Carlton Anne Cook Walker, MEd ‘11, started out her career as a lawyer intending to practice in the areas of International Taxation. But, then she married a farmer and moved to rural Pennsylvania. Later, she and her husband had a child, Anna Catherine, who suffered serious health issues early on. Although Anna Catherine (now an adult) doesn’t have any genetic issues that would cause blindness, some things were missed on the medical side and Anna Catherine ended up legally blind with significant vision loss.
After Anna Catherine started school, Walker realized the schools weren’t providing what she needed in the area of learning braille. So Walker, who comes from a family of educators, decided to go back to school not only to learn braille herself but other necessary skills to help her daughter.
And now, she has been named Salus University Alumni Association’s 2024 Blindness and Low Vision Studies (BLVS) Alumna of the Year. She and the other alumni of the year winners in the University’s programs were honored with the Annual Recognition Reception on June 2, 2024, at Pinecrest Country Club in Lansdale, Pennsylvania.
The University’s BLVS program offered Walker exactly what she was looking for. “I needed to go to a place where I could do distance education,” she said. “And, I also knew some of the instructors from researching the field and attending professional conferences as a parent. These were really talented leaders so why wouldn’t I go to Salus?”
Those adjunct instructors included Diane Wormsley, MEd, PhD; Melissa Garber, TVI ‘05, PhD and the 2022 BLVS Alumna of the Year; Alison Ballonoff, MEd ‘05, past coordinator of the Professional Preparation program for Teachers of Children with Vision and Multiple Impairments (TVI) at Salus; and Wendy Sapp, PhD.
Today, Walker, who still runs a solo law practice in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, is also the principal at Blindness and Education Advocacy Resources, LLC (BEAR), which provide resources, consultation services, and advocacy services to help all blind/low vision individuals achieve independence and self-fulfillment in education, employment, and life. Over the years, Walker has had the pleasure of working and making professional presentations with Katherine Alstrin, EdD, TVI, COMS, current director of Programs for Teachers of Children with Vision and Multiple Disabilities and assistant professor, Academic Affairs Division of Global, Interprofessional and Specialized Programming at Salus.
Walker is the past president of the National Organization of Parents of Blind Children (NOPBC), the proud parent division of the National Federation of the Blind (NFB) and also serves on the board of Professionals in Blindness Education (PIBE), another division of the NFB. Some of her clients are state Vocational Rehabilitation Agencies and Local Education Agencies (LEAs), (typically a school district), but most of her clients are parents and families.
“I really pride myself on providing resources and ideas to help empower families, most of whom are treated by society as an ‘other,’” said Walker. “We sometimes push ‘other’ people away and keep them from succeeding. That’s not good.”
She enjoys being able to empower regular educators, showing them how little tweaks in their approach can make a big difference for their students.
“Most teachers want to do a great job for their students. But sometimes they feel overwhelmed, under-resourced and under-educated,” said Walker. “Now, they can have a resource that they didn’t know existed and that makes me feel real good when that happens.”
She cites the support of her family, as well as Fabiana Perla, EdD, COMS, CLVR, chair of the BLVS department at Salus, Dr. Alstrin, and Kerry Lueders, MS ‘99, TVI ‘02, LVR ‘07 for making her career path possible.
“When I graduated, I still had a lot to learn, but I felt that I had resources and support that would allow me to provide my students with what they needed. That’s really what it’s all about,” said Walker.
