Michelle, quite an interesting summation, and one that I agree with.  Well said.  Bill

William M. Penrod, Ed.D., TVI, COMS
Associate Professor of Special Education
Northern Illinois University
Department of SEED, CoE
232A Graham Hall
DeKalb, IL 60115

From: OrientationAndMobility [mailto:orientationandmobility-bounces@lists.blindcanadians.ca] On Behalf Of Michelle Antinarelli
Sent: Sunday, November 20, 2016 2:59 PM
To: Dona Sauerburger dona@sauerburger.org
Cc: aernet@lists.aerbvi.org; Orientation and Mobility orientationandmobility@lists.blindcanadians.ca; oandm@lists.aerbvi.org
Subject: [OrientationAndMobility] Dire Shortages of Vision Rehabilitation Professionals

Hello Dona,
I heartily disagree with you that we have resolved the issue of identifying the numbers of people with visual impairment and blindness, as well as the numbers of those who are VI/blind who require services. First of all, at the school district level children who have additional disabilities are frequently not identified as having visual impairments within the evaluation processes or "qualification" for specialized  services. Some students with additional/multi-disabilities are difficult to evaluate, and their VI may be overlooked or neglected due to pressing medical concerns or needs. Other students with additional disabilities whose visual impairments may be identified and addressed at the district level  are "counted" at the state level as having multi-disabilities, which masks their visual disabilities, excluding them from the census of students with VI/blindness at the state level. Some studies indicate that 45-65% of individuals with intellectual/multi-disabilities have visual impairment. Certainly, we do not presently serve 45-65% of children with multi-disabilities, and in many states we serve NONE of the adults with these impairments.  I would also propose that there are many individuals with undiagnosed CVI who also need our services, but we do not have enough providers versed in identification or supports, or for that matter enough evidence-based practice in our professions to address these needs.
At the adult services level, some adults who may qualify for services reject the need for them and/or are not referred for services until late in the progression of their eye condition, well beyond the point of a "legal blindness" level of acuity. This can be attributed to many things--patient request for non-registration, provider reluctance to "give up trying/treating," provider and public misconceptions about what registration and services mean or look like or how this might benefit an individual, and lack of awareness (public and medical) about what O&M and Low vision services are.

In Massachusetts the AIM library has the number of school-aged students who are currently registered with the library to receive materials. Not all students with VI are registered. In fact, of my former caseload only 5/26 were registered with the AIM library. For the Mass. Department of Education, the number of students registered for IEP plans under a visual disability were about a third of the number registered with the AIM library. Mass. Commission for the Blind had another number.

For providers in Massachusetts we could probably give you a fairly accurate count of TVIs, COMS, and VRTs.  This is because we have several active professional groups and activities that allow us to have at least a passing acquaintance with one another. That is not true in every state, and data would be far more "squishy" in those states in which certification in these disciplines is not required/ recommended. These individuals may or may not meet one another--if the need for credits for recertification does not "drive" the provider to take time off and spend money to meet colleagues, then we must ask ourselves what might?  Do providers in every state all know one another? Do you know who sees kids in this or that county?

We need to develop a way of identifying unmet need, as well as our resources, as well as agreeing on how to meet that need. I do know that there is much unmet need in my state. I hear my colleagues hesitation in developing service delivery recommendations for children because they know they cannot provide services to that level. Services for adults are triaged and limited by available funding.

How great that unmet need is--I would not be so arrogant to assert.

I hope this helps to clarify how much work we have ahead of us.

Happy Thanksgiving, colleagues!

Sent from my iPhone
Michelle J. Antinarelli, COMS
Email mjant@charter.netmailto:mjant@charter.net

On Nov 19, 2016, at 12:47 PM, Dona Sauerburger <dona@sauerburger.orgmailto:dona@sauerburger.org> wrote:
Brandon, I LOVE your enthusiasm!

You’ll be pleased to know that there’s no problem figuring out how many people there are with visual impairments and how many O&Ms / TVIs / VRTs are needed to serve them.  That part’s easy, but that’s not the problem.

The problems are:

• convincing others that our services are needed so that consumers can automatically be referred for it,
• establishing funding streams to provide it, and then
• convincing others that we are the only professionals qualified to do it;
• supporting our university programs to train us, and
• yadda yadda yadda – as spelled out in our strategic planhttp://www.pbvimobility.com/plan.html
  A LOT of thought was put into developing that plan by lots of people with diverse backgrounds.  We are convinced that it is a great plan that will strengthen our profession and the services we provide if we achieve the goals and action plans.

