Neasa Hourigan (Dublin Central, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

Am I correct in saying that when we talk about orientation and mobility, particularly for VI students who are not in the community, there is a belief that that is about learning to use a cane and walk around the town, when in fact it is about independence, particularly in school life?

Much of that is down to the social side of things. Ms Agbona spoke of being sent to have lunch somewhere else and the difficulty in mixing. You do not have to be a visually impaired student to struggle with the social side of things in school. Am I right in thinking orientation and mobility are very important to integration in school and the social side? Would anyone like to comment on that? If there is a postcode lottery happening, it is a big difficulty for kids with visual impairments who struggle with the social side of mainstream school where it is noisy and you do not know who is talking to you. Everybody is often in a uniform so, if you have low vision, everybody looks the same. How important would that scheme be for the social side of school?