Individuals with visual impairments fall along a continuum from low vision to blindness. The federal definition in the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act includes three categories of vision loss: (1) partially sighted indicates some type of visual problems has resulted in a need for special education; (2) low vision refers to a severe visual impairment and applies to all individuals with sight who are unable to read the newspaper at a normal viewing distance even with correction; and (3) legally blind indicates that a person has less than 20/200 vision in the better eye or a very limited field of vision (20 degrees at its widest point). Students who are totally blind learn via Braille or other non-visual media. The following resources will help you explore this topic.

Books Published by Houghton Mifflin Company

• Hunt, N., & Marshall, K. (1999). Exceptional Children and Youth (2^nd ed.). New York: Houghton Mifflin Company - Chapter 9.
• Kirk, S.A., Gallagher, J.J. & Anastasiow, N.J. (2000). Educating Exceptional Children (9^th ed.). New York: Houghton Mifflin Company - Chapter 10.
• Ysseldyke, J.E., Algozzine, B., & Thurlow, M.L. (2000) Critical issues in special education (3^rd ed.). New York: Houghton Mifflin Company, p. 70.

Books Published by Other Companies

• Barraga, N. C., & Erin, J. N. (1992). Visual handicaps and learning (3^rd ed.). Austin, TX: Pro-Ed.
• Bishop, V. E. (1996). Teaching visually impaired children (2^nd ed.). Springfield, IL: Thomas.
• Heller, K. W., Alberto, P. A., Forney. P. E., & Schwartzman, M. N. (1996). Understanding physical, sensory, & health impairments. Pacific Grove, CA Brooks/Cole.

Journals

• Access world technology for consumers with visual impairments(AFB)
• Dialogue magazine(Blindskills, Inc.)
• DVI Quarterly (CEC)
• Journal of Visual Impairment and Blindness (American Foundation for the Blind)
• The Braille Monitor(National Federation of the Blind)
• The Braille Forum(American Council of the Blind)

Fact Sheets

• Braille Fact Sheet -- http://www.afb.org/afb/brail_ed.html
• General Information about Visual Impairments -- http://www.kidsource.com/NICHCY/visual.html
• National Information Center on Children and Youth with Disabilities (NICHCY) Fact Sheet -- http://nichcy.org/pubs/factshe/fs13txt.htm

Web site Resources

• American Council of the Blind - http://www.acb.org
• American Foundation for the Blind - http://www.afb.org/afb
• Blind Links -- http://seidata.com/~marriage/rblind.html
• Division for the Visually Handicapped (CEC) -- http://www.cec.sped.org/
• The Federal Resource Center for Special Education (visual impairments) -- http://www.dssc.org/frc/index.htm
• National Association for the Visually Handicapped -- http://www.navh.org
• National Braille Association, Inc. -- http://members.aol.com/nbaoffice/index.htm
• National Federation of the Blind - http://www.nfb.org
• National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped -- http://lcweb.loc.gov/nls/nls.html

Popular Movies

• Scent of a Woman (1992).

Videos

• In the mind of the beholder (1997). http://www.aquariusproductions.com/

Online Resource Documents

• Accessing education services for student with visual impairments: A guide for parents -- http://specialed.miningco.com/education/specialed/gi/dynamic
  /offsite.htm?site=http://www.afb.org/afb/edserv.html
• Educating students with visual impairments for inclusion in society -- http://www.afb.org/afb/education/jltlipaper.html
• Educating students who are blind and visually impaired -- http://specialed.miningco.com/education/specialed/gi/dynamic
  /offsite.htm?site=http://www.fsdb.k12.fl.us/admin/blind.ed.html
• Visual Impairments -- http://ericae.net/edo/ED349774.htm
• Visual Impairments -- http://ericec.org/digests/darchives/e511.html
• Visual Impairment defined -- http://specialed.miningco.com/education/specialed/gi/dynamic
  /offsite.htm?site=http://www.lsi.ukans.edu/beach/html/d10.htm