So, we have the vision, but not the resources or energy to carry it off.  We’ve approached AER’s O&M Division and others to see if the goals can be achieved through collaboration, and we’re encouraged by the efforts of folks who share our concerns about the profession and the people we serve.  Our home page at http://www.pbvimobility.com/index.html outlines some of the projects that have been initiated by them.

Meanwhile, Eileen put her finger on a huge issue (I’ll copy her message below).  Every profession needs a professional association that has the autonomy to determine what needs to be done, and then the resources to do it without having to get permission from others.  I agree with her completely -- without an autonomous professional association, we can’t function as a profession.

In fact, that very issue – the need for an O&M professional association that can make its own decisions -- is what initially started our project which eventually led to developing the strategic plan.

Our rationale for the need for an autonomous professional association is outlined in our Archives page at http://www.pbvimobility.com/pa.html .  And apparently we aren’t the only ones who believe it -- when we surveyed hundreds of O&M specialists (3/4ths of whom were AER members), 88% agreed that we need a professional association and of those, 92% agreed that it must be autonomous.  Powerful consensus!  This is reported at http://www.pbvimobility.com/survey.html#need (scroll above that section for more information about the survey).

And the cool thing is that we can have an autonomous professional association within AER if we work together to set it up – a win-win situation!  This is explained at http://www.pbvimobility.com/pa.html#are

Thank you Brandon, Eileen, and everyone who has spoken up on this issue – this is a great discussion!

-- Dona

From: Brandon Keith Biggs
Sent: Saturday, November 19, 2016 3:15 AM
To: Orientation and Mobility
Subject: Re: [OrientationAndMobility] Strengthening our profession (was "Dire Shortages of Vision Rehabilitation Professionals")

Hello,
This is fantastic! I'm reading through it, but I would like to know if there is a place with numbers? I would like to know:

1. How many blind students are there in the U.S.? Preferably broken up by state and separated by low vision and nearly or totally blind (2600-totaly blind). But any numbers that give some idea would work. Or maybe the average number of blind and low vision students at a school district...
2. Number of TVIs, O&Ms, and other blindness related teachers or personnel. Preferably broken up by state.
3. Number of TVI, O&M and other teachers who graduate or get certified each year. Also, the percentage increase or decrease over the last 10+ years.
4. The percentage increase or decrease of people who are legally blind. Preferably broken up by children and adults.
   With the above numbers, one will be able to quantify the actual need that exists and set a goal.
   Is there anywhere that even tries to get these numbers?
   Thanks,

Brandon Keith Biggshttp://brandonkeithbiggs.com/

From: eileensiffermann@comcast.netmailto:eileensiffermann@comcast.net
Sent: Friday, November 18, 2016 6:40 PM
To: aernet@lists.aerbvi.orgmailto:aernet@lists.aerbvi.org ; Orientation and Mobility ; 'O&M Listserv'
Subject: Re: [OrientationAndMobility] Strengthening our profession (was "Dire Shortages of Vision Rehabilitation Professionals")

I question if O&M is a profession. Since there is no independent membership organization of O&M specialists governing issues facing O&M specialists it is questionable that we qualify as a profession.

Eileen

Sent from XFINITY Connect Mobile App
Eileen Siffermann, COMS

On Fri, Nov 18, 2016 at 3:31 PM, Dona Sauerburger <dona@sauerburger.orgmailto:dona@sauerburger.org> wrote:
Hi everyone!  This thread about dire shortages in our field is very interesting, and people have made some great suggestions for making potential recruits aware of our profession.

I think the shortage problem and solutions go much deeper than making people aware of the profession – as Brandon said, we need to have something that is really attractive.  We need to have a strong profession that instills confidence in people who are contemplating committing themselves to a career in that profession.

I’m convinced that issues such as personnel shortages cannot be addressed in isolation – they go hand in hand with issues that strengthen our profession, such as funding streams for our work, recognition and respect for who we are and what we do (and consensus among ourselves as to what that is – what is our scope of practice!), having adequate resources to do our job, university programs that are funded and supported, etc.

Where did I get those issues, you ask?  They came from a strategic plan that was developed about 4 years ago.  At that time, a number of us stepped back to take stock of the situation, and figure out how we can strengthen our profession.  We paid a facilitator $7,500, and more than 100 people from all over the country participated in strategic planning in a very innovative, real-time process.

