Blindness and visual disabilities do not discriminate. Anyone, regardless of race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation or creed, can face a lifetime of limited vision or no sight at all. For some, it begins at birth. For others, it can come with age,
Read morePerfect! COE licensure-candidates post 100% pass rate on edTPA despite waiver
Chris Gomes submitted his edTPA Feb. 23, two months before the Illinois State Board of Education decided this spring to waive that requirement for COVID-19. Passage of the edTPA, which measures a teacher-candidate’s competence in planning, instruction and assessment, is usually necessary
Read moreGraduate student whips up a sweet recipe to teach children about visual disabilities
Elizabeth Hipskind stood in front of a room full of TVIs – teachers of the visually impaired – wearing an apron and prepared with a plastic tub of moist baby-wipes. Hipskind had come to the February conference of the Illinois Association for
Read moreVisual Disabilities alumna Kateri Gullifor discovers joy, national acclaim in teaching
Kateri Gullifor laughs now when she thinks about the big red flag she wisely ignored on the way to her career. “I’ve never been one to be super well-oriented,” says Gullifor, a Teacher of the Visually Impaired and the only Orientation and
Read moreProject VITALL group explores Consumer Electronics Show
Stacy Kelly wants a robot. The associate professor in the NIU College of Education’s Vision Program came to that realization after she and a trio of graduate students in the Project VITALL master’s degree program spent three days at the annual Consumer
Read moreVision Program alum rekindles love of ice skating with Chicago Blackhawks Blind Hockey team
Kevin Allison had spent most of his young life on the ice in pursuit of one dream. “I was always a figure skater. I was always training. I was getting my degree at the same time – my undergraduate degree – but
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