Visual Disabilities

A person with a visual impairment has a disability, that even with correction, can cause the student a challenge in his or her classroom performance and in learning some material in a more traditional manner. People with visual impairments fall into one of two categories, either partially sighted (low vision) or blind. These students may use a white cane or have a service animal to help them navigate the campus.

Students who are blind
The person who is blind has a severe vision challenge and he or she will need to depend on his or her other senses to a greater extent, primarily hearing and touch, to take in information in the classroom or lab. Those who have not been blind since birth will be able to utilize their memories of visual stimuli to help them in their current environment but will still need to rely heavily on other senses to learn classroom material.

Students who are partially sighted (low vision)
People with partial sight have very limited vision even with lenses or surgery. Persons with partial sight do have a very limited ability to see print but may also have other visual challenges such as, color blindness, limited field of vision, or visual perception difficulties