The Needs of Disabled Persons

Encounters with Disability: Low Vision

Low vision is a specific designation to describe people who have a clinically significant loss of visual acuity but who still have some degree of vision. This vision is not correctable even with strong glasses or contact lenses and requires accommodations such as higher levels of lighting or enlarged print (How are the terms, 2022). Low vision can either take the form of nearsightedness (myopia) or farsightedness (hyperopic), much like less severe forms of vision limitation (How are the terms, 2022). A person’s vision limitations can also be classified according to levels of visual acuity, from partially sighted to legally blind to total blindness.

Partially sighted students or employees can be accommodated with larger print or visual aids. Legally blind individuals have 20/200 vision (or worse) in their better eye, or a limited field of vision less than 20 degrees at its widest point, and may require more accommodations (How are the terms, 2022). But while partially sighted or legally blind individuals may have some form of vision, totally blind individuals do not. Totally blind persons usually rely upon Braille, raised lines drawings, audiobooks, or other media to fully participate in a class or employment situation (How are the terms, 2022).

Description of the Encounter

Carrie (not her real name) is a student with low vision currently in her sophomore year in college. She is classified as having low vision, rather than being legally or fully blind. According to Carrie, she never learned Braille, which makes her somewhat sad. She has expressed anxiety about potentially worsening vision as she ages, and says she might consider trying to learn it in the future. Now, she makes do with audiobooks, large print on her disability-friendly laptop or Kindle, and other accommodations.

Although Carrie requires certain accommodations to function fully in a school environment, she is academically talented and maintains a high GPA. She also works out at the gym regularly. According to the literature, some visually impaired people struggle with exercising safely, which can often limit physical fitness, coordination, and healthy physical development (Lieberman et al., 2021). Carrie said that she had found exercising to be a source of stress release. Although she did not need to have help making her way safely around the gym, despite her limited vision, she said she had joined a campus running group so she could be safe running around the area. She does not feel physically limited by her disability and said she was even more determined to keep in good physical shape to stay healthy.

Unfortunately, however, Carrie said she had experienced some discrimination regarding her disability. This, interestingly enough, came in the classroom, where she said that teachers in the past had said they did not feel as if they had the qualifications or capacity to make reasonable accommodations for some of her needs regarding teaching materials, such as finding her access to large print or audio versions of certain readings. She said that she felt more limited in her major choice; although she had been deciding between studying education and biology. She was concerned that teachers would not observe college requirements for students with disabilities in practice. She would need additional support to flourish in labs or in classes with substantial hands-on or visual components.

Although the federal law the Individuals With Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), “guarantees a free and appropriate education” for secondary school students, “there is no legal requirement for postsecondary institutions to provide a free and appropriate education for students with disabilities” (Smith, 2019, par.2). In general, students like Carrie often struggle to know how to request accommodations. An article for educators by Smith (2019) offers guidelines for students about how to request academic accommodations and how to demonstrate there are both necessary and reasonable for the student to function and flourish in the classroom. However, according to Carrie, unspoken prejudices and assumptions about disabled persons cannot do are not always easily overcome.

Some teachers resent the need to make additional accommodations to their already busy educational day. Even highly educated professors do not necessarily appreciate the differences in degree of disability between, for example Carrie’s low vision and someone who is totally blind. For our interview, for example, I emailed questions in large print to Carrie, something I would not have necessarily thought was possible. Carrie said she often made use of large fonts or text that can be read aloud. The two of us also spoke briefly by phone, to supplement the text interview.

Carrie was studying to become a special education teacher, hoping to put into practice some of what she had learned as a visually impaired student. When asked what she thought were some of the most important lessons she had learned from her own, personal experience, she stated this included not focusing on her limitations but emphasizing her strengths, including her strong memory, determination to succeed, and her ability to work well with others.

Carrie said that she had a strong, close-knit circle of friends, but a handful appeared to feel uncomfortable with her disability. She said that she was concerned how discrimination might limit her potential in her working life, despite the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) demanding reasonable accommodations of her disability. There can be a great deal of leeway for legal interpretation of what is a reasonable accommodation for an employer. Persons with disabilities may find their needs ignored, under the idea that it is too much of a burden to take additional steps to allow people to function at an optimal level. Accommodating disability takes understanding. Also, some parents with students maybe concerned about their children taking instruction from a teacher with a disability.

Personal Reflection

Visual disabilities are one of the most common disabilities. Most people use glasses or contact lenses at some point in their lives. Still, there can be a great deal of prejudice against people with visual disability, on the assumption that they cannot be fully mobile or take part in life. Many people may snap judgements, based upon what they see with their eyes, and cannot imagine a life without vision, or with low vision. People also often make blindness the punchline of jokes rather than really seek to understand it.

One thing which surprised me in reviewing Carrie’s experiences was the extent to which she experienced fairly explicit prejudice, including from authority figures who did not wish to accommodate her disability. The research supports this contention, suggesting that federal laws and guidelines are not always adhered to in the real world. For example, one Oregon State University study found that less than half of K-12 physical education teachers use modified instructions or equipment and other high-quality instructive practices, resulting in less-than-full accommodation for disabled students (Rosback & Logan, 2022). Yet almost the same percentage held graduate degrees in their respective fields and 75% met the technical criteria for being highly qualified teachers (Rosback & Logan, 2022).

Students may be reluctant to speak up, even when their rights are being violated, for fear of seeming needy, wanting to fit in, or not wanting to admit any weaknesses. Instructors need to do more to reach out to students, rather than place the burden on students. Sometimes individuals like Carrie who are highly competent and able might be even more reluctant to demand necessary accommodation, because of the pressure to seem fully normal. But treating every single student the same, regardless of disability status, is ultimately not the best way to accommodate disability. Disability rights means acknowledging difference.

Interview

Tell me a little about yourself.

My name is Carrie. I am currently studying to be a special education teacher. I have been struggling with low vision for all of my life. I had glaucoma as a child. My parents have always been very supportive of my academic goals. I went away to day camp, did sports, all with the aid of glasses and a cane I only sometimes use. I currently still live at home, but I commute to school and spend most of the day on campus, and take part in activities there.

What are your experiences in society?

I have been lucky to be the beneficiary of both Individuals With Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), IDEA and the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). But although discrimination in employment is against the law, and my public schools were legally required to allow me to use audiobooks, to have different large print materials I could read for studying, and allowed me additional time to get to class and take tests because of my disability, it is hard to legislate against people’s feelings of discomfort. I know some of my teachers, especially in mainstream classrooms versus resource room aides, seemed very uncomfortable or felt that my needs were an extra burden on top of their other burdens.