Introduction

The third and final Access and Engagement study was conducted in the summer and fall of 2021 as a follow up to two prior studies conducted earlier in the COVID-19 pandemic. The first, Access and Engagement I1, gathered survey data from families and educators of children who are blind or have low vision in the United States and Canada in April and May 2020. This initial study investigated the impacts of the rapid transition from in-person to remote learning. The second study, Access and Engagement II2, gathered survey data from a similar sample in November 2020, documenting the experiences of children, families, and educators across a patchwork of differing educational delivery models.

A White teenager sits at a kitchen table smiling with his hands resting on a game that has been adapted using tactile symbols. His father sits beside him and his instructor joins them online via an iPad resting on the table.

The final study in the series, Access and Engagement III, adds to the earlier findings and continues the story as schools gradually returned to in-person teaching. In addition to survey data from educators, the current study features qualitative findings, obtained through focus groups and interviews, in which participants shared their personal accounts of the challenges they faced, their successes, and their reflections on the potential long-term impacts of the pandemic. These findings supplement the findings of our earlier surveys and point to both systemic and COVID-specific issues limiting the educational success of children who are blind or have low vision. Additionally, the third Access and Engagement study highlights perspectives that were not specifically included in the first two studies—information shared by administrators of schools for the blind, families of children with multiple disabilities, and Spanish-speaking families of children who are blind or have low vision.

A Black school-age boy uses a measuring spoon to measures cooking oil into a measuring cup.

Rosenblum, L. P., Herzberg, T. S., Wild, T., Botsford, K. D., Fast, D., Kaiser, J. T., Cook, L. K., Hicks, M. A. C., DeGrant, J. N., & McBride, C. R. (2020). *Access and Engagement: Examining the Impact of COVID-19 on Students Birth-21 with Visual Impairments, Their Families, and Professionals in the United States and Canada.* American Foundation for the Blind.

Rosenblum, L. P., Chanes-Mora, P., Fast, D., Kaiser, J. T., Wild, T., Herzberg, T. S., Rhoads, C. R., Botsford, K. D., DeGrant, J. N., Hicks, M. A. C., Cook, L. K., & Welch-Grenier, S. (2021). *Access and Engagement II: An Examination of How the COVID-19 Pandemic Continued to Impact Students with Visual Impairments, Their Families, and Professionals Nine Months Later. American Foundation for the Blind.*

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