The plan and goals that we developed, as well as the priority action plans, are posted at http://www.pbvimobility.com/plan.html .

And what progress is being made toward those goals, you ask?  The AER O&M Division is developing a strategic plan which may address some of the goals, and I’m very pleased to report that last summer, AER passed a resolution to research and develop a plan to obtain third-party funding for vision rehab professionals, which was one of the goals we thought was important.  AER’s leadership is starting that process – exciting!

-- Dona

From: Brandon Keith Biggs
Sent: Thursday, November 17, 2016 4:23 PM
To: Orientation and Mobility
Subject: Re: [OrientationAndMobility] Dire Shortages of Vision Rehabilitation Professionals in New York - everybody's retiring!!

Hello Coby and Joanne,
As people who came to the VI field after having another job, why did you wish to stop what you were doing before? What aspects of the VI teaching fields seemed interesting? If you were able to talk to your younger self just out of a BA, what would you have said to convince your younger self to consider such an obscure job? Now you have switched, what has been the most rewarding aspect of working in the VI field?
If we are ever to convince people to come into the VI field, we need to have something that is really attractive.
Hearing people who have already transitioned talk about their experiences will help pinpoint the kind of people who would be ready for a new kind of job and how to convince them.
Thanks,

Brandon Keith Biggs

On Thu, Nov 17, 2016 at 11:39 AM, Coby <wctwig@sbcglobal.netmailto:wctwig@sbcglobal.net> wrote:
I agree...make high school students aware of the profession. My wife and I are in our 40's...she was approached 4 years ago by the soon to be retiring TVI, asking if she would be interested in becoming a TVI. Even though we both started teaching in 1998, it never occurred to us that there were TVIs and O&Ms. She is now a TVI and I should have my O&M certification in about 10 months. She loves her job and I'm excited for the next step in my career.

Coby Twilligear

On Nov 17, 2016, at 1:31 PM, Laurent, Joanne (DSB) <joanne.laurent@dsb.wa.govmailto:joanne.laurent@dsb.wa.gov> wrote:
This question Grace asked caught my attention.” I am not sure how we can meet the growing demand for VRT, O&M and TVI professionals. Does anyone have any good ideas?”

Maybe we should be talking to high schools students (even much younger) to make people aware of this career option?

I had never heard of O&M or any profession that involved working with blind people until I was old enough to already have grey hair. Then—while searching for a new career idea—I found out I could actually get paid for teaching people how to shop AT A MALL!  That sounded like fun and I started planning my new career that very day and I’ve never looked back! I kind of stumbled across the blind rehabilitation profession while unsuccessfully trying to investigate how to become a dog guide instructor. After numerous phone calls I eventually got routed to someone at a state agency for the blind who told me about rehab teaching and O&M. I wish I had known about this career when I was young because this is what I was meant to do all along.

Joanne Laurent, Program Specialist/Certified O&M Specialist
If you can’t learn it, I’m not teaching it right!
(360) 696-6239

Dept. of Services for the Blind
2214 East 13th St. Suite 208
Vancouver, WA 98661

From: OrientationAndMobility [mailto:orientationandmobility-bounces@lists.blindcanadians.ca] On Behalf Of Grace Ambrose Zaken
Sent: Thursday, November 17, 2016 10:22 AM
To: 'Orientation and Mobility'; 'O&M Listserv'; aernet@lists.aerbvi.orgmailto:aernet@lists.aerbvi.org
Subject: [OrientationAndMobility] Dire Shortages of Vision Rehabilitation Professionals in New York - everybody's retiring!!

Have you all noticed the age of our VRTs?? Not to mention that most O&Ms leave direct practice for administrative positions as soon as they show some gray-LOL. ☺
This time of year I get oodles of requests from employers in vision rehabilitation and education– Hunter College can’t fill them because all of Hunter’s graduates are immediately absorbed into a giant vacuum of stable employment. ☺

I am not sure how we can meet the growing demand for VRT, O&M and TVI professionals. Does anyone have any good ideas?

I know that Fall Registration Deadline for Hunter College is in March – maybe we could all encourage a friend to consider checking out one of the programs in the field??

Replace yourself – that’s our motto! It is easy at Hunter as our distance learning program allows folks to live at home and attend in real time through video/audio weekly classes.

