Creating a Comprehensive Blindness and Low Vision Resource List

For rehabilitation professionals who are new to blindness and low vision, awareness of resources related to visual impairments tends to be limited. Rehabilitation professionals include rehabilitation counselors, vision rehabilitation therapists, and orientation and mobility specialists. This lack of knowledge of current resources is also true for some rehabilitation professionals who have been in the field of visual impairment for many years. Insufficient knowledge about resources can affect the quality and extent of services the individuals they serve receive. For example, if a rehabilitation professional is unfamiliar with other practitioners who work with people who are blind or have low vision, they may not educate their clients with visual impairments about the other rehabilitation services that are available to them. Thus, the barriers such professionals could help individuals with visual impairments to overcome remain. This Practice Perspective will explain how developing and utilizing a comprehensive resource list can enhance the provision of rehabilitation services for people who are blind or have low vision.

What is a Comprehensive Blindness and low Vision Resource List?

For over 20 years, a Vision Specialist in Vocational Rehabilitation Graduate Certificate (VSVR) program has helped rehabilitation professionals to increase their knowledge about blindness and low vision. Students learn about medical and psychosocial issues, assistive technology, and resources for people with visual impairments.

Developing a comprehensive resource list is a significant project in this program. Provided with a list of about 150 resources from their instructors to research, document, and organize, some students have described this assignment as tedious. Others stated that, because of the usefulness of this tool, completing the project was a highlight of the program.

What is a comprehensive blindness and low vision resource list? It is an electronic or printed catalog of information that consists of descriptions of local, state, and national resources including entities’ names, addresses, telephone numbers, websites, and names of contacts. It provides an efficient way to share and explore resources with individuals receiving rehabilitation services, colleagues, and other stakeholders.

How to Create and Maintain a Resource List

One develops a resource list by gathering information you or your agency already have available. For example, if someone in your agency has completed the VSVR program, they may be willing to share their resource list with you. You may need to update it to match your formatting preference and check to ensure the websites, telephone numbers, and other information are still accurate.

Another helpful method is to use the group approach to developing a resource list. Each person can select a section to complete and share their completed segment with others in the group. The group approach may reduce the amount of time it would take to complete a resource list independently. Depending on the format chosen, it may be helpful to have a table of contents. To search for resources online to add to your resource list, it usually helps to include the word “blind,” “visual impairment,” or “low vision” to the category for which you are searching. For example, if you are looking for organizations of or for blind people, you could search for “organizations blind.” If you are looking for local low vision resources, it may be helpful to do an online search for “low vision resources near me”; you can also specify your search by adding a city or state name.

Most resources can be organized by the following categories: education, employment, transition, sports and recreation, assistive devices, professional and consumer organizations, and programs. However, they can also be arranged by preference. Although Microsoft Word and Excel are standard software programs that are used to develop resource lists, the layout can be selected based on the individual's taste and knowledge of software. Because telephone numbers, contact persons, and websites often change, performing periodic reviews and updates every 3–6 months is essential to maintaining the resource guide's usefulness and usability. By including the date on which the resource was found, or last updated, users can keep track of what resources need to be reviewed for possible revisions before sharing them. Conversations with rehabilitation professionals revealed that they are less likely to use the resource list if they do not make periodic updates or if it is challenging to navigate.

To store the electronic files, cloud storage services such as Google Drive, OneDrive, and Dropbox are viable options. These programs allow files to be uploaded, edited, and shared from various devices and anywhere with an internet connection. For those who choose to work collaboratively on the resource list, these services can help make collaboration easier. Each person can see changes made by the group in real-time, and as long as each person has an internet connection, they have the most updated version of the document.

Ways to Use a Resource List

The resource list is a tool that rehabilitation professionals can use during various stages of the rehabilitation process. At the time-of-service inquiry or referral, the list can be used to find other programs or services that can meet an individual's needs. During the initial meeting, it can guide the discussion of the many supports available to help clients who are visually impaired to achieve their goals. While developing a plan for services, the list can be used to explore potential vendors, services, and devices.

