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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Use Your Voice: Advocacy Strategies for Children’s Vision

Did you miss the Eye Health and Vision Resources for Parents and Caregivers Webinar?
Guess what? You can watch my presentation by clicking here.

Eye Health and Vision Resources for Parents and Caregivers

ID: 2 adults with 2 young children on their backs.

Hi, It’s Kim and I’m thrilled to announce that I’ll be presenting at the upcoming Use Your Voice: Advocacy Strategies for Children’s Vision FREE webinar!

Join Prevent Blindness and the National Center for Children’s Vision and Eye Health on Wednesday, June 4, 2025, from 2:00 p.m. until 3:15 p.m. ET for a 75-minute webinar Use Your Voice: Advocacy Strategies for Children’s Vision. In this webinar, participants will gain a deeper understanding of the advocacy process; the value and impact that individual and community voices have on the advocacy process; and how to effectively advocate for public policies that govern health care, eye care, and school systems to ensure responsiveness to children’s vision health needs.

This webinar will explore the following topics:

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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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My 10-Year-Old Son Was Blind and No One Knew!

Hi, it’s Kim and I want to tell you about an important piece of legislation called the Early Detection of Vision Impairment (EDVI) Act. Did you know that public school children receive federally funded hearing screenings? The EDVI Act would provide vision screenings, too!

Why is this important? Well…

My 10-Year-Old Son Was Blind and No One Knew!

In first grade, I noticed that my son kept pushing on his eyes and pulling at the lateral corners. Eventually, the area around his eyes became bruised. The doctor said it was allergies and prescribed over-the-counter medicine, but it got worse. Click here to read my full essay about the EDVI Act.

Want to know more? You’re in luck! I recently had the opportunity to chat with Julie Grutzmacher, Director of Patient Advocacy and Population Health Initiatives at Prevent Blindness. In our discussion, we talked more about EDVI and I shared a list of questions I wished I had asked Kai’s first eye doctor. Check out Episode 2 of the Focus on Eye Health podcast hosted by advocate Christopher Hord. Click here to listen.

Would you like to support the EDVI legislation? Click here to learn how you can help because your voice matters! And if you’d like to start using your experience and voice for change, please check out the the ASPECT Patient Engagement Program. I learned how to confidently and succinctly share my family’s story to a wide-range of audiences. I had years of experience mentoring other families, and the IEP process gave me plenty (read: more than enough!) opportunities to advocate for my son’s accommodations, but ASPECT gave me the tools to push for change on a state and national level. I highly recommend this program to anyone who wants to tap into a powerful community of change-makers and flex their advocacy muscles.

Do you want to become a stronger blindness advocate? If so, click here to learn more and apply. Be sure to tell them Kim Owens sent you!

The Benefits of Staying Active in The Face of Adversity as Told By 16 Disabled Athletes

In the month leading up to the kick-off of the 2024 Paralympics in Paris, Navigating Blindness featured sixteen blind and low-vision athletes. These athletes shared their adventures and their thoughts about why it’s so important to give disabled children the opportunity to participate in a wide range of activities. Below you will meet the participants and read about how staying active helped them overcome adversity.

Kai Owens (Instagram)

Our very own Kai Owens who lost his sight at the age of ten to ABCA4 retinopathy and autoimmune retinopathy shared a short video of himself skimboarding at our local beach. For him, watersports relieves anxiety and helps him feel included with a great group of ‘beach’ friends he grew up with. (You can watch him skim by clicking here.)

Kai also shared three videos of himself from a brothers’ trip to the Oregon Coast. In one video, he is seen crossing a stream on a large fallen log by navigating with his white cane. (Click here to watch.) In another video, he’s carefully navigating across a beach filled with boulders. (Click here to watch.) In the last video, Cash and Kai are at the summit of God’s Thumb formation. When we asked if it was scary Kai said, “Yes, but the fresh air, elevation changes, sounds of the wind and waves, and being with Cash was great! I crushed it!” (Click here to watch.)

Early on our family discovered that brothers’ trips were a great way for the boys to bond while doing activities they love. Their first brothers’ trip was to Erik Weihenmayer’s NYC Summit! Speaking of Erik, we featured him, too!

Erik Weihenmayer (Instagram)

Erik Weihenmayer’s blindness was caused by juvenile retinoschisis, which affected his vision from birth and eventually caused him to go completely blind by his early teens.

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What Is the Hardest Challenge You’ve Faced as The Parent of a Blind or Low Vision Child? (Plus, Resources To Help)

Hi! If you feel alone raising a child who is blind or has low vision, I hope this collaboration with our friend Chris Webb of Our Blind World will help!

Last week on Instagram we asked the following question: What is the hardest challenge you’ve faced as the parent of a blind or visually impaired child?

The responses were plentiful + eerily similar + fell into three categories: Acceptance, Community & Accessible Education.

Below are the responses from our followers* + some resources that may help.

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See Us: Overcoming Obstacles to Employment

Hi everyone, I’m excited to introduce you to a new project by author Jon Marin. His new book, “See Us” is being released soon and it addresses a crucial factor in the lives of young people who are blind and visually impaired – finding meaningful work. Currently, in the US, 70% of blind and visually impaired people do not work. This is due to a variety of factors including prejudice, ableism, education, training and more, and Jon addresses several huge obstacles in his work as the Program Director of The Career Discovery Project. We can learn a lot from him and his clients in his new book “See Us.”

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It Takes a Village: Even in a Pandemic.

As the pandemic throws curve ball after curve ball and families and schools struggle to adapt we, at Navigating Blindness, are excited to launch our new series entitled “It Takes a Village.” Today we will hear from Sarah Immerfall as she explains what her son’s village looks like in the midst of a pandemic.

We’d love to hear from you too. If you’d like to share your story, please reach out for specifications using our contact form. Thank you!

Guest Post by Sarah Immerfall

Hi! My name is Sarah and my son, Siah, was born completely blind. He has a condition called Oculoauriculovertebral Syndrome that caused microphthalmia and he wears bilateral scleral shells. He just turned 4 and is finally past a lot of medical treatment for issues unrelated to his vision, and we are so excited to focus solely on his progress! Continue reading “It Takes a Village: Even in a Pandemic.” →

Feel the Facts by Kai Owens (17)

To wrap up our month of braille literacy guest blogs, I’ve asked Kai to share his thoughts about braille literacy. Kai has helped several families, with children who are losing their sight, to understand how braille is helpful & relevant in 2020. Kai is now a college-bound senior in a mainstream, public high school and he is at the top of his class. Here’s what he wants you to know about braille.

Feel the Facts by Kai Owens

30% of all blind people are employed, which means 70% are not. 90% of the employed are braille readers. This means that if you do not read braille then there is only a 3% chance that you will be employed in your lifetime. THREE PERCENT!

So, for every 100 blind people who do not read braille there will be only 3 who are employed.

Continue reading “Feel the Facts by Kai Owens (17)” →

Thriving Blind & Navigating Blindness: Acceptance & So Much More

From perceptions to prom to college — and everything in between — Kristin & Kim cover multiple topics about raising kids who are blind. Click here or on the image below to listen in on the chat/rant that follows no outline or schedule!

Please give us a like, share, follow or comment. Related links are included at the end of the post.

ps. This is my first video experience so please be kind. Yes, I know I blinked A LOT! lol. — Kim