In honor of Mother’s Day, I wanted to take a moment to acknowledge all the mothers of blind/low vision children out there for all the things they do to help their children have access to the things they need to be successful. Being a mom on its own is hard work a nd one of the most challenging jobs ever—though certainly the best in my book. The additional challenges blindness sometimes can bring though can really make for a full plate. This isn’t to say that dads are chopped liver; we love dads and they have their own special role, but moms definitely appear to take a lion’s share of the load when it comes to things like advocating for their child, making sure educational goals are met, and ensuring their child gets the skills and training they need—at least from my experience. Moms also often carry the emotional burdens of their family. Many have feelings of guilt, sadness, worry, or a loss themselves upon learning their child has some kind of vision loss. Then there is just the strain of always feeling like you’re in battle, fighting discrimination, or barrier after barrier of low expectations placed on your child by society.

I know several moms who learned Braille so they could teach their child or just to be able to communicate through written means with their child, moms who have gone back to school to get a degree in teaching blind students or orientation and mobility because there was no one to teach their child, moms who travel great distances to meet other blind people to learn from them or who regularly attend conferences about issues related to blindness and low vision, moms who move to other parts of the state, or even other states just so their blind child can receive services—the list could go on and on.

If you point this out to a mom of a blind child, she’ll probably just tell you that she isn’t doing anything more than any other parent would do for their child, regardless of their eye sight, but I still think these moms deserve a little pat on the back and recognition for some of the extra things they face.

I’ve had many a conversation with a frustrated mom who is trying to get an IEP enforced, accessible materials for her child, Braille instruction, or just trying to figure out what her child needs. It truly inspires me and my heart goes out to them when I hear their stories of frustration at barriers they encounter so often in meeting their child’s needs. Thank you to all you moms who fight for high expectations and equal opportunities for your children. I want to pay special tribute this Mother’s Day to my mom for all she did and continues to do for me to help me be a successful blind person.

Since I lost my vision just shy of my thirteenth birthday, blindness was a little bit of an adjustment for our family. My mom was a single mom of three children at the time, with me being the oldest. I can’t even imagine how difficult it must have been for her to find out that her daughter was going to be blind, and then also having to deal with all the day-to-day things of caring for my two siblings and also trying to be at the hospital with me for those couple of weeks while I was undergoing different tests and surgeries. To me, she just seemed to put on her game face and say, “Well, what do we need to do to deal with this?”

When I first returned back to school after a two month absence, my mom went to school with me daily for about two weeks until the school figured out what to do to accommodate me and connected me with anitinerent teacher. At the time, this was a little awkward since I was in seventh grade and having your mom come along with you to class wasn’t exactly the “cool” thing a girl wants, but I appreciated having her there as it allowed me to keep up on my school work, and gave me a little moral support as I made the adjustment back to school now as a “visually impaired” student. My mom has earned herself a special place in Heaven for all the long hours and late nights she spent reading homework to me and typing all my papers from the middle part of seventh grade until I finished high school. My dad (I should mention that my mom married my step-dad about a year and a half after I first lost my sight) worked for our church’s property maintenance group and one day brought home a wall-size chalk board from one of the classrooms at a church that was being remodeled. He installed it on our kitchen wall and this became the place where I worked out all my math problems in large print each night for several years as my mom then transcribed them onto paper for my teacher. (See, dads have a special place too.) Usually these homework sessions went well into the night as I’d have to wait until she got done making dinner or helping my siblings with something, so I’d do as much as I could with other methods like audio books, and then she’d help me with the things I couldn’t read. (I should note here that Braille and accessible technology opened up so many doors to me, but those things were unknown to us at the time. In any case, I’ll save talking about those topics for another time.)

Things got a little easier when I got to high school and got to bring a CCTV home with me, but there was still a lot which she helped me complete. I know I was less than pleasant to be around at two in the morning when we’d still be typing a paper and she’d critique my writing, or when I’d fall asleep as she was reading a chapter from a science class, but she put up with all of that. I know she would get frustrated with me sometimes, but I never remember her uttering any words of complaint.

My mom became the squeaky wheel) or the parent that school administrators dread seeing) in my education as she advocated for me to get accessible books on time, have access to classroom materials and accccessible SAT’s, ACT’s, and AP test, and in demanding the school mark the steps on the campus so that I wouldn’t trip down them—something for which I was extremely mortified that she did. Yes, all you grads of Millcreek Jr. and Woods Cross High can thank me for the bright “caution yellow” strips on the stairs. (Keep in mind this was pre-cane days for me and apparently bright yellow paint was far less humiliating than carrying a white cane back then. I’ve since seen the error of my ways and had a change of heart about the cane.)

I know it’s not uncommon for parents to drive their kids to places, but my mom’s chauffeuring days seemed to last a little longer than most. Even when I was home visiting from college, or after graduating from college, it wasn’t uncommon for my mom to give me rides somewhere. I know there were a lot of times before I learned how to travel independently using a cane where I would miss a bus or get off at the wrong stop and I’d call her to come and pick me up. She always did so willingly and would listen to me rant about public transportation—I still call her sometimes now and rant about public transportation and how I wish she could pick me up even though I live 1800 miles from her.

