Institute for Innovative Blind Navigation
To Whom This May Concern,
I know Daniel Kish professionally and as a friend. He is one of the smartest, most talented individuals I have ever met. It is my pleasure to offer this tribute to his teaching abilities.
Daniel is articulate and he is kind. He surrounds his students with positive energy, and he has a youthful enthusiasm that inspires his students. With these qualities, Daniel creates a teaching environment that brings out the very best in his students.
Daniel leads by example; he is a mentor as well as a skilled teacher. He is one of the few blind educators teaching navigation skills to blind children (and adults).
Daniel is educated as both a psychologist, and an orientation and mobility specialist, and is an expert in human perception. He is also self-taught, having figured out from a very young age how to use echo location for wayfinding. This combination of personal experience and academic preparation makes Daniel unique. He has a broader perspective than most blind rehabilitation specialists.
Daniel has become a recognized national leader in echo location; the profession of orientation and mobility looks to him for guidance. Students receive training from a nationally acclaimed curriculum developed by Daniel and his associates at World Access for The Blind.
Daniel’s teaching methodology is faster and probably safer than the standard technique used by teaching professionals in the field. His approach provides students with a perceptual overview of the immediate landscape; a human-generated method for “seeing without sight” (Daniel’s own phrase).
Daniel’s methods and his leadership expand the scope of what blind individuals are expected to accomplish; he not only teaches his students, but he “takes them under his wing,” looking out for their whole development. He not only teaches wayfinding skills for example, he also is a champion of blind athletics. He teaches his blind students to ride bikes. He hikes with the students and he encourages all varieties of sports. He tells his students that they should have a “no-limits” outlook on life. It is not that life doesn’t set limits, but they should not suffer limits to be placed upon them by their culture.
Daniel holds up the highest ideals to his students and challenges them to “see” as well as their sighted peers. In this age of high technology and with Daniel’s knowledge and skills teaching (and using) natural echo location, these high ideals are realistic and critical. With the kind of training Daniel provides it actually is true that blind individuals can learn to perceive objects and landscapes with equal functionality. This is a revolution in blind rehabilitation. Daniel Kish is special, a unique person, a national leader, a revolutionary thinker and inventor, and he is a wonderful teacher.
Respectfully,
Dr. Doug Baldwin
Doug Baldwin OD, MA, COMS
Director: Institute for Innovative Blind Navigation
Millet Learning Center
3660 Southfield Drive
Saginaw, Michigan 48601