x
Breaking News
More () »

A man who is going blind has the vision to remain independent

Mobility training teaches people who are blind or visually impaired how to navigate

TALBOTT, Tenn. — What if you knew you would someday be blind? An East Tennessee man is being proactive to make sure he will remain as independent as possible. 

Randy Atkins is the office manager at B.K. Graphics in Talbott. 

Workers at the screen printing and embroidery shop create custom t-shirts and more. 

But Randy sticks to the administrative side of the business. 

"I do not do any of the graphics. They do not let the blind guy print," he said. 

He's not blind but he is losing his sight.

"I was diagnosed at eight years old with an eye disease called Retinitis pigmentosa. It is a blinding and tunnel vision disease," Randy explained. 

He can see straight ahead but his peripheral vision is getting worse and worse. 

At work, he knows where everything is but unfamiliar places can be a challenge. 

Credit: WBIR
Randy Atkins flips open his mobility cane

"Right now I carry my blind cane as much as anything just for an opportunity for other people to realize that I have a vision issue," he said. 

Randy calls it his blind cane but the device is better known as a mobility cane. It's a key part of mobility training. 

"The tap technique or the slide technique. That's where you're moving the cane side to side so that you are detecting objects in your path," Louis Galbreath said, 

He is an orientation and mobility specialist for VBI: Lions Volunteer Blind Industries. VBI offers mobility training for free. 

For one training session, Louis walked behind Randy at a park to coach him on the best way to move his cane. 

Credit: WBIR
VBI Orientation and Mobility Specialist Louis Galbreath walks behind Randy Atkins during a training session

"It allows you to be able to feel what's in front of you so as you are walking instead of using you feet to feel step by step, you're allowing the cane to be a navigation system for you, a radar," he said. 

Louis also teaches something called the hand and forearm technique to protect your upper body from a tree limb or a half-open door.

"If you just have your hands extended out sometimes you can't feel that. That object may go in between through your hands. You can actually extend that arm across your body so now if you walk up to it you'll bump it against the back of your forearm," he explained. 

Randy said, "The more I learn now the better it's going to be when my vision goes because I'm going to have all the training already and be able to understand what the training does for me."

It's giving Randy the confidence he knows he'll need to navigate independently.

Before You Leave, Check This Out