A panel of 20 experts in orientation and mobility (O&M) reached consensus on concepts and skills that O&M specialists should teach to students who are blind or have low vision. Panelists also agreed on visual, environmental, and behavioral conditions that would require a formal O&M assessment.

Purpose Pedestrians with low vision have identified crossing the street as a difficult task. With the increasing complexity of the crossing environment (actuated signals, roundabouts), the challenges are increasing. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of two types of vision loss (central or peripheral) on the ability to detect gaps in traffic. Methods 41 subjects participated with 14 being fully sighted, 10 having central vision loss from age-related macular degeneration (AMD), and 17 having peripheral vision loss from either retinitis pigmentosa (RP) or glaucoma (GL). Standing at entry and exit lanes of a roundabout, subjects depressed a hand held trigger to indicate when there was a sufficient gap in traffic to cross the street. A total of 12 two minute intervals were completed including four of those intervals with occluded hearing. Results No difference was found in the ability of the three subject groups to identify crossable or short gaps. There were significant differences in latency and safety margin. The AMD subjects did not perform as well as the fully sighted or the subjects with RP/GL. When hearing was occluded the two vision loss groups did not show a change in sensitivity but the fully sighted group did, being more sensitive when hearing was occluded. Conclusions The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of low vision on the ability to detect crossable gaps in traffic. The findings suggest that subjects with AMD have an increased risk because they show significant latency in their identification of gaps and this in turn results in a reduction of safety margin.

Introduction: This study explored the relationship between first-time or repeat participation at a sports education camp and demographic variables of gender, age, race or ethnicity, measures of self-perception, body mass index (BMI), and physical activity in participants' communities. Methods: The study was a secondary data analysis of interview and BMI data for youths with visual impairments (i.e., those who are blind or have low vision) who attended a sports education camp in one of 12 states in the years 1989, 1996, and 2000-2010. Results: The short-term intervention model of a sports education camp had a positive effect on participants' perceptions of themselves. This result was more pronounced for boys and for youths with some usable vision. Involvement in a sports education camp did not tend to translate to increased involvement in sports in a student's community. The mean BMI of firsttime participants was consistent across gender, race or ethnicity, and vision category, and the BMI of first-time participants tended to be higher according to the age of the participant. Discussion: The findings revealed that the short-term intervention model of a sports education camp is highly effective in increasing self-perception for youngsters with vision impairments. Implications for practitioners: For youths with visual impairments who might be experiencing reduced social interaction, decreased self-perception or increased BMI

Objective-This study examined the effect of cane tips and cane techniques on drop-off detection with the long cane.Background-Blind pedestrians depend on a long cane to detect drop-offs. Missing a drop-off may result in falls or collision with moving vehicles in the street. Although cane tips appear to affect a cane user's ability to detect drop-offs, few experimental studies have examined such effect.

These findings are relevant to transportation planners and engineers who are responsible for the accessibility of public rights-of-way.