No matter what– remember your alma mater they want you to replace yourself too!!

Encourage someone to make the call today for a rewarding career as a VRT, O&M or TVI!!

What do you think?
Grace

Grace Ambrose Zaken, Ed.D.
Project Coordinator RT and O&M Programs
Programs in Blindness and Visual Impairments
Department of Special Education 916W
Hunter College of The City University of New York
695 Park Avenue
New York, NY 10065
212-772-4741tel:212-772-4741

Top 5 reasons to choose Hunter Programs in Blindness and Visual Impairments
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iw6UrTzkdYE

Combined Masters in RT and O&M webpage:
http://www.hunter.cuny.edu/school-of-education/programs/graduate/special-education/blind-visually-impaired/rehabilitation

Video on Hunter VRT and O&M Programs:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_lszZBf7jhs&feature=youtu.be

ITI Brochure:
http://www.hunter.cuny.edu/school-of-education/repository/files/ITI_BrochureWEB.pdf

Video on ITI TVI and O&M Programs:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S9fgfEnwMfc&feature=youtu.be

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The operators of this mailing list are not responsible for material posted on this list and the views expressed are solely those of their respective authors. Messages are posted as they were intended by the author!

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The operators of this mailing list are not responsible for material posted on this list and the views expressed are solely those of their respective authors. Messages are posted as they were intended by the author!

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Good morning Team AER!

I have found this conversation very interesting and I am curious what TVI’s
and O&M’s exist in each state.  Is there a central point for that list?

Thank you,

Patrick J. Fischer

CEO

Accessibility dot Net, Inc.

Post Office box 641948

Omaha, NE  68164

Direct: 402-699-4357

Fax: 402-491-3221

www.Accessibility.Net http://www.accessibility.net/

[image: cid:image003.jpg@01D1B1A4.41DC13F0]

From: AERNet [mailto:aernet-bounces@lists.aerbvi.org] *On Behalf Of
*Christine
Roman
Sent: Thursday, December 1, 2016 8:39 AM
To: William Penrod wpenrod@niu.edu
Cc: aernet@lists.aerbvi.org; Orientation and Mobility <
orientationandmobility@lists.blindcanadians.ca>; oandm@lists.aerbvi.org
Subject: Re: [AERNet] [OrientationAndMobility] Dire Shortages of Vision
Rehabilitation Professionals

Thank you Michelle for recognizing the difficult situation of O&M services
for students with CVI.  Data collected from Pediatric View (CVI Clinic in
Pittsburgh PA) shows that less than an 8th of students with CVI ever have
contact with an O&M provider.  Our data are from a sample of around 450
individuals who come from all over the US and from numerous countries
outside the US.  Needless to say, parents are frustrated and students are
not getting their needs met.

Again, thank you for remembering that individuals with CVI are
educationally visually impaired and require support from TVIs, and O&M
specialists.

Christine Roman, PhD
CVI Resources
25 Deer Spring Lane
Allison Park, PA  15101
412-559-4431

croman@cviresources.com

On Nov 30, 2016, at 1:51 PM, William Penrod wpenrod@niu.edu wrote:

Michelle, quite an interesting summation, and one that I agree with.  Well
said.  Bill

William M. Penrod, Ed.D., TVI, COMS

Associate Professor of Special Education

Northern Illinois University

Department of SEED, CoE

232A Graham Hall

DeKalb, IL 60115

From: OrientationAndMobility [
mailto:orientationandmobility-bounces@lists.blindcanadians.ca
orientationandmobility-bounces@lists.blindcanadians.ca] *On Behalf
Of *Michelle
Antinarelli
Sent: Sunday, November 20, 2016 2:59 PM
To: Dona Sauerburger dona@sauerburger.org
Cc: aernet@lists.aerbvi.org; Orientation and Mobility <
orientationandmobility@lists.blindcanadians.ca>; oandm@lists.aerbvi.org
Subject: [OrientationAndMobility] Dire Shortages of Vision Rehabilitation
Professionals

