Overview
This presentation will share information learned from more than 550 working-age adults with visual impairments who use access technology to perform job duties in the workplace, the strategies they use to address challenges in order to be productive employees, and ways AT, rehabilitation, and education professionals can better prepare the workers of tomorrow who are blind or have low vision.
Content Disclosure: This session is focused on information learned from more than 550 working-age adults with visual impairments who use access technology to perform job duties in the workplace. There will be limited or no information provided about similar research projects or case studies.
Learning Objectives
- Describe five key findings from the Workplace Technology study, and specifically identify three areas of need expressed by study participants.
- Identify three digital literacy resources/interventions to better prepare individuals who are blind or have low vision to enter the workforce.
- Describe three strategies used by individuals with visual impairments to combat accessibility issues encountered within the workplace in order to maintain their productivity.
Primary & Secondary Strands
Transition and Workplace Accessibility; Research
Target Audience
- Accessibility Professional
- AT Specialists
- Consumers/Individuals with Disabilities
- Consultants/Trainers
- Disability Services
- Educators
- Government/Non-Profit Agencies
- Instructional Technologist
- Rehab Therapists
- Special Education Educators
- Teachers of the Visually Impaired
- Transition Coordinator
- Visual Impairment Specialists
- Vocational Rehabilitation
Experience Level
Intermediate
Primary Life Cycle Addressed
Adult/Senior
Session Delivery Format
In-person presentation with recording
Course Schedule
This course was given at the ATIA 2022 Conference on Thursday, Jan 27: 2:15 PM - 3:15 PM (EST)
Continuing Education Credits
For Satisfactory Completion and Continuing Education information, please visit: ATIA Learning Center CEUs
This course is offered for the following CE Provider Credits:
ACVREP; AOTA; CRC; IACET
For: 0.10 CEU Units or 1.0 CEU Hours.
End date of current CRC CEUs offering: March 19, 2025
Please refer to the CRC Transition & Workplace Accessibility Series (2024-2025) page for further information on how to submit your CRC CEUs for this course to CRCC.
Speaker/s:
Carlie Rhoads
American Foundation for the Blind, Research specialist
Biography
Dr. Carlie Rhoads joined the American Foundation for the Blind's Public Policy and Research Institute in 2021 as a research specialist, to provide her specialized knowledge and expertise in the cleaning, analyzing, and reporting of data for ongoing AFB research projects.
Prior to AFB, Dr. Rhoads was director of the Oregon Deafblind Project, where she served children with deafblindness and their families for two years. Dr. Rhoads was a scholar with the National Leadership Consortium on Sensory Disabilities (NLCSD) for four years during her PhD program. She has also presented at numerous national conferences including the Council for Exceptional Children (CEC) and the Association for Education and Rehabilitation of the Blind and Visually Impaired (AER). She has given talks on numerous topics including deafblindness, mental health issues for children with disabilities, using constant time delay for dual media learners, and how to use email feedback as a coaching tool.
Dr. Rhoads earned her doctorate from Vanderbilt University in 2019, where she studied special education, visual impairments, and research methodology. She holds certifications as a teacher of students with visual impairments (TVI), special educator grades kindergarten through 12th, and holds highly qualified status in language arts and reading. Dr. Rhoads has also worked as a comprehensive development classroom teacher, where she taught children with severe and sensory disabilities, kindergarten through fourth grade. Her current research interests include evidence-based practices for children with visual impairments, deafblindness, severe and multiple disabilities, communication, and mental health.
Relevant Financial Relationship: Yes
Salary from employment from American Foundation for the Blind
Relevant Non-Financial Relationship: No