Blindness and Low Vision Studies
I Chose Salus
I was working full-time as a teacher of students with visual impairments and as a special education teacher in New Jersey. Up until that point, my experience working with students with visual impairments was limited, as my caseload consisted of one student who was blind and a braille reader.
I knew that I wouldn't just be working with students who were completely blind and braille readers for the duration of my career and realized that my knowledge in low vision rehabilitation was extremely limited, mostly coming from personal experience. I needed to find a program that would allow me to work full-time and attend school at night, as I could not afford to leave my job to pursue graduate school.
The BLVS programs are a combination of online learning and face-to-face classes, which was truly the perfect fit for me. This allowed me to attend classes and work full-time during the school year and attend face-to-face classes during my summers, when my work schedule was not as busy.
The Low Vision Rehabilitation program fully prepared me to obtain my certification as a low vision therapist from the Academy for Certification of Vision Rehabilitation & Education Professionals (ACVREP) by providing me with the knowledge, skills, and hands-on experiences of working with patients during my fieldwork and internship.
2. What interested you about the profession?
The field of blindness and low vision studies has always been of particular interest to me as I have had low vision since birth. Growing up, I did not qualify for state vision services, so my mother and I channeled our creative juices to come up with our own ways to reduce glare and keep the lines on the page from running together. As I got older, I knew that I wanted to work with children with special needs. As I continued through my studies, I discovered that there was an area of special education purely devoted to educating students with visual impairments, providing low vision therapy, orientation and mobility services, vision rehabilitation therapy, and assistive technology. The field of blindness and low vision is small but mighty. The longer I am a part of this field, the more connections I make and the more I feel I am making a difference in this world.
