Traditionally, rehabilitation services for the visually impaired focused mainly on urban areas and often these services were institutionalised and therefore, not accessible to all who required the service. Over time the emphasis has shifted to community based rehabilitation (CBR), where the visually impaired person, the family and the community all have a role to play, moving away from the medical model where a disability was regarded as a defect or deficiency towards social inclusion.

Visually impaired people, given the necessary skills, have the potential to make valuable contributions to society. In order to enable them to do so, they require a range of rehabilitation services which includes independence training, orientation and mobility training and the provision of assistive devices. These services are provided by qualified Orientation and Mobility practitioners who work hand in hand with other rehabilitation teams like Social Workers, Occupational Therapists, and Ophthalmologists. Due to the limited number of Orientation and Mobility (O&M) practitioners, there are CBR fieldworkers who have been trained to provide basic orientation & mobility services.

Orientation and mobility training is very crucial for those who have just lost their sight. Many visually impaired people are not able to participate fully in society, simply because they do not have the skills and the knowledge of possible adaptation that would enable them to do so. Orientation and mobility training seeks to empower people with such skills.

O&M training covers counselling, orientation and mobility and activities of daily living (ADL). Counselling is of vital importance as it instils and encourages the acceptance of loss and is a platform for a new beginning for blind and partially sighted people. O&M training also enables visually impaired persons to travel independently, while ADL includes such activities as self care, cooking, using public facilities such as the bank or postal services.

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