Blind & Visual Impairment Resources

• A Shared Vision provides essential early intervention services for children, from birth to age three, who are blind or visually impaired.
• American Association for Pediatric Ophthalmology and Strabismus. The organization’s goals are to advance the quality of children’s eye care, support the training of pediatric ophthalmologists, support research activities in pediatric ophthalmology, and advance the care of adults with strabismus.
• American Council for the Blind
• American Foundation for the Blind has a mission to create a world of no limits for people who are blind or visually impaired. We mobilize leaders, advance understanding, and champion impactful policies and practices using research and data.  AFB has been a leader in expanding possibilities for the nearly 25 million Americans living with vision loss. A national nonprofit with offices in five U.S. cities, we champion access and equality, and stand at the forefront of new technologies and evidence-based advocacy. We address the most pressing needs of people with vision loss and their families, breaking down societal barriers and promoting broad systemic change. Like Helen Keller, AFB’s most famous ambassador, we are committed to creating a more equitable world for people with disabilities.
• American Printing House for the Blind is the world’s largest nonprofit organization creating educational, workplace, and independent living products and services for people who are visually impaired.  APH and the Dollywood Foundation have an exciting partnership that expands Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library (DPIL) program to provide young children who are blind and visually impaired with accessible books in print/braille and audio formats!
• Anchor Center for Blind Children is a nationally recognized, private nonprofit agency. Our early intervention and education services foster the full potential of children who are visually impaired or blind.
• BEST Together Podcast. BEST, Blind Early Services TN, is a nonprofit organization co-founded by two moms of young boys who are blind. BEST provides family support, early intervention and advocacy services for families and providers of children who are blind or low vision. In each episode we will interview parents, providers and those with lived experiences in the blind/low vision community. We want to educate, empower, encourage and equip you with all the tools you need to ensure the BEST start for your child!
• Braille Bug provides valuable information from the American Foundation for the Blind including a reading club and games for parents and teachers.
• Braille Institute offers multi-sensory storybook kits for preschoolers, two to five years old.  Each includes a picture book with uncontracted braille overlays and manipulatives that represent the characters or concepts of the story.
• Braille Tales is a free print-braille early reading book program from APH (American Printing House for the Blind) for young children who are blind or visually impaired and/or for parents who are blind or visually impaired.
• Children’s Eye Foundation. The purpose of this nonprofit is to help children to see well and have good vision for life, and to prevent the number-one cause of vision loss among children, amblyopia (lazy eye).  They are advocates for vision screening in children to detect this silent disease before it steals sight. Yet many parents are confused about vision exams vs. vision screening.  CEF’s Screen Eyes Early (SEE) campaign educates parents and professionals about vision screening standards and tools that make it possible to identify amblyopia early in life when treatment outcomes are best.
• Colorado Department of Education, Visual Impairment: Statewide Activities / Education Careers published this website to provide links to valuable resources for parents and providers.  Check out the bi-monthly “Keeping In Touch” newsletter.
• Colorado Talking Book Library is for people who can’t read standard print, CTBL provides audio, Braille and large print books keeping you connected to reading, stories and adventure.
• Colorado Optometric Association is the professional organization of optometrists in Colorado. Over 600 Colorado Doctors of Optometry are voluntary members of the Association.
• Colorado School for the Deaf and Blind (CSDB) is a Preschool-12th grade residential school with post high school education, located just east of downtown Colorado Springs, Colorado. The school serves more than 700 students and their families on campus and statewide who are deaf, blind, or both. CSDB also provides outreach services to support students, families, and school districts throughout Colorado and coordinates the Colorado Home Intervention Program (CHIP) that serves deaf and hard of hearing students from birth to three years old within their home.
• Colorado Talking Book Library is a special kind of library that has books you can listen to instead of read. It’s especially helpful for people who have trouble reading standard print. The Colorado Talking Book Library provides audio, Braille and large print books.
• CVI Fact Sheet. Paths To Literacy has created a fact sheet on Cortical Visual Impairment designed to provide quick information to families and professionals.

