Integrate the BlindAid system in a traditional orientation and mobility rehabilitation program

In the process of becoming blind, newly- blinded people participate in a rehabilitation program, which includes different skills that a newly- blinded person needs to adapt as a result of his or her lost of vision. The virtual system, the BlindAid, involves active collaboration between orientation and mobility instructors from the Carroll Center for the Blind in Newton, Massachusetts and engineers and cognitive scientists at the MIT Touch Lab in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The two teams collaborated in the integration of the BlindAid system in the traditional orientation and mobility rehabilitation program. In this study we will describe the model of the integration. The three main goals of this model were to study: (1) cognitive mapping process of newly-blinded when using the virtual environment; (2) mental support of the BlindAid system to the newly- blinded; and (3) enhancement of the BlindAid system for the orientation and mobility instructors. The findings supply strong evidence that interaction with the BlindAid system by people who are newly-blinded provides a robust foundation for the participants´ development of comprehensive cognitive maps of actual unknown spaces during their rehabilitation program.