A website for teachers who are blind or visually impaired.

Continuing to Teach After Vision Loss

If you are a teacher and new to vision loss, you probably have many questions about how your vision loss will have an impact on your ability and opportunity to continue teaching. This section of the website will provide you with some basic information and resources that may be helpful. Of course, everyone's situation is different, so we are not proposing a one-size-fits-all approach to determining what will work best.  However, this section of the website is designed to jump-start your thinking about questions and concerns that may need to be addressed.

You will likely need to consider these issues from two perspectives:

Long-term issues and solutions: In order to continue to be an effective teacher, you will likely need to locate and participate in a program that will prepare you for living and working with a visual impairment. You will need to find the techniques and strategies that work best for you. It is likely that you will need rehabilitative support and instruction related to literacy (strategies for reading student work and providing feedback), organization, assistive technology, and orientation and mobility. Learning these strategies will take some time.

Short-term issues and solutions: While you are learning the techniques that will help you continue teaching with a visual impairment, there may be some strategies that will help you here and now. You may need some support in areas of classroom management and safety as well as logistics of teaching with a visual impairment. Do not hesitate asking for this assistance as you are learning the strategies and techniques that will help you in the long term.