Who are our nations blind and visually impaired children?
Federal and state estimates used for planning educational services do not adequately account for the number of children in the United States who are blind or visually impaired. For example, 24,877 children with visual impairments are reported by the U.S. Department of Education (U.S. Department of Education, 1996). However, a recent study indicates that this figure fails to account for as many as 80% of these students (Corn, Ferrell, Spungin, & Zimmerman, 1996). In some cases, only students who are legally blind are reported, ignoring those who have difficulty seeing but do not qualify as “legally” blind. In other instances, children who are visually impaired and have other disabilities–such as mental retardation–are not counted as visually impaired because they are reported in other federally defined categories, such as “multiple disabilities” or “mental retardation.” Tragically, because many professionals lack the specialized skills necessary to recognize and address vision loss, t
