A website for teachers who are blind or visually impaired.

Finding a Mentor

Finding a mentor, someone else who has experienced vision loss and returned to the workforce, can be a tremendously valueable experience, even if that mentor is not a teacher. Finding a teacher who is blind or visually impaired can help you think of skills you may need to work on, suggest strategies that have worked for them, or provide support in coping with adjustment and feeling that you are not alone. This is true for many life situations. Parents of preschoolers like to find other parents of preschoolers (or even better, parents of children who are just a little older than preschool age) to share these important experiences. High school seniors benefit from talking with students who have already started college. In these important relationships, we learn from the experiences of others!

There are challenges in finding a mentor who has personal experiences with a visual impairment, especially a person who has both experience with visual impairment and teaching. As mentioned elsewhere in this website, visual impairment is considered a "low incidence" disability and as such, by definition, there are not many people with visual impairments. One very effective method of connecting with people who may provide mentorship is to participate in activities of consumer organizations. Web addresses for these organizations can be found in the resources section of this website. We also hope that this website will be helpful in connecting people who have the very specific interest of teaching with a visual impairment. Feel free to participate in discussion board and blog activities found in the Resources section of this site.