There are a number of national programs whose aim, either directly or tangentially, is to improve the quality and availability of education for visually impaired students (VIS). To enumerate just a few:
- The National Agenda
- The American Council for the Blind
- The American Foundation for the Blind
- The National Association of State Directors of Special Education
- Council of Schools for the Blind
- Association of Instructional Resource Centers for the Visually Impaired
- Association for the Education and Rehabilitation of the Blind
- State Consultants for Services to Visually Impaired Students
- The Council for Exceptional Children
While this is a disparate group of organizations, that all agree on the need to:
- support appropriate VIS programs and assist administrators
- develop methods to properly assess VIS
- set high educational and career goals for VIS
- train support personnel who understand the unique needs of VIS
The work of these national bodies is laudable, but unfortunately it can be difficult to apply national studies to local practice. There are challenges that educators and administrators face when adapting national models to local programs. One challenge has been to de-isolate state schools for the blind that heretofore only helped those students that local schools were unable to help. This concept has evolved to that of a partnership between schools for the blind and local school districts so that the latter could provide a range of services to VIS. Concrete examples of this partnership include:
- off-campus and outreach programs
- individualized academic and practical curricula
- career education
- programs to build the self-esteem of VIS
- extra-curricula activities
- special summer programs with shorter classes
- residential options with special facilities
- developing more academic options for Braille-reading students and for students without that skill
Funding is often the greatest obstacle to achieving national goals on a local level. Many school districts are strapped for cash, and have to carefully spend whatever they have on a host of competing priorities. Even with federal and state assistance, there just simply may not be sufficient resources to provide the quality education due to VIS and all disabled students.
Clearly, there are well-identified spending targets to improve the educational experience of VIS. They include:
- providing for magnifying appliances to help VIS who have some vision
- Braille teaching
- Braille materials and supplies
- voice synthesis computer programs
- specially trained VIS support staff
- assessment protocols congruent with community standards
In these times of economic retrenchment, we must ensure that those least able to fend for themselves are not dropped from the social and educational safety net. Organizations dedicated to improving the lives of VIS must stand firm in the face of mounting budget deficits and cost cuts. The lives of VIS children are too important to be compromised by short-sighted frugality.