Advocacy Project

By Danielle Parker
 Advocacy Topic
• Topic: Raising the awareness and
understanding of Educators (professors)
about visually impaired students and how
those educators can help the students
achieve their best in the classroom.
 Reason for Topic
• Reason for Topic: I chose this topic because
students with visual impairments sometimes
have trouble functioning in a classroom, since
professors do not always understand the
scope of the students visual impairment and
what works best for that student in the
classroom.
 Congressman Contacted
• Senator Phil Berger
• Chose him because he advocates for
education.
 Letter to Them

• Dear Senator Berger,

• My name is Danielle Parker and I am an Undergraduate student at
the University of North Carolina at Pembroke. I am a social work
major, and I am contacting you because I am concerned about the
psychological and physical challenges that students with visual
impairments in North Carolina go through because of the lack of
understanding that some teachers have about the difficulties that
students with visual impairments face, as well as what is needed to
help them do better in the classroom.
 Letter to Them
• In order to help students with visual impairments do their best
in the classroom, the best course of action, would be to
educate teachers in North Carolina about visually impaired
people and what would allow them to achieve their goals in
the school system. Teachers can be educated about students
with visual impairments by going to Seminars that can
increase their knowledge about students with visual
impairments, and some of the misconceptions about them.
Another way that teachers could be educated more about this
issue, is if each teacher had a consultant in the classroom
who is visually impaired, that he or she could go to for help on
how to connect and work better with the student. I would
really appreciate your help with implementing these ideas, so
that students with visual impairments in North Carolina will be
able flourish academically.
• Sincerely, Danielle Parker