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Episode 15
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1:24:27
Gloria born with low vision in 1949 talks about her transition to a cane user at age of 40
Gloria grew up with low vision, she couldn’t read street signs or see important details but moved about her world with her peers. She remembered having no difficulty getting around her hometown or otherwise, until she lost more of her vision wh...
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Season 2
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Episode 14
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58:44
Doug born 1948 began O&M instruction in 1976
Today’s show is with Doug Schading. We spoke together August 15, 2001. He was born in 1948 and was visually impaired he had one good eye that had narrow field, but acuity of 20/80. At age 28 his vision deteriorated even in his good eye an...
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Season 2
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Episode 13
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1:37:29
Steve born 1947 first O&M lesson in High School
Stephen Dresser –was born in 1947, he got his first long cane in 8th grade, but he wasn’t taught to use it as a probe and just hooked it on his arm. It wasn’t until high school that he finally received O&M instruction. He remembers having t...
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Season 2
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Episode 12
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1:31:35
Jim born 1946 One Year After the Long Cane was Invented
Jim said he wished he had had cane travel in grade school – instead of always sitting on the sidelines.He remembered moving about without the long cane and didn’t recall getting hurt, but when he attended his reunion getting about the ca...
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Season 2
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Episode 11
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55:44
Beatrice born mobility visually impaired in 1944, blind in 1956, first O&M lesson in 1960
Beatrice weighed 2 pounds when was born into a family that already had four children. Her mom and dad didn’t have insurance and avoided hospitals. I don’t think my mother real…my mother or father realized how poor my vision was.&n...
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Season 2
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Episode 10
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58:16
Michael was born sighted in 1943 and became blind in 1945
This week is Michael born in 1943 – 2 years before the long cane was invented. He became blind at 2 years of age due to retinoblastoma. He received his first O&M instruction at the school for the blind from a blind adult. Michael details so...
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Season 2
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Episode 9
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1:29:12
Myrna born blind in 1939 Used GPS Before it was Cool!
Myrna is a very intelligent woman who studied music, a career many bright children born blind were funneled into, her husband was a blind piano tuner – another career historically taught to intelligent students at schools for the blind. Myrna b...
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Season 2
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Episode 8
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1:02:14
Dr. Jo born 1939 with low vision, became blind age 11
Jo was gifted in math and was quite capable, the first born – she helped look after her 3 siblings. Although long white canes had been used for 5 years when she became blind, one was not provided to her when she needed it. In school, there were...
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Season 2
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Episode 7
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1:23:45
Terri Born 1933 Mobility Visually Impaired Never had O&M instruction
Terri prophetically remarked that without the radio’s noise as a beacon she would “end up going off track 2” is chilling for many reasons. First and foremost, that Terri died exactly as she prophesized, she walked (without a mobility tool) off ...
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Season 2
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Episode 7
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1:12:46
Suzanne born 1924 - got her first long cane when she was 24
Suzanne grew up with severe visual impairment – she had no way to know if the drop was 6 inches or 60 inches. She got a long cane three short years after the veterans administration started using them and after a few hours of training incorpora...
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Season 2
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Episode 6
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1:02:08