access technology | See Assistive technology
|
accessible format | See Alternate media
|
activities of daily living (ADL) | The routine activities, such as eating and grooming, that an
individual must be able to perform in order to live independently. Also known as daily living skills.
|
adapted materials or devices | Products that have been modified in some manner to assist
people who are blind or visually impaired in their use, such as large-print textbooks or talking
calculators.
|
adaptive technique | A technique or method that helps a visually impaired individual perform
various activities, like writing or counting money.
|
adaptive technology | See Assistive technology
|
ADL | See Activities of daily living
|
alternate media (also alternative media) | Formats other than regular print for the presentation of information that can
be used by people who are blind or visually impaired, such as braille, large print, or audio
recording.
|
Area Agency on Aging | A regional agency established by the Older Americans Act of 1965 to
coordinate services to older individuals in a particular area.
|
assisted living facilities | Independent living arrangements that provide certain services on the
premises so that older people or individuals with disabilities are able to live on their own.
|
assistive technology | Computer hardware and software and other equipment and methods used
to make the environment and printed information accessible to people with visual impairments.
|
audiobook | A book read aloud and recorded on cassette or other format. See also Talking
Book
|
audiodescription | Description and explanation of visual events in a performance--such as a
film, television program, or play--to present them to individuals who are blind or visually
impaired. See also Videodescription
|
audiology | The profession dealing with hearing impairment.
|
blindness | A severe visual impairment in which an individual has no vision at all or can only
perceive light; lack of functional vision.
|
braille | A tactile system for reading and writing, based on a cell-like structure made up of six
raised dots used in various arrangements to represent printed letters.
|
braille access system | Computer hardware or software that uses braille for input and/or output.
|
case management | A process aimed at coordinating services for an individual and overseeing
his or her progress in those services.
|
CCTV | See Closed-circuit television
|
center-based services | Services provided at an agency, rather than in an individual's home or
community.
|
Child Find | A process mandated by federal legislation (see Individuals with Disabilities
Education Act) to identify children with disabilities or at risk of developmental delays and
provide them with early assistance and services.
|
closed-circuit television (CCTV) | A device, used primarily as a reading aid for visually
impaired persons, that electronically magnifies printed materials and projects the enlarged image
on a video monitor. Also known as video magnifiers.
|
daily living skills | Abilities (such as methods for personal grooming, household management,
and communication) that individuals need to be able to perform tasks for living independently;
the routine activities necessary to live independently. Also known as activities of daily living
(ADL).
|
deaf-blindness | Losses of both hearing and vision, in varying degrees, severe enough to
interfere with everyday functioning.
|
developmental delay | Delay of an individual (particularly an infant or toddler) in progressing
toward or achieving the typical milestones or rates of growth in one or more of the areas of
cognitive, physical, social, and emotional development, so that he or she functions at a level
below his or her chronological age.
|
direct service | Services provided by a professional directly to an individual, as opposed to the
provision of information and referral of the individual elsewhere for services or assistance.
|
dog guide | A dog trained to assist its owner to travel safely.
|
early intervention | Services provided to an infant and his or her family to enhance the infant's
development, including assessment of the child's condition and needs, developmental
enrichment, and coordination of health and social services. Under federal legislation (see
Individuals with Disabilities Education Act), states are mandated to provide free early childhood
services for children from birth to age 3 who have a disability or are at risk of developmental
delay and their families.
|
electronic travel aid | See Mobility aid, electronic
|
emboss | To print material in raised form; specifically, to print in braille.
|
functional vision | A degree of vision sufficient to be of use in performing a given task, such as
reading or sewing.
|
functional vision assessment | An assessment of an individual's usable vision done by
observing the person perform a variety of tasks in various environments, separate from a clinical
eye examination.
|
gesticulation | Nonverbal communication skills; making gestures that mimic the ordinary
gestures of others and using gestures to help express and emphasize the meaning of verbal or
sign language.
|
home-based services | Services provided in an individual's home, rather than in an agency or
the community.
|
IDEA | See Individuals with Disabilities Education Act
|
IEP | See Individualized Education Program
|
IFSP | See Individual Family Service Plan
|
inclusion | The practice of educating students with disabilities in regular education classrooms
with their nondisabled peers. See also Mainstreaming
|
Independent Living Program | A program administered by the U.S. Rehabilitation Services
Administration that offers rehabilitation services (see Rehabilitation) to eligible clients who are
not candidates for specific services that help people find and maintain a job, such as some
persons who have multiple disabilities or elderly persons who are visually impaired.
