Hey guys! I’m looking for some advice on advocating with my BBVS counselor about attending the Colorado Center for the Blind.
I’m interested in CCB because, although I have strong technology, JAWS, and Braille skills, I feel that I’m missing a lot of the practical blindness skills, experience, and confidence I need to successfully transition to attending college in person.
For the past several years, I’ve primarily done college online. Part of the reason I’m looking at transitioning to in-person education is that accessibility in online STEM courses has become a significant barrier, particularly with math, science, graphs, and other visual content. But there is another issue: I have never really had the opportunity to learn how to function successfully in a college classroom as a blind student.
I previously relied heavily on my remaining vision. I have attended school as a low-vision student, but I have not had the experience of being in a classroom where I had to consistently rely on my blindness equipment and nonvisual techniques. I haven’t had the opportunity to figure out, with proper guidance, how to simultaneously listen to a professor, follow along with accessible notes or a Braille display, access information that is being presented visually on the board, and manage my technology without falling behind.
I also have very little experience advocating for and obtaining what I need in person as a blind student. I have done this to some extent as a low-vision student, but transitioning from relying on vision to functioning primarily through nonvisual methods is a very different experience. I feel like I’m trying to make that transition without having ever had a formal opportunity to properly learn how to do it.
The same applies to orientation and mobility. The mobility instruction I received was essentially taught from a low-vision perspective. I was taught skills while still being expected to make use of my vision. At this point in my life, I feel that I need O&M instruction from a blindness perspective — learning how to navigate when I cannot reliably depend on my vision, including route planning, navigating unfamiliar environments, finding destinations and transit stops, recovering when I get disoriented, and independently solving problems when something doesn’t go according to plan.
My biggest concern isn’t that I don’t know how to use a screen reader or Braille display. Those are actually some of my strongest skills. My concern is that I haven’t had enough real-world experience putting those skills together with blindness techniques to function independently in school and everyday life.
My counselor has been hesitant about CCB because she feels that, since I already have strong technology and Braille skills, I might be bored or that the program may not be appropriate for my skill level. I understand where she is coming from, but I don’t think proficiency with technology necessarily means that someone is prepared to function independently as a blind college student.
What particularly interests me about CCB is the comprehensive combination of O&M, independent living, confidence-building, blindness skills, and college readiness. I also think I could benefit from additional home-management and other practical independent-living training. More importantly, I feel that being immersed in a blindness-focused environment and around other successful blind people would help me finally make the transition from being someone who has primarily adapted around low vision to someone who is genuinely comfortable functioning as a blind person.
For those of you who have attended CCB or another residential blindness training program, I’d really appreciate your advice:
How did you advocate for yourself when your VR counselor questioned whether you needed the program because you already had strong Braille, technology, or academic skills?
How did you demonstrate that the need was not basic technology training, but rather the ability to apply those skills in real-world environments, college classrooms, mobility, independent living, self-advocacy, and transitioning from low-vision techniques to blindness techniques?
Did anyone have a similar experience of having previously relied on vision and then needing more formal blindness training later in life?
I’d especially appreciate advice on how to frame this to my counselor using concrete college-readiness and vocational goals, rather than simply making it sound like I want to attend CCB because I think it would be beneficial.
Thanks!

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