• CVI Scotland is devoted to helping people understand cerebral visual impairments, and together working towards beginning to master this complex spectrum of conditions.
• CVI, What is. Little Bear Sees created this information page to explain what CVI is and what we need to know about children with this diagnosis.
• CVI, What is. Perkins School for the Blind has written this article to explain what CVI is and what we need to know about children with this diagnosis.
• FamilyConnect is an online, multimedia community created to give parents of visually impaired children a place to support each other, share stories and concerns, and link to local resources.
• Federal Covid-19 Resource for People Who are Blind or Have Low Vision Informational Memo of a newly announced initiative by the Biden-Harris Administration to provide at-home COVID-19 rapid antigen tests that are accessible to people who are blind or have low vision.
• Foundation for Blind Children is an organization in Phoenix, AZ that provides education, tools and services that enable all persons with vision loss to achieve greater independence.
• Gift Ideas for Children with Visual Impairment
• Hadley Institute for the Blind and Visually Impaired has a mission to create personalized learning opportunities that empower people to thrive – at home, at work and in their communities. Hadley offers courses free of charge to its blind and visually impaired students and their families, and affordable tuition to blindness professionals. Today, Hadley is the largest provider of distance education for people who are blind or visually impaired around the world, serving more than 10,000 students annually in all 50 states and in 100 countries. Hadley is also the largest educator of braille worldwide
• HOPE Company is proud to distribute quality state-of-the-art materials for children with special needs, their families, and the service providers who work with them. Many of the materials are for use in family-centered early intervention programs including materials for children who are deaf and hard of hearing, visually impaired, deafblind, multidisabled sensory impaired, and for children with any special needs. The materials have also been used enthusiastically and successfully in settings other than the home, including day care, preschool, school, hospital, and clinic settings.
• InfantSEE is a public health program, managed by Optometry Cares – The AOA Foundation, is designed to ensure that eye and vision care becomes an integral part of infant wellness care to improve a child’s quality of life. Under this program, AOA member optometrists provide a no-cost comprehensive eye and vision assessment for infants 6-12 months old regardless of a family’s income or access to insurance coverage.
• Literacy for Children with Combined Vision and Hearing Loss. The goal of this site is to provide information and resources for teaching and working with children who have complex learning challenges. Specifically, the site is designed for individual state deaf-blind projects, teachers, family members and related services providers interested in beginning or enhancing literacy instruction for children who have combined vision and hearing loss.Literacy for Children with Combined Vision and Hearing Loss.
• Little Bear Sees. Parents of a child diagnosed with Cortical Visual Impairment (CVI) created this website in order to pass on what they have learned to as many people as possible. In their experience, it is often the parents or caregivers who fill the gap and become experts in CVI and advocates for their children.
• Mealtime Routines Visual Impairment Intervention The goal of this website is to provide up-to-date information on the creation of a targeted intervention that will guide early childhood practitioner knowledge and skills of appropriate routines and interactions to foster independent eating in infants and toddlers with visual impairment. Here, you will find an explanation of the MRVI Intervention Project studies, meet the project staff, read papers about various MRVI Intervention topics, and access resources to support Early Intervention teams and families facing mealtime challenges.

• Microphthalmia Anophthalmia Parent Support is a division of Wonder Baby which provides parent-to-parent support to others raising children with microphthalmia and/or anophthalmia. By sharing a wide variety of information, MAPS strives to empower parents and reduce the overwhelming feeling of isolation that is all too common when a diagnosis of microphthalmia or anophthalmia is confirmed.

• National Braille Programs promote the literacy of blind children through braille and to provide access to information that empowers blind people to actively engage in work, family, and community affairs.  National Braille Programs distributes attractive braille book bags to families with blind and visually impaired children, ages birth to seven, across the U.S. and Canada. The distribution process is a collaborative effort with educators and early intervention professionals.
• National Federation of the Blind knows that blindness is not the characteristic that defines you or your future. Every day this organization raises the expectations of blind people, because low expectations create obstacles between blind people and their dreams. You can live the life you want; blindness is not what holds you back.
• National Organization of Parents with Blind Children is a proud division of the NFB.  NOPBC is a membership organization of families, friends, and educators of blind and low-vision children who support one another with encouragement and important information.
• National Organization for Albinism & Hypopigmentation serves the albinism community by providing information and support. NOAH’s mission is to act as a conduit for accurate and authoritative information about all aspects of living with albinism and to provide a place where people with albinism and their families in the U.S. and Canada can find acceptance, support and fellowship.
• Patch Pals was launched by Cathy Thompson whose daughter Mackenzie had struggled with patching her eye.  Cathy created a few eye patches to make her daughter’s patching more enjoyable.  With encouragement from local eye doctors, she started selling her patches.  She knew that if eye patching was presented as something fun and exciting then children would tolerate patching time a little easier.  She also provides free downloadable coloring sheets, interactive games, educational worksheets, reward calendars, and many other items to give patchers activities to do while patching.  Becoming a Patch Pals Club member helps the patcher feel special and unique.
• Paths To Literacy is the result of a joint project between Perkins School for the Blind and Texas School for the Blind and Visually Impaired.  By combining their resources and expertise, they hope to assist educators and families in the quest to provide literacy experiences for children who are blind or visually impaired.
• Pediatric Cortical Visual Impairment Society was created to advocate for children with CVI, heighten public awareness, and promote research and other activities that lead to improvement in vision care for children with CVI. They see a future where children with cortical visual impairment (CVI) have visual access to the world around them – a future with complete access to appropriate medical care, education, and intervention. 
• Perkins School for the Blind has been a leader in the field of blindness education since its founding in 1829 and continues to break new ground with innovative programs and services for students of all abilities. The school’s legacy, combined with new technology and today’s best practices, forms the foundation for Perkins eLearning – the most comprehensive, accessible professional development offering available on topics ranging from academic and vocational skills, to compensatory and adaptive skills, and beyond. These websites for families include information on workshops, services, education, and many other resources.
• Seedlings Braille Books for Children is a 501(c)3 nonprofit, tax-exempt organization dedicated to increasing the opportunity for literacy by providing high- quality, free and low- cost braille books for children. 
• Strategy to See has a mission is to provide strategies, suggestions and techniques to parents, caretakers, teachers and other action heroes, who hope to encourage more consistent and efficient use of vision in children with Cerebral/Cortical Visual Impairment.
• Texas School for the Blind and Visually Impaired serves as a special public school in which students, ages six through 21, who are blind, deaf-blind, or visually impaired, including those with additional disabilities, are eligible for consideration for services on the TSBVI campus. It is also a statewide resource to parents of these children and the professionals who serve them, from birth through transition from school.
• Wonder Baby is dedicated to helping parents of young children with visual impairments as well as children with multiple disabilities. Here you’ll find a database of articles written by parents who want to share with others what they’ve learned about playing with and teaching a blind child, as well as links to meaningful resources and ways to connect with other families.