A website for teachers who are blind or visually impaired.

Analyzing Your Skills and Personality

Teachers who find success in their careers possess certain characteristics and traits which help them thrive. Teachers who are blind or visually impaired must also possess skills to manage the visual aspects of this often demanding career. It is important to consider the skills you possess already and the skills you may have to develop in order to succeed as a teacher. During teacher education courses and student teaching you will need to focus on learning to teach, just as your sighted peers do, rather than focusing on mastering basic skills to accommodate your visual impairment. While you will come up with some accommodations on the job, basic skills should be developed before entering the teacher preparation program. Gaining volunteer experience in a classroom or the type of environment in which you would like to teach, networking with other teachers (both sighted and visually impaired), as well as exploring this site, can help you determine which skills you will need.

Literacy skills

Literacy is the ability to read, write, and communicate in a variety of media. Literacy may include reading and writing, speaking and listening, or viewing and presenting. In the past, literacy primarily meant reading and writing traditional text (e.g., books, magazines, letters). Recently, there has been an explosion of "new literacies" that include using electronic means of communication (e.g., computers, cell phones for text messaging, blogs, social networking websites). For someone who is blind or has low vision access to all of these variety of methods of communicating through reading and writing may be affected. It is important that a prospective teacher be able to read and write in a variety of media and in a variety of environments. This may involve using regular print with low vision or technological aids, large print, braille, or audio or speech output. Being able to use several formats is important. A teacher will need to be able to keep personal notes and may need to have access a format which can be used while moving about the classroom or school or while presenting in front of a group. A teacher will also need to communicate with parents and sighted colleagues and find ways of accessing print materials they may wish to use.

Today, more than ever before, there are many options for accessing the written word. Regardless of your level of vision loss, you will likely find braille useful. You may already be a braille reader or you may want to learn braille. Since braille can be written in two formats (contracted braille which uses symbols representing a combination of letters of words, or uncontracted braille which has a one-to-one correspondence with the alphabet), you can use braille for a wide range of purposes in the classroom. Access to enlarged print is also easily available through the use of various pieces of technology including scanners, copy machines and closed circuit televisions (CCTV). In order to analyze your readiness for teaching, pay attention to the following questions. You should be able to answer "yes" to each question. If you are not able to answer "yes" confidently, it would be a good idea for you to get support to make sure your literacy skills are adequate for being a teacher. We have listed some websites that can help you find this support in the "Resources" section of this website.

  • Do you have a system to access (read) printed material handed to you by students, parents, administrators, or colleagues?
  • Do you have a system to access (read) information contained on the computer, including word processing, email and the internet?
  • Do you have a system to produce (write) materials to share with students, parents, administrators, colleagues, and yourself?

    • Interpersonal and social skills

    There has been much attention on the importance of teachers' interpersonal and social skills as they become effective in working with a range of students, parents and administrators. Some people believe that it is difficult to teach these skills, especially to an adult who is learning how to be a teacher. Others believe that it is possible to teach these skills. Regardless of what you believe about this controversial topic, you will probably agree that interpersonal and social skills are critical for effective teaching. Some people who are blind or visually impaired have presented the idea that one of the most difficult issues facing them is not blindness, but rather the attitudes and misperceptions of people in the general public regarding blindness. Having said that, the issue of interpersonal and social skills is probably a combination of personal characteristics and social expectation and understanding.

    People for whom teaching will likely be a good career fit have personal characteristics of effective teaching listed below. Consider how well these characteristics describe you! Good teachers are:

    • Good communicators
    • Organized
    • Fair
    • Good time managers
    • Prepared
    • Self-confident
    • Knowledgeable
    • Committed to life-long learning
    • Able to effectively use humor
    • Passionate about teaching
    • Flexible
    • Patient

    Orientation and mobility skills

    It will be critical that you possess appropriate orientation and mobility skills. That is to say, as a teacher, and leader of a classroom, you will need to be able to move effectively and safely throughout the school. This is important for a variety of reasons. First, it will be important that you are able to get to and from work and to navigate the school building, getting to the office, the library and the cafeteria independently. Second, the students with whom you work may need to rely on you on a daily basis and certainly in an emergency. Parents of your students will want to be confident that you will be able to handle any situation that comes your way.

    If you need support for developing orientation and mobility skills, or for orienting yourself to school environments, that support should be readily available to you through vocational rehabilitation services in your area.