• Home
• > Finding Help & Support
• > Professional Help
• > Vision Loss Specialists

Vision Loss Specialists: A Guide to Rehabilitation Assistance and Where to Find It

Many people first coping with vision loss are largely unaware of the size and scope of the professional community dedicated to rehabilitation and how to access it. Due to the fragmented nature of the U.S. health care system, surprisingly few medical eye care professionals are sufficiently informed to give their patients appropriate recommendations.

Nevertheless, these rehabilitation professionals exist and can be found through vision rehabilitation agencies in your community:

• Low Vision Specialist: assists in the use of optical devices, including hand-held magnifiers, telescopic lenses for distance viewing, high intensity lighting, and specially adapted electronic devices.
  
  
• Occupational Therapist or Occupational Therapy Assistant (OT): helps people with disabilities and older adults complete the everyday activities that are important to them including taking care of themselves, their families, and their homes; working and volunteering, and driving. OT practitioners specialized in low vision help older adults learn to use their remaining vision to complete valued occupations through the use of magnifiers and other adaptive devices, and strategies. They also modify the home to help the older adult maintain independence, increase safety, and prevent falls.
  
  
• Orientation and Mobility Specialist (O&M Specialist): assesses and teaches travel skills. Orientation refers to the ability to comprehend where one is within the surrounding environment; mobility refers to the ability to move safely and independently within one's environment.
  

  O&M instruction teaches people with vision loss how to navigate sidewalks independently.

  
  
• Vision Rehabilitation Teacher or Therapist: helps people with vision loss utilize their other senses, as well as their remaining vision, to master the skills necessary to carry out their routine daily tasks, such as cooking, dressing, grooming, laundry, etc.
  
  
• Vocational Rehabilitation Counselor: helps people with vision loss find employment and enhances their employability by providing necessary services and equipment.

For More Information:

• Getting Around provides an overview of the different skills that an O&M specialist can teach to people with vision loss.
  
  
• Careers in Vocational Rehabilitation. An overview of the types of vision loss specialists.
  
  

• E-mail this page
• Print this page
• Take Our Quick Survey!