Leading the Blind:
Suggestions and Thanks from the School for the Blind

Dear Neighbors,

Many of you may have witnessed a scene like this: a teenager with a cane is carefully tapping his or her way down your neighborhood sidewalk, stopping at an intersection to listen for cars, and carefully crossing the street Ð with an adult watching from a distance. What, you wonder, is going on? The answer is that students from Texas School for the Blind and Visually Impaired (TSBVI) and their Orientation and Mobility (O&M) instructors are using Hyde Park as a living classroom. Your beautiful, shady alphabetical and numerical streets with an excellent grid system make a perfect safe place to practice the real-world skills that visually impaired students must learn in order to travel independently. The variety of street types and intersections controls, proximity to a busy bus route, and friendly area homeowners and businesses make Hyde Park a good place to introduce pedestrian travel.

A number of you have asked what you can do to help, and here are some suggestions:

• Trim bushes and shrubs from sidewalk areas, especially if they have thorns!
• Come to a complete stop at stop signs, and don't wait for our students out of courtesy -- remember they are there to learn about the "real world"
• When you see a dog in a harness, remember the dog is on duty and working for the owner. The dog guide should not be interacted with by a human or another dog; please keep your own dogs on a leash.
• It's OK to ask "Can I help you?"- sometimes the instructor allows a student to wander a bit to experience new situations. If anything causes you concern or inconvenience, please tell the instructor immediately.