Visions of the Blind

2 children wearing sleep shades use white canes to navigate a tactile trail As Blindness Awareness month comes to a close, I wanted to highlight an elementary school that leveled up. After posting my previous blog last month sharing ideas about how to celebrate people who have visual impairments while also creating awareness, thoughts started flowing through a particular elementary school in Georgia! (I remain vague for confidentiality) The paraprofessional who works with my student wanted to put together a day honoring and building awareness for our student and others who have visual impairments. It takes many hands to put together an entire day of activities and she was an incredible orchestrator! Here is an overview of the day: White Cane Safety Day The art teacher designed a t-shirt which were sold to the staff to wear  A gentleman from the community brought his guide dog and spoke with the class The PE coa...

As a teacher of students with visual impairment (TVI) and certified orientation and mobility specialist (COMS) for over 17 years, many of my students have graduated and made it into the “real” world. Some decide to go to college, obtain a job, or take a break to figure out what their next step might be. Some are far beyond that next step and now have families of their own, a career, and are living life to the fullest! As a teacher, I always wondered where life has taken them and what life looks like now. I had a chance to interview a former student of mine, who now has a family of her own. I began working with her when she moved into the school district as a 6 th grader. Graduating from high school at the top of the class, she earned an academic scholarship to the University of Colorado in Boulder. She received her first guide dog the summer after graduating high school. Goalball was a passion- playing for the United States Paralympic Team who traveled to Finland, Sweden, the Un...

Stick figure drawing of a Goalball player https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d6/Goalball_pictogram_%28Paralympics%29.svg/768px-Goalball_pictogram_%28Paralympics%29.svg.png I've always loved sports, I've always played sports, and I've always loved watching sports. From the moment I understood my options for my career and life as an adult, I dreamed of becoming a teacher and a coach. I accomplished my first goal right away and now have been a teacher of students with visual impairments for 19 years. I always I thought I would coach Field hockey or Soccer, the more traditional sports, my high school and college favorites.  But, my career experiences led me in a new direction. My first opportunity to be a coach was in 2002.   I was named the Girls Goalball coach at the Virginia School for the Deaf and Blind from 2002 to 2005. This coaching experience was life-changing for me. Not only did get to learn about a sport that is truly competitive and erase...

The Expanded Core Curriculum (ECC) is toolkit that extends the academic curriculum for every person who is blind or visually impaired. Often, we find that teachers or administrators outside of our field have no idea what it is or what it does! It is important to help educate teachers, administrators and the students on all the benefits of the ECC. Another important piece of the Expanded Core Curriculum is the freedom it grants our students! By mastering these skills, students who are blind or visually impaired will have the ability to compete in academics and everyday life without feeling held back or disadvantaged.  To being, let's look at the areas of the Expanded Core Curriculum. You will notice that ECC areas are not the same as academic areas. These skills are learned through direct and repeated instruction to assist in development of skills not acquired through incidental learning. Below you will find the Expanded Core Curriculum areas with a brief description of the skills...