Vision Impairment & Mental Health: A Collaborative Connection

By our guest, Janice Barrocas, LPC, CRC

The transition to college or a career can be overwhelming for students with vision loss, and therapy can offer vital support during this pivotal time. There are so many questions. Unsure when to apply for vocational rehabilitation services? Surprised to find the school district wants loaned accessibility equipment back? Scrambling to secure more orientation and mobility (O&M) training on short notice to travel independently on an unfamiliar campus? Struggling with self-advocacy as parents who previously took the lead in communicating with teachers step back? Therapy helps young adults process these challenges, build confidence, and develop the emotional resilience and practical skills needed for a more successful and empowered transition.

Adjusting to vision loss counseling is essential for individuals and families coping with blindness, low vision, or progressive vision loss. Beyond the physical challenges, vision loss can lead to grief, anxiety, depression, and a loss of independence. Licensed Professional Counselor (LPC) and Certified Rehabilitation Counselor (CRC) Janice Barrocas has dedicated her career to helping people navigate these challenges through her specialized counseling practice, Adjusting to Vision Loss.

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A Great Resource for Transition-Age Youth with Visual Impairments

Transitions are hard for everyone, but can be especially fraught with anxiety for blind and low vision students and their parents. I’m excited to introduce you to a valuable resource that can help. MEET EMPOWER VI!

I’ve had the pleasure of contributing two video segments to their program. And I appreciate that they are committed to sharing a variety of perspectives on important topics.

The video below is me discussing the importance of allowing my blind son Kai to take risks. It’s titled, Kim Owens: The Dignity of Risk. It is part of a free course that parents can access by clicking here. If you take the free course, please also take the survey at the end. The data is important in supporting this work.

The next video is me sharing about our choice to send Kai to a local public school instead of the state’s school for the blind. It’s titled, Kim Owens: Public School Perspective. It is part of a free course that can be accessed by clicking here.

To check out more videos like these, visit the EMPOWER VI YouTube channel!

LEARN MORE ABOUT EMPOWER VI
At EMPOWER VI our goal is to support transition-aged students with visual impairment, especially those in rural communities, by providing the tools, resources, and community they need to succeed after high school.

Whether you’re a student, a family member or a professional, we offer free, virtual resources that help bridge the gap between high school and what comes next, including postsecondary education, employment, and independence.

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Disability Parenting & Divorce: Should I Stay or Should I Go?

Hi, it’s Kim and that’s me up in the hot-air balloon flying over the Sonoran Desert. It was a bucket list adventure marking a major life event: Divorce.

A colorful hot-air balloon soars above a desert cliff covered in saguaro cacti.

One month shy of our 28th wedding anniversary (31 years together), Chris and I amicably parted ways. In 2009 I got sick with a serious autoimmune disease and I thought my life was, literally, over. Thankfully, I found a great rheumatologist who improved my quality of life but fatigue, malaise, and the ongoing cost of treatment took a huge toll on our relationship.

Then in 2012, when our youngest son Kai was ten, a retinal specialist diagnosed him with progressive sight loss. We were overwhelmed, grieving and ignorant of disability models (medical/social). Over time, we realized that the social model of disability felt right to us. We believed that the difficulties encountered were not because of my illness or Kai’s blindness, but because of the lack of accessibility and social support for disabled individuals. If you are new to all this, I highly recommend Emily Ladau’s book, Demystifying Disability.

We quickly found out that advocating for a blind child’s education is a challenge. Blindness is rare and certified teachers of the visually impaired are in short supply (and underpaid). Plus, school administrators don’t want to allocate their budgets to pay for braille or assistive technology for a single student. They’d prefer to use funds for something that multiple students will utilize. So, I used my extremely limited energy to hold our rural school district accountable to providing appropriate accommodations. (I fought like hell.)

My goal: To ensure that Kai had access to materials at the same time as his peers.

To be clear, there were other marital issues but the stress of my own disability and the complexities of disability parenting were major stressors. Thankfully, both my boys (Cash & Kai) are happy, independent adults now and I can focus on my own health, wellness, dreams, and goals.

So as an aspiring author I embraced Nora Ephron’s words, “Everything is copy” and publicly committed to unpacking the research about the 87% divorce rate between parents of disabled kids. I read primary research, personal essays, articles and listened to podcasts and then…

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