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Homework Hotline for Blind and Visually Impaired Students
Does your K12 student with visual impairments need qualified help with homework during the COVID-19 school closures?
In response to the wave of K-12 school closures across the United States due to COVID-19, a few concerned teachers of the blind and advocates got together to organize a free, homework help hotline for blind/visually impaired students. Check out the details below, and share with others.
National Homework Hotline for Blind/Visually Impaired Students (NHH-BVI)
What: Homework telephone hotline for blind/vision impaired students in grades K-12 experiencing emergency school closures due to COVID-19.
Areas of hotline help include: navigating accessible websites with JAWS, Nemeth and literary braille reading and writing, navigating tablet/laptop using JAWS and Over, and using refreshable braille display.
*The hotline does not provide tutoring in non-Expanded Core Curriculum content areas
When: Tues -Thurs, 3:30pm – 8pm EST, March 17- April 16, 2020
(*end date may be adjusted based on school closure developments)
How: Students submit a support request via email and receive a call-back during the designated NHH-BVI times.
Who: NHH-BVI helpers are experienced, TVIs, counselors, blind mentors who want to help b/vi students get the support they need to access their remote learning programs.
For more info, and to request an initial NHH-BVI support call, please email [email protected].
About the NHH-BVI Helpers
Monique Coleman
Monique is a TVI and president of VISTAS Education Partners. She has 20 years of experience working with students in a range of K-12 public and private schools. Monique is currently a doctoral candidate at Rutgers University researching the intersection of disability, education, and diverse identities. She lives in Highland Park, NJ with her husband, three sons, two cats, and her faithful dog. She is an active member of her community who serves on the Board of Education and other local organizations.
Brianna Murray
Brianna is a visually impaired counselor who currently works for the Employment, Development, Guidance and Engagement (EDGE) 2.0 program, assisting high school students with pre-employment goals. Brianna also serves as a mentor for college students as a part of Learning Ally’s College Success Program. She lives with her current and retired guide dogs, and they keep her very busy. In her free time she enjoys reading, writing, and volunteering with various blindness organizations.
Kristen Witucki
Kristen is a TVI who is also blind. She provides itinerant TVI services through VISTAS Education Partners, edits content and curriculum for Learning Ally’s College Success Program and mentors college students for the EDGE Program. She lives in Highland Park, NJ with her husband and their three young children. She is the author of two fiction books for adolescents which explore blindness in all of its complexity and of several nonfiction articles about her journey parenting as a blind person. In her snatches of free time, she enjoys reading and writing.
By Diane Brauner
