Visual Impairment Simulation

Today I completed the visual impairment simulation. I wasn't too nervous but I knew it was going to be hard, and it was! Within the first 30 minutes I had a headache. However as hard as this experience was, it was also extremely humbling. I, myself, have pretty bad eyesight and I have to wear contacts. Even with contacts and glasses, at times it is hard for me to see things far away. My eyesight has been progressively getting worse since I was in elementary school and I first got glasses. However, after doing this simulation, I am so grateful that I don't have any of those visual impairments. I felt for those who have a hard time seeing, and it made me even more excited to be able to one day help students in my classroom, to make their education experience a little easier.

The first mask that I wore was the peripheral vision one, with the middle of the eye slots blocked. I did this first one while I was mostly in SPED class. So it wasn't too bad. This one was the easiest because my eyes weren't going cross-eyed or anything. I just had to move my eyes to see out of the corners. It was funny walking out of the building though heading to the library. People gave me such funny looks. Mostly because I was wearing this huge weird looking black mask on my face. But I am sure that students with visual impairments get funny looks from others because they are not able to walk normally, or look at things normally. This one was probably the easiest, but it was so frustrating to not be able to just look straight.

The second mask that I wore was the mask with little hole openings. This one gave me such a huge headache and was extremely frustrating. I had to complete an assignment before my class at 10:15. I was reading a talk on my phone with that mask on, and it was hard. I couldn't hardly see anything. I then had to have my roommate lead me to our class or else I would have run into everything and everyone. I had to squint a lot and close one eye at a time because it hurt to look out of the mask with both eyes open.

The third mask I wore was the mask with one eye open and one eye closed. This one wasn't too difficult. However, if I wanted to look to the right, I had to turn my entire head to be able to see out of my open left eye. I found that when I removed that mask and put the last one on, my right eye still had a hard time adjusting and I noticed I was only looking out of my left eye when I could have been looking out of both. The last mask was difficult and also gave me such a huge headache. Occasionally I had to close both my eyes or remove the mask just so that my eyes could adjust really quick before putting it back over my eyes. It was painful. My eyes were going cross eyed. It was hard to see where I was walking or what I was doing. I didn't enjoy this one at all.

Overall, it was such a difficult experience. However, I am grateful for the opportunity to have had that time to see what it is like for people who are actually visually impaired. It made me appreciate my sight and that I am not visually impaired. If they can go through that their entire lives, I can o through it for 4 hours. I look forward to working with students with visual impairments to be able to help accommodate them.

INCLUDE

All this week, the main point has been including students. All students have the right to be included. What does include really mean?

Identify classroom demands

Note student learning strengths and needs

Check for potential areas of student access

Look for potential problem areas

Use information to brainstorm ways to differentiate instruction

Differentiate instruction

Evaluate student progress

Why do we include students? We include students because we are all God's children and all children should feel loved and accepted. When children feel loved and accepted they are most likely to achieve and be successful in school and socially as well. I know in my own life growing up, when I did not feel that love and acceptance from parents or teachers, I didn't want to continue my homework or whatever I was doing. I would become angry or shameful and didn't have the desire to succeed. But when students know they are accepted for doing their best, they will keep trying.