|
independent living services | Training in skills used in everyday life with the goal of helping
an individual to live on his or her own.
|
Individualized Education Program (IEP) | A written plan of instruction required by federal
legislation (see Individuals with Disabilities Education Act), outlining what a child with
disabilities needs to be taught and what services need to be provided, which is completed every
year by an educational team.
|
Individual Family Service Plan (IFSP) | A plan required by federal legislation (see Individuals
with Disabilities Education Act) to coordinate early intervention services for an infant or toddler
with a disability.
|
Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), P.L. 105-17 | Federal legislation that
mandates a free, appropriate public education in the least restrictive environment possible for all
eligible children with disabilities in the United States.
|
Individuals with Disabilities Education Act of 2004 |
2004 Amendments to IDEA.
|
in-service training | Training, usually in the form of classes or workshops, given to workers as
part of their employment.
|
instructional materials center (also instructional resource center) | Resource centers that provide
adapted materials, such as braille textbooks, large-print books, and texts on tape, for visually
impaired students in a state.
|
itinerant teacher | A teacher who moves from school to school, usually on a daily basis, to
provide specialized instruction and support to students with special needs who are in regular
schools in their communities.
|
Kurzweil reading machine | A computer-based device that scans printed text and simulates,
through synthetic speech, a human voice reading it aloud.
|
large print (also large type) | Print that is larger (usually 14 to 18 points) than that commonly
found in magazines, newspapers, and books (6 to 12 points).
|
learning disability | A disorder that interferes with the ability to understand or use spoken or
written language and may hinder learning because of an imperfect ability to listen, think, speak,
read, write, spell, or do mathematical calculations.
|
legal blindness | A definition of blindness that is frequently used to determine a visually
impaired individual's eligibility for governmental or various other services; a visual acuity of
20/200 or less in the better eye with corrective lenses or a visual field (peripheral vision) of less
than 20 degrees.
|
listening skills | The ability to absorb information aurally, especially as developed by special
training.
|
low vision | A condition in which an individual is severely visually impaired but is able to use
vision at least some of the time for some everyday activities, often including reading print.
|
low vision devices (also low vision aids) | Various optical and nonoptical devices, such as
magnifiers or telescopes, used to improve the ability of persons with visual impairments to use
their vision.
|
low vision evaluation or examination | A specialized clinical examination to assess the visual
abilities and needs of an individual with low vision.
|
low vision specialist | An ophthalmologist or optometrist who is specially trained in examining
individuals with low vision and prescribing low vision devices.
|
low vision therapist | A professional who performs functional vision assessments following
clinical low vision examinations and implements the recommendations of the low vision rehabilitation team. The low vision
therapist may provide instruction in the use of functional vision as well as in the use of low vision devices.
|
magnifier | A low vision device used for short-term near-vision tasks that can increase the size
of a visual image on the retina.
|
mainstreaming | The practice of placing students with disabilities in regular education
classrooms for part or all of the school day.
|
mobility aid, electronic (also electronic travel aid)
|
A device that gives off audible signals
when objects are nearby in the environment, for use by individuals with visual impairments to
move about or travel safely.
|
multiply disabled | Having more than one disability.
|
National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped | A part of the U.S.
Library of Congress that loans free reading materials on tape, on disk, or in braille through a
network of libraries throughout the country to individuals who are unable to read regular print
books because of a visual or physical disability.
|
Nemeth code | A braille code system used in science and mathematics.
|
nonoptical devices or aids | Low vision devices that do not involve optics, such as high-intensity
lamps or bold-lined paper.
|
occupational therapist | A professional who uses specific activities to improve an individual's
physical, social, psychological, or intellectual development, focusing on the development of fine
motor skills and perceptual abilities.
|
OCR | See Optical character recognition
|
ophthalmologist | A physician who specializes in diseases and surgery of the eye.
|
Optacon | A reading device for persons with disabilities that converts regular print and visual
images into an enlarged vibrating tactile image that can be read with the fingers; no longer
produced.
|
optical character recognition system (OCR) | A system that scans printed text and converts it
into an electronic format that can be stored in a computer text file and then further converted into
forms such as speech or braille.
|
optician | A professional who prescribes and grinds corrective lenses and optical instruments.
|
optometrist | A nonmedical professional trained to evaluate and measure vision problems,
especially those resulting from refractive errors, and to prescribe corrective lenses.
|
orientation and mobility | The field dealing with systematic techniques that individuals who
are blind or visually impaired can use to orient themselves to their environment and move and
travel safely and independently.
