CaptionMax has a dedicated Consumer Advisory Board with experts in all kinds of accessibility. As guest bloggers, our board members can share their accessibility stories. Now we introduce Jane Cacich.
My name is Jane Cacich and I am the Lead Teacher for the Vision Program of St. Paul Public Schools in St. Paul, MN. My career path has taken me from a Peace Corps volunteer to a counselor at MN State Services for the Blind to a teacher of students who are blind/visually impaired. I have always thought I work with the best students in the world in a field where teachers are innovative and impassioned about their jobs. Yes, at times it is frustrating especially with the onslaught of paper work and declining budgets. Still, all in all, there is nothing I would rather do and no other population of students with whom I would rather work. This enthusiasm must have been apparent as my daughter; a recent graduate of Loyola in Chicago will be starting a Master’s Program at Northern Illinois and will be a dually certified teacher in Vision and Orientation and Mobility. I am thrilled about her decision since there is a crisis in our field that is looming around the corner – the retirement of the baby boomers and the shortage of teachers being trained for the field of vision. There are some generous federal grants available to encourage college graduates to earn advanced degrees in vision and I am continually trying to get that word out. To that end, if there is anyone out there in the blogosphere who might be interested in these programs feel free to contact me at 651-603-4899!
On to accessibility. Being a vision teacher, it is all about accessibility, accessibility, and accessibility. We work hard to make sure that curriculum, classroom materials and activities that are available to students who are sighted are also available to our students who are blind/visually impaired. We are successful now more than ever but the system isn’t perfect. It has been wonderful (sometimes wonderfully frustrating) to see the advancement of technology and how it has impacted the lives of our students and teachers. I feel fortunate to have witnessed our students advancing from Perkin’s Braillers, slate and stylus, abacus and 4 track tapes to braille notetakers, portable CCTV’s, Jaws and Zoomtext, refreshable braille displays, Victor Streams and smart boards. As indicated above, this can be frustrating, as well. One of our current dilemmas is the mandated district tests now being done on computers. While Jaws and Zoomtext may help with some of this, it does not help in dealing with graphics, charts, pictures, etc. Also, there can be compatibility issues with the district computers or list serves. It is critical for any teacher in our field to stay current with technology because it is ever changing and sooner or later there are solutions. As lead teacher, I try to schedule ongoing professional development training on technology. Next week, we have an all day training workshop on the Mountbatten Brailler, a device that has been especially useful with our younger students learning braille.
I am one of those teachers preparing to retire and as I plan, I hope to include continued work in this field. I have been in the Peace Corps but more recently I have volunteered with an organization called Give Us Wings. I was fortunate enough to travel to Kenya and Uganda in 2005. At that time, I participated in bringing an ophthalmologist for the first time to a small village in Kenya. Glasses were prescribed and medicine was given to children with eye allergies and irritants. Most importantly 57 people were identified as having cataracts. When they were removed they were able to see clearly for the first time in many years. Most of the students I work with have eye conditions that are irreversible so it was especially gratifying for me to be involved in a project that actually restored vision to people nearly totally blind. I hope to do more of this type of work. After all, my daughter can handle things state side!