VI Resources for Educators
What is Visual Impairment (VI)?
The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) officially defines the category as “an impairment in vision that, even with correction, adversely affects a child’s educational performance. The term includes both partial sight and blindness.”
Accessibility options to help with viewing/reading
Expanded Core
“In addition to all the core curricular areas included in the general educational curriculum, students with a visual impairment need to be assessed and receive instruction in very specific skills that have been demonstrated to be potential problem areas for persons with a visual disability.”
– Wisconsin National Agenda
The Nine Specific Skill Areas listed below comprise the Expanded Core Curriculum (ECC):
- Assistive Technology
- Career & Vocational Education/Transition
- Compensatory Skills
- Independent Living Skills & Personal Management
- Orientation and Mobility Skills
- Recreation and Leisure Skills
- Self Determination
- Social Skills
- Sensory Efficiency Skills
VI Links
Local Organizations
- Oregon Commission for the Blind
- Oregon Blind and Visually Impaired Student Fund
- National Federation of the Blind of Oregon
- Oregon Adaptive Sports (OAS)
- Northwest Association for Blind Athletes (NWABA)
National Organizations
- American Foundation for the Blind (AFB)
- AFB Career Connect
- AFB Teen Connect
- AFB Parent Connect
- National Federation of the Blind (NFB)
- National Association of Parents with Visual Impairments (NAPVI)
- American Council for the Blind (ACB)
- National Organization for Albinism and Hypopigmentation (NOAH)
- American Printing House for the Blind (APH)
- Cortical Vision Impairment (CVI) American Printing House
- Strategy to See
- Little Bear Sees – a website by a parent of a child with CVI