|
peer counseling | One-to-one or group support from a person or people who have similar
characteristics or problems.
|
phone-in newspaper (also telephone reading service) | A service that enables the users to listen to articles of their choice read
over the telephone from selected newspapers.
|
physical therapist | A professional who focuses on the development, correction, and
prevention of motor problems (problems in muscular movement).
|
radio reading service | A system that broadcasts information, such as newspaper articles,
books, and consumer information, to people with visual, physical, and reading disabilities,
usually operating on unused radio frequencies and requiring a special receiver.
|
reading machine | A computer-based device that scans printed text and converts it into
synthetic speech.
|
recorded book or magazine | An audiotaped version of written material. See Talking Book
|
rehabilitation | The process of bringing or restoring an individual to a normal or optimum state
of health and constructive activity through treatment and therapy; specifically, the process of
adjusting to vision loss and learning how to adapt or perform in new ways previously known
skills.
|
rehabilitation counselor | A rehabilitation professional who serves as coordinator or manager in a
public or private rehabilitation agency for an individual who is visually impaired and who provides counseling.
|
rehabilitation teacher | A professional who teaches people with visual impairments to use
adaptive skills and equipment to perform the various tasks of everyday life.
|
sheltered workshop (also facility-based employment) | A business that provides jobs for individuals with a disability who may
need special assistance to be able to work.
|
screen-magnification system | A computer system that electronically enlarges the characters
displayed on the computer monitor.
|
screen reader | A computer program that translates print characters on the computer screen into
their sound equivalents as part of a speech output system. These sounds are then "spoken" as
words by the speech synthesizer component of the system.
|
sensory training | Instruction that helps a person who is blind or visually impaired develop his
or her other sensory abilities to be aware of the environment.
|
sensory integration training | Instruction often provided under the supervision of an
occupational therapist that helps an individual organize and integrate or process the sensations received by
seeing, hearing, touching, smelling, or other senses.
|
speech output system | A computer-based system that converts text displayed as print into
simulated speech.
|
speech synthesizer | Part of a speech output system that provides the spoken equivalent of the
print text displayed on the computer monitor.
|
speech therapist | A professional in the area of communication techniques and speech and
language pathology who teaches people to improve their spoken communication.
|
State Unit on Aging | An agency established in each state under the Older Americans Act of
1965 to provide referrals for older people to local agencies--such as senior centers, home care
agencies, geriatric medical practices, assistive living facilities, social work agencies, and the like-
-as well as to local Area Agencies on Aging.
|
Talking Book | A book or other reading material read aloud and recorded for a blind or visually
impaired listener to play back, usually on specially designed equipment, which may be in disk or
cassette tape format; an audiobook recorded for listeners who are print disabled.
|
Talking Book machine | A specialized device for playing talking books.
|
teacher of students who are blind or visually impaired | A certified professional trained to
teach blind and visually impaired children in both academic areas and adaptive skills.
|
telescope | A lens system that makes small objects appear closer and larger.
|
transitional services | Assistance, instruction, and planning for an individual who is making a
change to a different type of environment and from one system of services to another.
Transitional services are required by federal legislation (see Individuals with Disabilities
Education Act) for toddlers who are moving from early intervention services to preschool or
other appropriate services and for young adults who are moving from school to community
living and employment or from secondary school to higher education.
|
VA | Veterans Affairs, U.S. Department of (formerly the U.S. Veterans Administration)
|
vending stand training | Training to operate a vending stand as part of the Vending Facility
Program for Persons Who Are Blind, instituted by the Randolph-Sheppard Act, which gives
persons who are blind priority in running vending facilities on federal property as a way to
support themselves.
|
videodescription | Description and explanation of visual events in a recorded program--such as
a television program or videotaped film--usually recorded as part of the program, to present them
to individuals who are blind or visually impaired. See also Audiodescription
|
video magnifier | A computer-based device for magnifying images and projecting them on a
computer screen. See also Closed-circuit television.
|
visual acuity | The sharpness or clearness of vision.
|
visual field | The area that is visible to a person looking straight ahead without shifting his or
her gaze.
|
visual impairment | Any degree of vision loss, including total blindness that affects an
individual's ability to perform everyday activities.
|
vocational rehabilitation | The process of preparing an individual for employment by means of
training, counseling, and other services.
|
If you would like to give us feedback on the data in the Directory of Services, or if you know about new organizations, please contact us at afbdirectory@afb.net.
