With good training that people are receiving here they can get their world aright. They can put it back in order. They can regain control of their life. When you learn to travel then you start to regain some control and independence. When you learn how to cook, when you learn how to go to your closet and decide what to wear without having to ask, when you can take care of yourself, then you can regain much of that independence and that's what our work is about.
Programs take an average of about seven months.
They may not all need the same things. Shallenberger, who is 45 and developed blindness in 1983 from an eye disease, began a three-month training program in June with classes three to five days a week. In addition to mobility instruction, she is given a two-week class on personal safety, taught by Fehrenbach and other instructors, and a computer class that teaches screen reading and other programs for the blind. A student at Gwinnett Technical Institute who moved to Atlanta about a year ago and lives with her daughter and other family, Shallenberger began the program to learn to travel more independently about the city and her campus without a sighted guide. Fehrenbach may help new students plan a route to the center or visit those with new jobs at their workplace and help orient them there.