My mom’s paper typing days are over—at least for helping me, but I still call her up sometimes and ask her to look up something online for me when I encounter an inaccessible website or am looking at pictures and need a sighted opinion. This past Halloween, she helped me order a costume for my daughter, and last week she was helping me look at pics of houses for sale. I guess that just goes to show that a mother’s work is never done.

I love my mom dearly and am so grateful for all that she has done and continues to do for me and my family now. She never let my blindness be an issue and never doubted my abilities. She continued to encourage me to do and be whomever I wanted regardless of whatever eyesight I had. She’s pretty special to me. I know there are a lot of other blind children out there today who have moms just like this who sacrifice and do so much to help their children be successful. So, to all yougreat moms of blind children, I say thank you and keep up the good work.

Since this week is National Teacher Appreciation week, and this is a blog for teachers (and parents who are ultimate teachers in my mind), I thought it only fitting to take a moment to share some thoughts on the subject.

First off, thank you to all of you teachers of blind children out there in whatever capacity you may be. Whether it’s an itinerant teacher, classroom teacher, or O and M instructor. There really aren’t enough of you, and those of you who are in the field are definitely overtaxed. Thank you to those of you who go the extra mile, give of your time, and who help empower your students with high expectations for themselves as blind people.

I would like to highlight three of the qualities I believe truly make a great teacher of blind children, and trust me, they’re out there.

1. Passion for the work: It is really easy to get burned out in education, especially since so many teachers are spread thin and taken for granted. I love it when I meet teachers who have such a love for what they do. These are the people who are always coming up with great new ideas, are always trying to improve their skills, and love and respect the children and families with whom they work. It’s invigorating and makes me want to be a better teacher.

2. A willingness to go the extra mile: Sometimes when teaching blind children, there is a lot of other little things that can really make a difference. It’s the things like brailing labels for the school soda and snack machines so your student (even if they are the only blind or low vision child in the place) can use the machines (btw, this also helps educate others about blindness and the value of Braille), taking time to read a technology manual or website to learn how to teach your student how to use a new piece of equipment, even though you’re not the technology specialist for the district; calling up a blind adult for some advice as to how to teach your student to do something in an alternative way, or spending time sitting down with a parent after regular business hours to really talk about the issues of their child’s education. .

3. Being willing to think outside the box: Necessity is the mother of all invention, and I believe teachers of the blind are some of the most creative inventors ever. I really admire teachers who have this quality and can think up fun and creative ways to help engage their students in the classroom and with their peers, or who find creative ways to make something accessible which wasn’t before. I also admire teachers who are open to new ideas and learning new things as things are always changing in the field of educating blind students. What worked thirty years ago may not necessarily be the best approach today. A good teacher is always trying to improve his/her skills and knowledge.

Now, if you’ll indulge me for a few more minutes, I wanted to spotlight two of my favorite teachers.

Natalie Shaheen—Natalie is a good friend of mine and someone who I greatly admire as a teacher. Natalie was a member of my education team at the NFB Jernigan Institute who pretty much popped out of nowhere and was this great find. She is now the Director of Education for the NFBJI. She is a teacher of blind students and also has a drgree in special Ed. She is so creative and great at thinking outside of the box and really putting the student first. I follow her on twitter, and practically everything she tweets about is related to education in some way—a 24/7 teacher. She thinks up the most exciting activities, makes the most awesome accessible bulletin boards (which I’ll have to write a post on someday), loves literacy and always introduces my daughter and me to great new children’s books, and is truly passionate about her work. She is also my go-to with any questions I have about Apple devices or working with blind children who have additional special needs. She’s a real rock star of a teacher.

Roland Allen—Roland is a cane travel instructor at the Louisiana Center for the Blind. I attended the adult program there back in 2002 and had Roland as my cane travel instructor. I also worked with him while training to become an O and M specialist. I truly believe Roland is one of the best in the field, and I greatly admire him. Roland is also blind and demonstrated such skill and confidence in his abilities as a blind person which really inspired me as a student. He is passionate about what he does and pushes his students to be the best they can be. He is such a natural teacher and has a great way of putting you at ease and encouraging you to believe in your abilities to do something, even when you don’t think you can. I will admit that I struggled some in my travel classes at the center. I have some residual vision and it was hard for me to fully believe that a blind person could travel competently without any vision or assistance from others. But, I had a lot of great experiences which taught me otherwise and gave me a newfound confidence in myself and my abilities as a blind person, regardless of how much vision I had. I owe a huge part of this to my classes with Roland and his great example to me.

I hope you will take a moment to acknowledge the great teachers of blind students around you. I am told that there were really cool Braille cell suckers at Target, so maybe wrap one of these up for them with a little note telling him/her how much you appreciate them. I also would love to hear from some of you what qualities you think make a great teacher of blind students, and about anyone you think deserves an extra pat on the back.