Hello Dona,

I heartily disagree with you that we have resolved the issue of identifying
the numbers of people with visual impairment and blindness, as well as the
numbers of those who are VI/blind who require services. First of all, at
the school district level children who have additional disabilities are
frequently not identified as having visual impairments within the
evaluation processes or "qualification" for specialized  services. Some
students with additional/multi-disabilities are difficult to evaluate, and
their VI may be overlooked or neglected due to pressing medical concerns or
needs. Other students with additional disabilities whose visual impairments
may be identified and addressed at the district level  are "counted" at the
state level as having multi-disabilities, which masks their visual
disabilities, excluding them from the census of students with VI/blindness
at the state level. Some studies indicate that 45-65% of individuals with
intellectual/multi-disabilities have visual impairment. Certainly, we do
not presently serve 45-65% of children with multi-disabilities, and in many
states we serve NONE of the adults with these impairments.  I would also
propose that there are many individuals with undiagnosed CVI who also need
our services, but we do not have enough providers versed in identification
or supports, or for that matter enough evidence-based practice in our
professions to address these needs.

At the adult services level, some adults who may qualify for services
reject the need for them and/or are not referred for services until late in
the progression of their eye condition, well beyond the point of a "legal
blindness" level of acuity. This can be attributed to many things--patient
request for non-registration, provider reluctance to "give up
trying/treating," provider and public misconceptions about what
registration and services mean or look like or how this might benefit an
individual, and lack of awareness (public and medical) about what O&M and
Low vision services are.

In Massachusetts the AIM library has the number of school-aged students who
are currently registered with the library to receive materials. Not all
students with VI are registered. In fact, of my former caseload only 5/26
were registered with the AIM library. For the Mass. Department of
Education, the number of students registered for IEP plans under a visual
disability were about a third of the number registered with the AIM
library. Mass. Commission for the Blind had another number.

For providers in Massachusetts we could probably give you a fairly accurate
count of TVIs, COMS, and VRTs.  This is because we have several active
professional groups and activities that allow us to have at least a passing
acquaintance with one another. That is not true in every state, and data
would be far more "squishy" in those states in which certification in these
disciplines is not required/ recommended. These individuals may or may not
meet one another--if the need for credits for recertification does not
"drive" the provider to take time off and spend money to meet colleagues,
then we must ask ourselves what might?  Do providers in every state all
know one another? Do you know who sees kids in this or that county?

We need to develop a way of identifying unmet need, as well as our
resources, as well as agreeing on how to meet that need. I do know that
there is much unmet need in my state. I hear my colleagues hesitation in
developing service delivery recommendations for children because they know
they cannot provide services to that level. Services for adults are triaged
and limited by available funding.

How great that unmet need is--I would not be so arrogant to assert.

I hope this helps to clarify how much work we have ahead of us.

Happy Thanksgiving, colleagues!

Sent from my iPhone

Michelle J. Antinarelli, COMS

Email mjant@charter.net

On Nov 19, 2016, at 12:47 PM, Dona Sauerburger dona@sauerburger.org wrote:

Brandon, I LOVE your enthusiasm!

You’ll be pleased to know that there’s no problem figuring out how many
people there are with visual impairments and how many O&Ms / TVIs / VRTs
are needed to serve them.  That part’s easy, but that’s not the problem.

The problems are:

• convincing others that our services are needed so that consumers can
  automatically be referred for it,
• establishing funding streams to provide it, and then
• convincing others that we are the only professionals qualified to do
  it;
• supporting our university programs to train us, and
• yadda yadda yadda – as spelled out in our strategic plan
  http://www.pbvimobility.com/plan.html

A LOT of thought was put into developing that plan by lots of people with
diverse backgrounds.  We are convinced that it is a great plan that will
strengthen our profession and the services we provide if we achieve the
goals and action plans.

So, we have the vision, but not the resources or energy to carry it off.
We’ve approached AER’s O&M Division and others to see if the goals can be
achieved through collaboration, and we’re encouraged by the efforts of
folks who share our concerns about the profession and the people we serve.
Our home page athttp://www.pbvimobility.com/index.html outlines some of the
projects that have been initiated by them.

Meanwhile, Eileen put her finger on a huge issue (I’ll copy her message
below).  Every profession needs a professional association that has the
autonomy to determine what needs to be done, and then the resources to do
it without having to get permission from others.  I agree with her
completely -- without an autonomous professional association, we can’t
function as a profession.

In fact, that very issue – the need for an O&M professional association
that can make its own decisions -- is what initially started our project
which eventually led to developing the strategic plan.

