When I first started high school, one of the first things I noticed was how spread out all of my classes were. In middle school, my classes were all within one specific hallway, and I could get from one class to another in two minutes…

As a student with low vision, I didn’t realize how many visual details I would miss out on when watching videos for school until I watched a video with audio description for the first time in college. After learning how helpful audio description can be,…

Whenever I speak about my experiences with working with a teacher of the visually impaired (TVI) while attending public school, people are often surprised by how many lessons my TVI taught me in high school, even though I did not see them very often. Even…

Whenever I speak about my experiences with working with a teacher of the visually impaired (TVI) while attending public school, people are often surprised by how many lessons my TVI taught me in high school, even though I did not see them very often. They…

During my senior year of high school, I went from having a few virtual classes each year to a truly hybrid online class schedule, where 50% or more of my classes were online. This continued throughout undergrad in college, before I transitioned to having all…

How to use common household objects and craft supplies to create tactile (3D) images, great for math and science classes.

As a student with low vision and an unpredictable chronic illness, I spend a lot of time learning asynchronously outside of the classroom. Even when I do attend classes in-person, I often search for study resources online to explore topics in-depth or get explanations about…

Phrases that describe what it’s like living with Chiari Malformation

When I was in middle school, I noticed that it was easier to read text early in the morning compared to later in the day when my eyesight would be worse, not realizing this was due to fluctuating eyesight. As I got older and my…

How to explain your disability accommodations and ensure they are followed in extracurricular settings

Even though I have trouble seeing information in all of my classes (and outside of my classes for that matter), my disability accommodations for math look different than the accommodations for my other classes. One of the main reasons is because math is a more…

Common stereotypes or misconceptions about students with IEPs, demystified