Some rehabilitation professionals give consumers copies of their resource lists. According to one rehabilitation professional, the individuals she has given the resource list to have chosen to explore and pursue their own rehabilitation options independently, requiring little support once they have found the resources they would like to consider. Regardless of how they choose to utilize the list, this professional reported that her clients have directly benefitted from the resources they found on her list.

Sharing resources with consumers can empower them to be more self-sufficient, explore options independently, and take a more active role in the rehabilitation process; it does not remove responsibility from the rehabilitation professional to provide information and discuss resources. Sharing the resource list with consumers can also support self-determination, autonomy, informed choice, and collaboration between the consumer and the rehabilitation professional.

One rehabilitation professional reported that he has supported and connected with colleagues statewide by responding to their requests for specific resources using information from the resource list. Others have reported sharing resources from their list with professionals outside of the field of rehabilitation so that they can be better able to support people with blindness or low vision. Sharing resources with consumers and the professionals that serve them can help ensure that more consumers will get the services and resources they need. Because she finds the resource list so helpful, one rehabilitation professional reported that it is the most important thing in her office.

Though online listings of blindness and low vision resources exist, no list is exhaustive. Rehabilitation professionals can tailor their resource list to match their specific usage needs, including their local resources and formatting preferences. Some rehabilitation professionals reported using their resource list as an electronic database, while others stated that they prefer to print it out and use the hard copy. Some reported using it like a telephone book to look up contact numbers; as a search engine to navigate by keyword; and, those who include definitions in their descriptions, use it in a similar way as they would a dictionary. Some creative individuals have added images to represent categories and to provide an example of the resource listed.

How Can the Resource List Enhance Services?

Local offices for people with visual impairments can often be the primary source of information regarding resources. Therefore, a consumer's knowledge of services, programs, and organizations can be limited to their service provider's or agency's awareness. Becoming more knowledgeable about resources equips rehabilitation professionals with the ability to offer consumers more resource options and connect them with programs that match their unique interests and needs.

One rehabilitation professional who reported that the resource list helps her perform her job also stated, “I enjoy having useful information at my fingertips.” Others have also noted that the process of developing a resource list taught them about many programs and services, so even if they do not have the resource list on hand, they can sometimes remember enough information to complete an online search. Another rehabilitation professional stated that he turns to his resource notebook when he faces hard questions regarding his consumers.

Every category of the resource list is essential. Resources that fall into the education category include the expanded core curriculum (ECC), a local school for blind students, and “National Agenda.” These and other educational resources can help rehabilitation professionals to become familiar with the programs and services that are available to youths with visual impairments and to better understand their educational context. The employment category can be foundational to learning about national and local resources for employment and critical legislation. Some of these resources include the National Employment Team (NET), Council of State Administrators of Vocational Rehabilitation (CSAVR); National Industries for the Blind (NIB); and the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA). Resources and information under the assistive technology category can bring awareness of the types of devices that are available, where to find them, and how to use them. It may include a local assistive technology instructor, blindness and low vision applications or software, and optical character recognition devices.

The sports and recreation and professional and consumer organizations categories represent the importance of a holistic approach to rehabilitation. Rehabilitation professionals can use resources in the sports and recreation category to build consumers’ awareness of what people with visual impairments can do outside of employment and educational settings. These resources include goalball, Ski for Light, and the U.S. Association of Blind Athletes.

Information under the professional organization’s category can help rehabilitation professionals enhance their skills, knowledge, and career mobility, which will help them become more effective service providers. Listed under this section are the Association for Education and Rehabilitation of the Blind and Visually Impaired (AER), International Society for Low Vision Research and Rehabilitation (ISLRR), and VisionServe Alliance.

Information under the consumer organizations category can be used to educate individuals with visual impairments about the importance of connecting to services, programs, and other individuals who are blind or have low vision. These resources include American Council of the Blind (ACB), Blinded Veterans Association (BVA), and the National Federation of the Blind (NFB).

There are many resources that are available to people with visual impairments and their service providers. A rehabilitation professional's level of knowledge about resources and how to find them can determine the quality and extent of services consumers receive. Developing and utilizing a comprehensive resource list is one tool that can help overcome limited awareness of resources and enhance service provision.