Draft:Vision Rehabilitation Therapist

Vision rehabilitation therapy is a profession which focuses on instructing individuals who are blind or visually impaired with alternative and adaptive techniques to enable them to live independent, meaningful, and productive lives. Vision Rehabilitation Therapists (VRTs) can work for state or federal agencies. Non-profit agencies or work as private contractors. The Academy for Certification of Vision Rehabilitation and Education Professionals (ACVREP) offers certification for vision rehabilitation professionals in the United States.

History
Vision Rehabilitation therapy began in the mid-1800s with a grassroots effort by individuals, later called Home Teachers, who taught people who were blind or visually impaired techniques for reading religious material using tactile symbols embossed on paper. One of the first such Home Teachers, Dr. William Moon, developed his own set of tactile symbols, called Moon Type and established The Home Teaching and Visiting Society of London. Dr. Moon and John Rhoads of the American Bible Society established the Pennsylvania Home Teaching Society and Free Library for the Blind, in the United States, in 1882. In 1887 the Perkins School for the Blind sent Anne Sullivan to Alabama to work with 7 year-old Helen Keller as a Home Teacher, and trained their first group of Home Teachers in 1900.

The first national certification was developed by the American Association of Workers for the Blind (AAWB) in 1945. Western Michigan University established the first graduate-level training program for Home Teachers, in 1963. The professional title of Home Teachers was changed, in 1965, to Rehabilitation Teacher, and changed again in 2002 to Vision Rehabilitation Therapist (VRT). During this time, the AAWB changed its name several times, and is now known as the Association of Educators and Rehabilitators of the Blind and Visually Impaired (AERBVI).

Techniques and Training
A vision rehabilitation therapist (VRT) provides specialized instruction and guidance to individuals who are blind or have low vision. A VRT has graduated from a vision rehabilitation program at  the master’s level and works within the scope of practice outlined by ACVREP. Vision rehabilitation therapy includes Instruction in the use of adaptive skills and compensatory strategies to help individuals with vision loss to safely meet their personal goals for employment, education, and independence in the workplace, home, and community. The VRT serves individuals of any age, whether vision loss is present at birth or if acquired later in life. Individuals with any level of visual impairment, whether partial or total, may benefit from vision rehabilitation therapy.

Services provided by a VRT are comprehensive taking into consideration visual abilities, other physical limitations, social supports, and emotional adjustment to vision loss. Instruction with a VRT often uses strategies which include other senses to complete tasks, use of devices that enhance low vision or increase accessibility, and problem-based learning.

Vision rehabilitation therapy may include:


 * Efficient use of remaining vision
 * Safe and independent management of daily
 * living activities, including personal care
 * Reading and writing, including braille
 * Use of computers, smartphones, tablets, etc., including assistive technology like screen magnifiers and screen readers
 * Hobbies and crafts
 * Safe movement within the home
 * Workplace accommodations
 * Recommendations for environmental modifications that increase safety and independence

Certification
Best practice recommends professional vision rehabilitation therapists be nationally certified, by the  Academy for Certification of Vision Rehabilitation and Education Professionals (ACVREP). To obtain certification as a CVRT, professionals must complete a course of study through a university program, complete a 350-hour internship, and pass a certification examination. The Certified Vision Rehabilitation Therapist uses the professional credentials CVRT.

Degree Programs
The following university’s offer degrees in vision rehabilitation therapy:


 * Hunter College
 * Northern Illinois University
 * Salus University
 * University of Massachusetts at Boston
 * University of Montreal
 * Western Michigan University

Employment
Vision Rehabilitation Therapists are hired by state vocational rehabilitation programs, non-profit agencies, veterans’ administration (VA) hospitals, or they may choose to be self-employed, working as private contractors. A VRT may provide their services one-on-one or in a group setting. Many services are provided in the home of the client with vision loss, so that environmental factors can be assessed, and specific strategies practiced in the location where tasks need to be completed. Services might also be provided in the client’s workplace or educational institution, a community center, rehab residential facility, or in the community.