Our rationale for the need for an autonomous professional association is
outlined in our Archives page athttp://www.pbvimobility.com/pa.html .  And
apparently we aren’t the only ones who believe it -- when we surveyed
hundreds of O&M specialists (3/4ths of whom were AER members), 88% agreed
that we need a professional association and of those, 92% agreed that it
must be autonomous.  Powerful consensus!  This is reported at
http://www.pbvimobility.com/survey.html#need (scroll above that section for
more information about the survey).

And the cool thing is that we can have an autonomous professional
association within AER if we work together to set it up – a win-win
situation!  This is explained at http://www.pbvimobility.com/pa.html#are

Thank you Brandon, Eileen, and everyone who has spoken up on this issue –
this is a great discussion!

-- Dona

From: Brandon Keith Biggs

Sent: Saturday, November 19, 2016 3:15 AM

To: Orientation and Mobility

Subject: Re: [OrientationAndMobility] Strengthening our profession (was
"Dire Shortages of Vision Rehabilitation Professionals")

Hello,

This is fantastic! I'm reading through it, but I would like to know if
there is a place with numbers? I would like to know:

1. How many blind students are there in the U.S.? Preferably broken up by
   state and separated by low vision and nearly or totally blind (2600-totaly
   blind). But any numbers that give some idea would work. Or maybe the
   average number of blind and low vision students at a school district...

2. Number of TVIs, O&Ms, and other blindness related teachers or personnel.
   Preferably broken up by state.

3. Number of TVI, O&M and other teachers who graduate or get certified each
   year. Also, the percentage increase or decrease over the last 10+ years.

4. The percentage increase or decrease of people who are legally blind.
   Preferably broken up by children and adults.

With the above numbers, one will be able to quantify the actual need that
exists and set a goal.

Is there anywhere that even tries to get these numbers?

Thanks,

Brandon Keith Biggs http://brandonkeithbiggs.com/

From: eileensiffermann@comcast.net

Sent: Friday, November 18, 2016 6:40 PM

To: aernet@lists.aerbvi.org ; Orientation and Mobility ; 'O&M Listserv'

Subject: Re: [OrientationAndMobility] Strengthening our profession (was
"Dire Shortages of Vision Rehabilitation Professionals")

I question if O&M is a profession. Since there is no independent membership
organization of O&M specialists governing issues facing O&M specialists it
is questionable that we qualify as a profession.

Eileen

Sent from XFINITY Connect Mobile App
Eileen Siffermann, COMS

On Fri, Nov 18, 2016 at 3:31 PM, Dona Sauerburger dona@sauerburger.org
wrote:

Hi everyone!  This thread about dire shortages in our field is very
interesting, and people have made some great suggestions for making
potential recruits aware of our profession.

I think the shortage problem and solutions go much deeper than making
people aware of the profession – as Brandon said, we need to have something
that is really attractive.  We need to have a strong profession that
instills confidence in people who are contemplating committing themselves
to a career in that profession.

I’m convinced that issues such as personnel shortages cannot be addressed
in isolation – they go hand in hand with issues that strengthen our
profession, such as funding streams for our work, recognition and respect
for who we are and what we do (and consensus among ourselves as to what
that is – what is our scope of practice!), having adequate resources to do
our job, university programs that are funded and supported, etc.

Where did I get those issues, you ask?  They came from a strategic plan
that was developed about 4 years ago.  At that time, a number of us stepped
back to take stock of the situation, and figure out how we can strengthen
our profession.  We paid a facilitator $7,500, and more than 100 people
from all over the country participated in strategic planning in a very
innovative, real-time process.

The plan and goals that we developed, as well as the priority action plans,
are posted athttp://www.pbvimobility.com/plan.html .

And what progress is being made toward those goals, you ask?  The AER O&M
Division is developing a strategic plan which may address some of the
goals, and I’m very pleased to report that last summer, AER passed a
resolution to research and develop a plan to obtain third-party funding for
vision rehab professionals, which was one of the goals we thought was
important.  AER’s leadership is starting that process – exciting!

-- Dona

From: Brandon Keith Biggs

Sent: Thursday, November 17, 2016 4:23 PM

To: Orientation and Mobility

Subject: Re: [OrientationAndMobility] Dire Shortages of Vision
Rehabilitation Professionals in New York - everybody's retiring!!

Hello Coby and Joanne,

As people who came to the VI field after having another job, why did you
wish to stop what you were doing before? What aspects of the VI teaching
fields seemed interesting? If you were able to talk to your younger self
just out of a BA, what would you have said to convince your younger self to
consider such an obscure job? Now you have switched, what has been the most
rewarding aspect of working in the VI field?

