FACES OF THE BCIU

Byron Grosselfinger - Certified Orientation & Mobility Specialist

“I help students learn skills that orient them through their environment to travel safely and independently.”

It’s a mad, mad, mad, mad world out there, as the title of the 1963 movie put it. It’s even more so for a visually impaired person who must try to get by in a culture that’s rushed, noisy, messy, uneven, and generally unforgiving of those who move at a more careful pace.

Byron Grosselfinger helps Berks County’s visually impaired students navigate that world. Even thrive within it.

As a certified orientation and mobility specialist for the BCIU, Byron works with about 25 students throughout the county who have various vision impairments. For example, one of the students he helps is an 8th-grader at Wyomissing Jr./Sr. High School who has 20/50 vision with the aid of glasses, yet due to his very narrow field of vision is considered legally blind. Byron also works with a Daniel Boone 8th-grade student who has been completely blind since age 5 when the retinas in both of her eyes detached overnight. The student uses a BrailleNote computer, a hand-held device she uses for note taking, e-mail, Web browsing, GPS mobility, and many other applications. The student is a member of the middle school’s track team, participates on community cheerleading squads, and has been identified as gifted.

“I have no ‘typical’ students with whom I work,” Byron says. “Yet they pretty much have the same goal – to be as independent as possible given their situation and needs.

“A blind or visually impaired person has to be very aware of his or her environment. I help students learn skills that orient them through their environment to travel safely, efficiently, and independently.”

For example, Byron trained the Wyomissing student mentioned above on how to use a white mobility cane as he walks, especially when outside and on unfamiliar terrain. While it looks as if the student is just moving the cane back and forth in front of him as he moves, there’s a method to it.

The cane should be “in rhythm and one step ahead of you,” Byron says. “When you’re leading with your left foot, the cane should be on the right side previewing the next step; move your right foot to the front and the cane moves to the left, helping to determine if there is a clear path to take the next step.

“It takes training and practice, but once you get it, it becomes second nature.”

Indeed. On a recent morning, Byron and the student walked along Penn Avenue in the hunt for the hidden “treasure” of a geocache, a game akin to orienteering that uses GPS (Global Positioning System) technology. The student has an iPhone to which he downloaded a GPS application. He logged on to a Web site to find the coordinates of the geocache hidden somewhere in Wyomissing; then he and Byron set out to find it.

The real purpose of the hunt was to allow the student to practice his white cane skills, crossing busy streets, navigating uneven sidewalks, and generally getting around in the physical world. The GPS and the geocache served to make the exercise more interesting for the tech-savvy student.

As they searched, the student crossed Penn Avenue at a quick clip several times, with Byron quizzing him on the best way to cross a street, reminding him of newly learned techniques, and helping him decode the encrypted clue supplied to him via his phone.

(The student did find the geocache, a small canister hidden under a rock in front of a dentist’s office.)

Byron earned a master’s degree in orientation and mobility from the Pennsylvania College of Optometry (now Salus University). He also earned a bachelor’s in education with certifications in elementary education and visual impairments from Kutztown University. He and his wife live in Leesport with their two children.

Byron actually serves the BCIU in two capacities; he’s also a teacher of visually impaired students. The main difference between his two positions is that a teacher of visually impaired students provides instruction in Braille, assistive technology, low vision, and works with the students’ “regular” teachers, while an orientation and mobility specialist provides instruction in methods for safe travel, including techniques for navigating the physical world.

“My students learn new techniques for everyday activities,” Byron says. “How to walk out the door with a mental map, how to head down the street and orient to a bus, how to ‘trail’ a hand along a wall to make their way through an unfamiliar room or building.

“It’s these ‘little’ things that have a huge impact on their lives.”