Over the years, I have given over a dozen college tours to visually impaired middle and high school students, and have created a list of places every visually impaired student should visit on college tours. For me, no tour is complete without stopping at these buildings, and I love watching prospective student’s faces light up when they see these places. Here are my tips for places every visually impaired student should visit on college tours. Some of these places may not be covered on traditional college tours, so I recommend either finding them yourselves or reaching out to Disability Services in advance.
Student housing/dorm
Many of the students I give tours to will eventually be living on campus, so I take them to my freshman dorm building and show them where their housing would be in relation to other buildings on campus. Since I can’t go inside buildings that I don’t live in, I typically will describe the layout of my freshman dorm and talk about how I was able to request disability accommodations for housing. Alternatively, I might use the dorms my friends lived in as examples of typical freshman housing if the student is interested in joining something like a learning community or honors college, each of which has hall-style dorms (my freshman dorm was a suite-style, which is not super common).
While I have shown some students what my dorm room looks like, I don’t usually bring students to my dorm for safety reasons and because there isn’t room for a lot of people to stand in my dorm room at once. Plus, my upperclassmen dorm is rather different from my freshman dorm, and I don’t want students to get confused when they visit freshman dorms on other tours. Instead, I might have the students check out a common area, go to the laundry room (since many ask me about laundry), or have them sit on a couch in the lobby if they’ve been walking a lot.
Related links
- How To Choose A Dorm And Pick College Housing
- Dorms and Campus Housing: College O&M
- What If I Get A Housing Violation?
- How To Create A Custom Dorm Skill With Amazon Alexa
- How I Decorate My Dorm Room With Low Vision
- Tips For Doing Laundry In College With Low Vision
Department building/main class building
One of the first questions I ask on the tour is what the student is planning to major in, and I take them to the main class building or department building for that major. If the student tells me in advance what they are interested in, I will encourage them to set up an appointment with their future advisor, as this can be a great opportunity to ask specific academic questions— some departments even let students sit in on a class. If this isn’t possible, I bring them to the building and show them what the classrooms look like and my tips for finding classrooms with visual impairment.
Related links
- High School Hallways and Low Vision
- Ten Questions To Ask When Changing Your Major
- Ten Questions to Ask When Choosing a College
- Finding College Classrooms: College O&M
- Smartphone Apps For Orientation and Mobility
- My Favorite Tips For College Sibling Weekend
Disability Services office
I strongly suggest that high school students make an appointment with Disability Services before coming to campus so that they can talk about creating a Disability Services file. One of the main points I emphasize is that IEPs expire the moment a student graduates high school, so it’s important to create a file so that students can continue to receive accommodations in college. If the student is unable to make an appointment, I still will take them to Disability Services so they can ask general questions or pick up an accessible copy of the campus map.
Related links
- How To Create A Disability Services File
- Why You Should Get A Disability Services File
- Eight Things You Need To Know About Your Disability Accommodations
- Common Classroom Accommodations For Low Vision
- What To Bring To The Disability Services Testing Center
Student health center/Campus urgent care
While we don’t go inside, I like to show prospective students where the student health center is, since it’s right across from Disability Services. Since many of the students I give tours to also have chronic illnesses, it’s helpful to know where to get medical attention, vaccines, or things like allergy shots on campus if needed. In addition to sharing information about student health services, I will also give the name of the local medical system as well as the nearest hospitals, pharmacies, and urgent cares if the student is not local to the area.
Related links
- How To Store Emergency Medical Information For Android and iOS
- Managing Chronic Migraines in College
- Disability and Classroom Accommodations For Chiari Malformation
- Disability and Classroom Accommodations For POTS
Campus assistive technology labs
My college has an awesome assistive technology department, and I always stop at the assistive technology office on my tours. Many of the students are familiar with using assistive technology, so I show them how they can get access to different devices and software in the campus assistive technology labs, as well as get accessible textbooks and class materials. One of the assistive technology specialists will also come talk to the student and answer any questions they may have about using a screen reader or accessing campus technology resources (shoutout to K for always talking to the prospective students I bring to their office, typically with zero advance notice!), or I will ask questions the student had asked me before.
Related links
- What To Know About College Assistive Technology Specialists
- Awesome On-Campus College Library Resources
- Five Myths About Assistive Technology
- Ten Tech Skills Every College Student Needs
- How To Request Accessible Textbooks In College
Dining hall
Fun fact- I spent so much time in the dining hall my freshman year hanging with my friends that my phone’s GPS automatically marked the dining hall as being my home address. I’ve also met about half of my fellow blind and low vision friends at the dining hall, so I consider it a must-stop place for students who will be living on campus. This also gives them the opportunity to practice asking for help or using assistive technology to identify food, which is highly useful. I tend to take students to whatever dining hall we are closest to at lunchtime, and show them how to check the menu in advance with the campus dining app. Most students already have a dining hall waiver or coupon from admissions, so I swipe in and eat lunch either with them or in a separate area.
Related links
- Navigating The Dining Hall: College O&M
- Campus Addresses Every Student Should Know: College O&M
- Using Disability Transportation Services In College
Library
It may seem strange to take someone who has trouble reading standard print to the library, but I like to show students where the main library on campus is, since a lot of people use it as a landmark when giving directions. Librarians are also happy to talk to students visiting campus and give them information about interesting events and resources for various topics. I use the stop at the library to tell students about digital accessible library resources and other online resources available to students, and also talk about the time I got so lost in the library that librarians called campus security to come find me. I share the second story to reassure students that I did not walk onto this campus knowing where everything is, and it’s also a great way to talk about how to call campus security or security escorts when needed.
Related links
- Awesome On-Campus College Library Resources
- Online College Library Resources For Digital Access
- My Favorite Digital Library Resources For Low Vision
Central campus area
Regardless of if the student uses a blindness cane or not, I recommend walking around the central campus area where students walk to and from class to see what the path is like and see how they will be getting to class. While it is helpful to see how busy campus is during peak rush times, I recommend waiting until after class changes to walk around, since that’s when I typically walk to my classes anyway.
Related links
- Building Identification: College O&M
- Ten Things To Know About Going To College With A Blindness Cane
- Navigating Campus Construction: College O&M
- Using GPS Apps On College Campuses: College O&M
- Satellite Campuses: College O&M
More places for visually impaired students to visit on college tours
- Mail room or package pick-up area to show what to expect when getting mail on campus- learn more in College Mailrooms and Low Vision
- If the student is visiting while a sporting event is taking place, see if they can get free/discounted tickets through admissions or student involvement. I took a student and their teacher to watch a basketball game and the pep band, learn more in How I Play In GMU Green Machine/Pep Band With Low Vision
- I try to end the tour with a picture at a campus landmark or another fun way to remember the visit. My favorite pictures are ones that students come back to recreate years later as freshmen!
- My brother isn’t visually impaired, but we did go to the same college (and I like to think my fantastic tour had something to do with it). Learn more about this in Tips For Siblings Going To The Same College
Published October 16, 2019. Updated December 2024