Resources

Where to Start – Some Basic Resources for Parents, Guardians, Other Family Members of Children with Vision Loss, Teachers and Other Professionals

Here is a list of some helpful resources for any parent, guardian, family member, teacher or other professional who wants to do their best to support a child or youth who is blind, low vision or deafblind. Write to us at opvicfeedback@gmail.com to let us know of any other resources for supporting children with vision loss.

 

Online Advocacy Videos 

Visit David Lepofsky, visiting professor at Osgoode Hall Law School’s YouTube page for tips for parents of students with disabilities  on how to advocate for their child’s needs at school, as well as for an introduction to the duty to accommodate people with disabilities.

Books

Web Resources

  • The Hadley School for the Blind provides information for braille on their website.
  • The W. Ross Macdonald School for the Blind in Brantford, Ontario has day-school and boarding-school programs for blind and deafblind students in Ontario, including short-term programs available to all children in vision loss programs in schools across Ontario. Visit their website.
  • The Ontario Resource Services Department is located on the grounds of the W. Ross Macdonald School for the Blind and provides a range of services to families and school boards in support of students who are blind, deafblind, low-vision, Deaf, hard of hearing or who have a severe learning disability. Where school boards do not have the capacity to do their own vision assessments, they will also do consultative visits to students who are visually impaired who are attending publicly funded elementary/secondary schools in Ontario. For more information, see their website.
  • The National Federation of the Blind provides distance education resources here.
  • The American Council of the Blind provides educational information here.

 

Built Environment and Orientation/Mobility Resources

If your visually impaired child might need one or two artificial eyes, check out Ontario’s network of professionals in this field: https://artificialeyes.net/ocularists/canada/ontario/

For supports available to families of pre-school children who are blind, deafblind or low vision, check out Ontario’s Blind Low Vision program. Visit https://www.ontario.ca/page/blind-low-vision-early-intervention-program

The CNIB Foundation developed the first edition of Clearing Our Path in 1998, to address the need for information on creating accessible environments for people who are blind.

The CNIB also provides resources on how visually impaired and blind people navigate the built environment:

The Hadley School for the Blind provides resources for Navigating Unfamiliar Places and Spaces Series

 

Technology

 

Health and Medical:

If your child has CVI (cortical visual impairment) there are resources available to you, such as CVI Now  and the CVI Fact Sheet sheet-families-professionals.

 

Sports

There are many sports opportunities for children, youth and adults with vision loss. For example, check out:

 

Recreational Activities

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