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Description
Provide orientation and mobility assessment and instruction to people with visual impairments to build safe, efficient, independent travel skills across home, school, work, and community settings. Plan and deliver individualized training in cane techniques, orientation strategies, street crossings, public transportation, sensory efficiency, and the use of mobility aids and navigation technology.
Job tasks Attributes
  • • Conduct O&M assessments of orientation, mobility, vision use, sensory skills, cognition, and functional travel needs.
  • • Develop individualized O&M plans based on assessment results, goals, and environments.
  • • Teach long cane techniques (diagonal, two-point touch, shorelining) and human guide skills.
  • • Train clients to travel independently in indoor and outdoor environments, including crossings, complex intersections, and varied terrain.
  • • Instruct safe use of public transportation, paratransit, and rideshare services, including trip planning and wayfinding.
  • • Teach orientation strategies using landmarks, clues, cardinal directions, mental mapping, and route planning.
  • • Train use of tactile, auditory, kinesthetic, olfactory, and proprioceptive information for orientation and hazard detection.
  • • Train clients to use mobility devices and systems such as long canes, dog guides, human guides, electronic travel aids (ETAs), and other adaptive mobility devices (AMDs).
  • • Recommend and fit appropriate mobility devices or travel aids; instruct in care and maintenance.
  • • Train clients to use navigation technology, such as GPS apps, auditory beacons, and smartphone accessibility features.
  • • Design and implement instructional programs using real and simulated travel settings, tactile maps, and environmental analysis.
  • • Collaborate with rehabilitation counselors, teachers of students with visual impairments (TVIs), occupational therapists, and families to coordinate services.
  • • Provide consultation and training to parents, educators, and community partners about O&M and environmental accessibility.
  • • Refer clients to eye care, health care, rehabilitation, and counseling services when needs exceed O&M scope.
  • • Monitor client progress and adjust O&M goals, strategies, or environments as needed.
  • • Document assessments, lesson plans, progress notes, and outcomes in reports and required forms.
  • • Participate in professional development through continuing education, literature review, conferences, and peer collaboration.
  • • Evaluate home, school, work, and community environments to identify travel barriers and recommend modifications.
  • • Teach self-advocacy and safety skills, including risk assessment and problem solving during travel.
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Source
Tasks & skills: O*NET occupational data (work activities, skills, knowledge). Learn more
Sources & Standards: This site includes information from O*NET by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA), used under the CC BY 4.0 license. Career Clutch has modified some of this information for student readability. USDOL/ETA has not approved, endorsed, or tested these modifications. O*NET® is a trademark of USDOL/ETA.
Last reviewed: Jan 2026
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