I don't know anything about braille so I can't say anything about it. But the other stuff I can. I was offered a residential thing way back when and I lasted about eighteen hours, I hated every last second of it because it made me feel like a properly institutionalised disabled person.

I'm with /u/retrolental_morose (if that's how we write names on reddit). The reality is you can figure out the mobility stuff on your own if you are half way smart, but you will do it a lot more quickly and safely with help, so get help, much as you probably don't want to. In most vaguely developed countries you do not have to do a residential course for this. It's not necessary and I'm not even really sure it's that great an idea. The environment of the course is not the real world and I don't think you probably want to except yourself from the real world and live in blind person world, that was my worst fear.

The biggest deal for me is not where you go or who you do it with, but like Killer Lag says, you have to do the homework. It's like training to do a job, and it's a job you have to do every day for the rest of your life, so you'd better be good at it and it's worth spending the time. You have to practice, you have to do things that take you a bit out of your comfort zone, albeit within a range of safety you are happy with. If you don't do this then it all gets harder in unnecessary ways and that is not good. You have to be self motivated. But you don't have to go to college for it.

I've also wondered how anyone with a job and family is able to do something like this. It seems immensely useful, but I have way too many responsibilities that such a thing is completely impractical.

I believe Hadley still offers courses for learning braille. I wish there were more resources like that since I think braille is extremely important and useful. I certainly think you could learn it yourself. My father actually learnt it himself just so he could teach me. I'm very grateful to have been taught braille as a child before I needed it. My eye condition is progressive and when I lost sight in one eye fairly rapidly my parents thought they should prepare me just in case.

O&M for me has been a slow process, especially because my vision loss progressed right near the beginning of the pandemic so I really didn't get training for a long time. I try very hard to practice as much as I'm able and I've been directed to a lot of resources for reading and practice as well, which helps. Perhaps you could ask your instructor for reading materials and ideas for practice?

This is the sort of attitude toward the blind that sucks. I wanted to apply for a guide dog and was expected to have no job or kids and to be able to drop everything for weeks away to train. I agree to do some voluntary work for a sight-loss charity, and literally every single session for training is over a school pickup/drop-off time. Even our local social services department can't seem to break the mold of the nine-to-five model, never mind those could actually be *my* office hours, too.

I'm all for independent study, because I have a life I want it to work around. I guess your milage varies, depending on how you learn, what you have access to etc.

https://hadley.edu/workshops/braille

Hadley has workshops for learning Braille that I've known a few people to do. An important part is practicing, which definitely makes it easier to pick up.

When I'm teaching O&M and I know there would be large gaps when I see the clients, I try to assign them homework to practice their basic skills. Improving basic skills can improve travel overall. I know some people who don't practice, and they have grand plans but unable to execute it because the have trouble with those basic skills (can't locate landmarks, unable to cross the street, forgetting sequences).

Have any links about/for the training center?