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Visual Impairment Survival Guide, a website created specifically to assist students who have visual impairments or related disabilities.
This site is intended to advise visually impaired students through the often difficult, stressful, and confusing process of obtaining help and support from their schools and community. The advice, news, links, and information on this site will be updated and expanded as more research is done.
Most of the information currently provided is from my own experience. I am a senior in high school, and I have lived for eighteen years with several optical disorders, including a recent diagnosis of macular degeneration.
Through the years, as my eyesight progressively declined, I was determined to not allow it to dramatically affect my academics, or opportunities for employment. At first, there were so many difficult times, reading assignments that took forever to complete due to my poor eyesight, homework supplied in fonts I could not decipher, and open book tests that were so complicated to take because the font in the book was too small to see. Homework consumed the entire night, every night, yet I persevered and struggled on.
One of the most important lessons I learned was to speak up. Once I informed the school of my diminishing sight, the school began to make attempts at assisting me. There was not always a perfect solution, there were problems and the adjustments and implementations took time. I learned that I must be a determined self- advocate. I thought a lot about what was available to help me at the school and also researched on the internet for other means of assistance. I knew that as time quickly went by, my grades would decline as rapidly as my eyesight, unless I found ways to help myself. I made many suggestions to each of my individual teachers and advisors, and together we found ways to supply, obtain and share documents and class work in formats that were visually accessible to me. For example, I learned how to send files from my computer via Bluetooth and then taught my teachers how to send files back and forth during class, and taught some of them how to use a portable flash drive to supply documents. I helped them to scan books, and documents to create PDF files for my computer, and researched and located online media, such as novels and research material that were being used in class, that could be converted into computerized text files for easier access. It was a collaborative effort and a learning experience for all of us. The school and I learned more efficient ways to supply learning materials to visually impaired students like myself. There is currently so much help available through the use of technology than ever before, and I will continue to explore and share these ideas and resources. I realize, through learning to self-advocate, that once I graduate, and begin college, I will be prepared to work out the same kinds of arrangements with my future college professors. Most importantly, the best advice I can give to any student is to never give up.
Please explore this website, I hope that it will be a source of inspiration and assistance to other visually impaired students and their parents who are seeking guidance.
Perkins is now introducing Digital Book Players
Perkins is renowned for having built an expansive library of audio books on cassette tapes which enables countless people to access books for both leisure reading and education. But, since the world continues to move towards a digital environment, there has been a much greater demand for digital books. So, Perkins is jumping on the digital bandwagon by testing......
Disney tests new descriptive audio device at EPCOT
Recently, the Walt Disney Company has been allowing some visually impaired guests to test new Hi-Tech descriptive audio narration devices around the EPCOT park. This news was brought to my attention through......
More Accessibility in Mac OS X Leopard
One of the world’s most advanced and easy-to-use operating systems, Mac OS X Leopard, boasts several new facilities that take accessibility for the visually impaired to a new level. Leopard features......
Ken Saunders, a legally blind graphic artist, who manages websites to assist the disabled with technologies to view the internet......
Dr. Amy Bower, a legally blind oceanographer, who teaches ocean science to students with visual impairments and inspires them to pursue their dreams......
Mr. Dennis Polselli, is a 55-year old, totally blind, very accomplished, disability advocate currently working as the coordinator of disability services at Framingham State College in Massachusetts. His work does not stop there......
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