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Navigating the New: What the First Day of School Looks Like Without Sight

Do you remember your first day of school? The butterflies in your stomach? Finding your locker? Figuring out which hallway led to math class?

For most of us, those nerves came from adjusting to something new.

Now, imagine starting a new school year—but without your sight.

Where do you begin? Do you follow the sound of voices? Do you find a wall and feel your way down the hallway? Do you ask for a human guide? How do you even find the right hallway—let alone the right classroom?

These are the very real challenges faced by students who are blind or have low vision. At The Maryland School for the Blind (MSB), these questions aren’t left unanswered. They are the foundation of Orientation and Mobility (O&M) training—a core part of the Expanded Core Curriculum designed to teach students how to navigate the world independently and safely.

What Is Orientation and Mobility?

Orientation and Mobility (O&M) is more than just learning how to walk with a white cane. It’s about developing the spatial awareness, travel skills, and confidence to move through the world independently.

A student stands in a store aisle, holding a white cane and talking on her phone, shopping. She wears a green dress, blue shoes, and carries a tote bag, surrounded by shelves of snacks and products.

At MSB, students learn to:

  • Use canes to detect obstacles and gather information about their environment
  • Follow sound cues and environmental markers
  • Understand indoor and outdoor layouts
  • Problem-solve when routes change or unexpected barriers arise
  • So much more

These are life-changing skills. For students with vision loss, O&M provides a path to independence that many sighted people take for granted.

Why O&M Matters—Especially at the Start of the School Year

Back-to-school season is a time of reorientation for every student. There are new classrooms, new routines, new goals. But for students who are blind or low vision, that reorientation goes deeper. It requires thoughtful, individualized guidance.

Unlike their sighted peers, who often pick up new travel routes and spatial cues visually, MSB students must learn these step by step. They might use tactile maps to understand a building’s layout, practice indoor navigation with O&M instructors, or develop personalized strategies to help them memorize routes.

From Campus to Community

Once students feel confident navigating their school environment, they don’t stop there. O&M instruction expands to include real-world experiences like:

  • Riding public transportation
  • Crossing busy intersections
  • Shopping for groceries
  • Attending public events and field trips

These experiences are milestones. They mark a student’s growing independence and readiness to take on life beyond the classroom.

Building Confidence Through Movement

At MSB, we believe every student deserves to move through the world with pride. O&M is how that belief becomes reality. With personalized support, patience, and the right tools, students learn that they can go anywhere—and do anything.

From the first steps down a school hallway to confidently catching a city bus, these are not just lessons in mobility. They are lessons in self-reliance, self-discovery, and courage.