If we are ever to convince people to come into the VI field, we need to
have something that is really attractive.

Hearing people who have already transitioned talk about their experiences
will help pinpoint the kind of people who would be ready for a new kind of
job and how to convince them.

Thanks,

Brandon Keith Biggs

On Thu, Nov 17, 2016 at 11:39 AM, Coby wctwig@sbcglobal.net wrote:

I agree...make high school students aware of the profession. My wife and I
are in our 40's...she was approached 4 years ago by the soon to be retiring
TVI, asking if she would be interested in becoming a TVI. Even though we
both started teaching in 1998, it never occurred to us that there were TVIs
and O&Ms. She is now a TVI and I should have my O&M certification in about
10 months. She loves her job and I'm excited for the next step in my career.

Coby Twilligear

On Nov 17, 2016, at 1:31 PM, Laurent, Joanne (DSB) <
joanne.laurent@dsb.wa.gov> wrote:

This question Grace asked caught my attention.” I am not sure how we can
meet the growing demand for VRT, O&M and TVI professionals. Does anyone
have any good ideas?”

Maybe we should be talking to high schools students (even much younger) to
make people aware of this career option?

I had never heard of O&M or any profession that involved working with blind
people until I was old enough to already have grey hair. Then—while
searching for a new career idea—I found out I could actually get paid for
teaching people how to shop AT A MALL!  That sounded like fun and I started
planning my new career that very day and I’ve never looked back! I kind of
stumbled across the blind rehabilitation profession while unsuccessfully
trying to investigate how to become a dog guide instructor. After numerous
phone calls I eventually got routed to someone at a state agency for the
blind who told me about rehab teaching and O&M. I wish I had known about
this career when I was young because this is what I was meant to do all
along.

Joanne Laurent, Program Specialist/Certified O&M Specialist

If you can’t learn it, I’m not teaching it right!

(360) 696-6239

Dept. of Services for the Blind

2214 East 13th St. Suite 208

Vancouver, WA 98661

From: OrientationAndMobility [
mailto:orientationandmobility-bounces@lists.blindcanadians.ca
orientationandmobility-bounces@lists.blindcanadians.ca] *On Behalf Of *Grace
Ambrose Zaken
Sent: Thursday, November 17, 2016 10:22 AM
To: 'Orientation and Mobility'; 'O&M Listserv'; aernet@lists.aerbvi.org
Subject: [OrientationAndMobility] Dire Shortages of Vision Rehabilitation
Professionals in New York - everybody's retiring!!

Have you all noticed the age of our VRTs?? Not to mention that most O&Ms
leave direct practice for administrative positions as soon as they show
some gray-LOL. J

This time of year I get oodles of requests from employers in vision
rehabilitation and education– Hunter College can’t fill them because all of
Hunter’s graduates are immediately absorbed into a giant vacuum of stable
employment. J

I am not sure how we can meet the growing demand for VRT, O&M and TVI
professionals. Does anyone have any good ideas?

I know that Fall Registration Deadline for Hunter College is in March –
maybe we could all encourage a friend to consider checking out one of the
programs in the field??

Replace yourself – that’s our motto! It is easy at Hunter as our distance
learning program allows folks to live at home and attend in real time
through video/audio weekly classes.

No matter what– remember *your alma mater *they want you to replace
yourself too!!

Encourage someone to make the call today for a rewarding career as a VRT,
O&M or TVI!!

What do you think?

Grace

Grace Ambrose Zaken, Ed.D.

Project Coordinator RT and O&M Programs

Programs in Blindness and Visual Impairments

Department of Special Education 916W

Hunter College of The City University of New York

695 Park Avenue

New York, NY 10065

212-772-4741

Top 5 reasons to choose Hunter Programs in Blindness and Visual Impairments

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iw6UrTzkdYE

Combined Masters in RT and O&M webpage:

http://www.hunter.cuny.edu/school-of-education/programs/graduate/special-education/blind-visually-impaired/rehabilitation

Video on Hunter VRT and O&M Programs:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_lszZBf7jhs&feature=youtu.be

ITI Brochure:

http://www.hunter.cuny.edu/school-of-education/repository/files/ITI_BrochureWEB.pdf

Video on ITI TVI and O&M Programs:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S9fgfEnwMfc&feature=youtu.be

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