Educating

Students with
Visual
Impairments
Stevie Wonder

Helen Keller

Roselle Ambubuyog

Visual Impairment
an impairment in vision that even with
correction, adversely affects educational
performance
Individuals with Disabilities Education Act
(IDEA)

Visual impairment is when a person has
sight loss that cannot be fully corrected
using glasses or contact lenses.
Categories of Visual
Impairment
Partially Sighted: A visual impairment that
adversely affects a student's educational
performance even when corrected to the
extent possible.
Low Vision: If someone's vision is between
20/70-20/160 and cannot be corrected,
the student has moderate to low vision.

Legally Blind: From 20/200-20/400 is
legally blind with severe low vision. From
20/400-20/1000 is profound visual
impairment, and is very close to total
blindness.
Totally Blind: The lack of light perception is
known as total blindness or total visual
impairment.

Characteristics of Visual
Impairments
Limitations in range and variety of
experiences
Limitations in mobility
Limitations in environmental interactions
Can affect
- incidental learning concepts like
table
- social interactions
- career development

Challenges of Visual
Impairment in the Classroom
Fewer opportunities to acquire information
visually ( i.e. maps ,art)
Learning Difficulties
- may read very slowly fall behind
- difficult to meet the demands of general
education classroom
Social difficulties
- cant catch non-verbal cues from others
- inability to judge distance ( i.e. stand too
close when socializing)

How do visually
impaired people
see things?
Normal Vision

Macular Degeneration

Glaucoma

Cataracts

Diabetic Retinotheraphy

Total Blindness

Assistive
Technology
Braille Typewriter/Printer

JAWS (Job Access With
Speech)

Cane

Electronic Magnifier

Talk Back

Courtesy Rules of
Blindness
When you meet me,
dont feel uneasy. It
will help both of us if
you remember these
simple points of
courtesy.
I am an ordinary person, just blind. You
dont need to raise your voice or address me
as if I were a child. Please dont ask my
guide what I want likeCream in the
coffee? Just ask me.
If I am walking with you, please dont grab
my arms; let me take yours. Ill keep a half-
step behind, to anticipate curbs and steps.
I want to know whos in the room with me.
Speak when you enter. Introduce me to the
others. Include children, and tell me if
theres a cat or dog. Guide my hand to a
chair.
The door to a room, cabinet, or to a car left
partially open is a hazard to me.
At dinner, I will not have trouble with
ordinary table skills.
Please dont avoid words like see. I use
them, too. I am always glad to see you.
I dont want pity. But dont talk about the
wonderful compensations of blindness. My
sense of smell, touch or hearing did not
improve when I became blind. I rely on them
more and therefore may get more
information through those senses than you
do thats all.
If Im your house guest, show me the
bathroom, closet, dresser, window the
light switch, too. Id like to know whether
the lights are on.
Ill discuss blindness with you if youre
curious, but its an old story to me. I have as
many other interests as you do.
Dont think of me as just a blind person. Im
just a person who happens to be blind.
You see more blind persons today walking
alone. Not because there are more of us, but
because we have learned to make our own
way.
Children require
guidance and
sympathy far
more than
instruction.
- Anne Sullivan