Join your host Keith, as he demonstrates some basic techniques to walk as a blind person. Although orientation and mobility cover the broad view of both the strategy of walking, and tactics of placing 1 foot in front of the other, today will be focused on some of the most basic techniques.
Keep in mind that Keith is not a professional or qualified orientation and mobility instructor. These are simply tips from one blind person to another. It is extremely important to be safe if you’re going to practice in the real world, and not in a safe environment. It’s best to practice several techniques to perfect them before him advancing to the next level.
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active-duty Marine Corps. Missouri air National Guard.
Hillsboro, Illinois
Keith was a sergeant of an infantry platoon, and for a short time acting platoon commander. In the air National Guard, he was an air traffic control radar maintenance man. While never seeing combat himself, he personally trained many who went to serve in that role.
In preparing for his career in the Air National Guard, Keith was honor grad at his tech school. A similar level of certification that would equate to a two-year degree in electronic technology. On his way to completing retirement, he reached a proficiency as a seven level and his military occupation specialty. His service was cut short due to blindness. After a long and difficult battle, he was finally able to be rated as service-connected.
Keith is a member of the BVA, as well as County and statewide groups that advocate for blind people. Namely, the Madison County Association of the blind, and the Illinois Council of the blind.
Relying on his technical skills learned in the military, he taught himself how to code in HTML, JavaScript and to some degree in PHP. He keeps busy by developing websites in his own server space, as well as being active in podcast production.
Keith has also been proficient in using most common operating systems. Including Windows, Macintosh, iOS, Lennix and UNIX systems.