Dear NCDE: What are Best Practices for Supporting Blind and Low Vision Faculty Fellows on Our Professional Exchanges
Date:
I have a request for some guidance on best practices hosting visiting faculty with visual impairments. While I understand that every situation is unique and may be handled differently, I was wondering if you might be able to share with me some general information about standard/expected level of support U.S. universities are obligated to provide for fellows with visual impairment. From your experience what are the steps that typically take place when an international faculty visitor with a visual impairment arrives on campus? Are there any best practices that we should keep in mind?
It’s nice to correspond over email. I am a program specialist with MIUSA’s National Clearinghouse on Disability and Exchange and second vice president of the National Federation of the blind of Oregon. Please allow me to share some of my thoughts in writing, after which I make myself available for a meeting over zoom if you think that would be beneficial.
At a typical American university, the following types of accommodations would be provided depending on the individual’s situation:
In some situations, universities might offer:
Universities would not and are probably not required to provide:
It seems like this arrangement works pretty well for people in the United States, as most of them learn skills of daily living as a prerequisite for going to college and living on their own. It unfortunately does not work quite as well for folks from other countries, where expectations appear to be quite a bit lower across-the-board than they are in the United States. Adults may come to the United States without the ability to do tasks like preparing food for themselves, moving around the community, or handling money, and that is where requests for a family member to travel with them, or a personal assistant may come from. Types of assistance that are typical in other countries include:
It’s best to clearly communicate expectations for prospective and current participants on your program. IREX has some great materials for their Mandela-Washington Fellowship that can give you a good idea of what this might look like. I recommend reading the resources for prospective fellows.
In our preparatory workshop for the roughly 20 to 30 participants with disabilities who participate each year in the Future Leaders Exchange (FLEX) and Youth Exchange and Study (YES) programs, we have seen a mix of skill sets from those who are quite independent and those who have some space to grow. Sometimes universities have steered individuals to nearby training/rehabilitation centers where they can learn some basic independent living skills. Most states have some sort of a training center, and while ILC staff will most likely be accustomed to having the state pay for Americans to attend, they can be open to out-of-pocket options for those who do not access state funding. I personally recommend one of these training centers as they all mix a structured discovery approach to teaching with philosophical explorations around internalized ableism and low expectations.
The typical training program lasts nine months, but they can easily shorten it for someone who may only be able to participate over the summer.
I recommend also taking a look at our guidance for being independent as a blind person in the United States, as well as information for individuals understanding their legal rights and responsibilities while studying in the United States.
All written documentation of the program should be compatible with screen readers, and screen enlargement technologies. Please take a look at our resources on digital accessibility to get started.
The main things to keep in mind across-the-board are:
Digital accessibility in itself is not very technical. The biggest challenge is developing a culture around digital accessibility to ensure that those responsible for document creation are following the above guidelines. Microsoft, WordPress, Drupl and other services offer plentiful documentation for creating screen reader and zoom compatible documents. In fact a sure sign of a quality software provider is the ready availability of instructional materials both for creating screen reader-compatible content and for creating content with a screen reader.
Blind and low vision people do not always come from developing countries with all the assistive technology that could benefit them in their work. Sometimes these tools can be overlooked even if there is funding to buy them, because sighted people perceive them as luxury rather than essential goods. Examples of assistive technologies and their uses:
I hope this information helps. I’m happy to answer any follow-up questions that you might have about these or other topics.
Sincerely,
Justin Harford
Our responses to all inquiries are confidential. While Dear NCDE posts are loosely based on inquiries that we have answered, all personally identifiable information is omitted. To ask your own question use the contact form.
Sign up for our E-News
Manage Your Privacy