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Module 10: Pathways to Careers: The ADA and Effective Communication for Individuals who are Blind or Low Vision

SECTION 1: Introduction for Training Facilitators

Overview

The ADA and Self-Advocacy for Youth — Train-the-Trainer Curriculum has been developed with a modular design. Using the train-the-trainer model, each module will include multiple components including:

  • PowerPoint slides with presentation content and talking notes.
  • Training facilitator talking points and speaker notes.
  • Videos and other multi-media content (when appropriate)
  • Activities such as role play scenarios, quizzes, and art activities.
  • Relevant resources including targeted documents, organizations, and websites.

The modules are designed to be presented in stand-alone sessions. Shorter or longer sessions may be developed based upon the students’ needs. A menu of interactive exercises will be provided for each module. One or more activities may be selected to reinforce the learning objectives based upon the needs of the facilitator and students.

Training facilitators participate in a train-the-trainer event led by the BBI/SEADA Curriculum Development Team. Training facilitators will also be provided with targeted, relevant materials about hosting an accessible training event, accessible presentation methods, effective utilization of the module materials, and strategies for customizing modules based on audience needs.

Learning Modules

  • Module 1: Pathways to Careers: An Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) Roadmap
  • Module 2: Disclosure Decisions and Talking About My Disability
  • Module 3: The ADA in the Workplace
  • Module 4: The ADA in Higher Education
  • Module 5: Advocating for My Rights Under the ADA
  • Module 6: Skills for Successful Employment
  • Module 7: The ADA and Reasonable Accommodations on the Job
  • Module 8: The ADA in the Community
  • Module 9: The ADA and Effective Communication for Individuals who are Deaf or Hard of Hearing
  • Module 10: The ADA and Effective Communication for Individuals who are Blind or Low Vision
  • Module 11: Interactions with Law Enforcement
  • Module 12: Parent to Partner

Module 10: Pathways to Careers: The ADA and Effective Communication for Individuals who are Blind or Low Vision

Module 10: The ADA and Effective Communication for Individuals who are Blind or Low Vision provides a basic overview and understanding of effective communication and auxiliary aids and services for individuals who are blind or have low vision. Topics include: methods of effective communication in public places, asking for accommodations, the rights of requesting an accommodation, and the public accommodation’s requirement to provide effective communication responsibilities of why it is important. Discussion questions are incorporated throughout the slide presentation. Interactive exercises are provided to reinforce the content from the slide presentation and the video

The lessons from the PowerPoint presentation are reinforced by the suggested advance readings that students can access, the initial exercise focuses on ways that provide equal access to information and communications in our environment, and the post-lecture interactive exercises on places one might want to go in our community and ways that equal access to information and communications can be provided at these places in our community.

Learning Objectives

The student will:

  • Be able to define the terms “effective communication” and “auxiliary aids and services.”
  • Identify three to five ways that he/she can communicate.
  • Be able to describe how the ADA’s effective communication requirements apply to state and local government.
  • Be able to identify one method of effective communication at public libraries.
  • Be able to identify at least one method of effective communication at parks and recreational facilities, when voting, movie theaters or other entertainment locations.
  • Be able to identify at least two places of public accommodation that he/she visits on a regular basis in his/her daily activities.
  • Be able to explain public accommodation’s requirement to provide effective communication.
  • Understand their rights under ADA when making a request for effective communication.

SECTION 2: Strategies for Customization

Adapting and Making Accommodations for Students with Disabilities

The following resources provide guidance on working with students with a variety of disabilities. The resources provide information about adaptations that can be made to instructional techniques and accommodations that can be provided to increase inclusion in the classroom.

Customizing the Lesson Using Presentation Material and Interactive Exercises

There are three sets of resources provided that can be woven together to customize the learning experience, depending on your goals as an instructor for this lesson on The ADA and Effective Communication for Individuals who are Blind or Low Vision (e.g., providing a very simple introduction versus teaching the basics as a platform for having students engage in deeper learning about complex examples). These include: (1) advance preparation material that students can review; (2) a set of PowerPoint slides that can be used in a lecture and discussion format; and (3) a set of interactive exercises to stimulate applied learning, creativity, and deeper thinking about the concepts.

1. Advance Preparation Material for Students

This lesson provides a very simple, high-level overview of The ADA and Effective Communication for Individuals who are Blind or Low Vision. The goal is to introduce students to the idea of the terms “effective communication” and “auxiliary aids and services start students thinking about ways that provide equal access to information and communications in our environment Suggested resources for advance preparation include readings and videos of self-advocacy.

As noted, these materials can be provided in advance to students, or if the class session is long enough, they may be used in class prior to presenting the PowerPoint slides and getting into a specific discussion of self-advocacy. Alternatively, they could be used as both advance preparation (pre-homework) and repeated in class to reinforce the learning.

2. PowerPoint Slides

The PowerPoint slides can be used in class to provide a more in-depth overview of : The ADA and Effective Communication for Individuals who are Blind or Low Vision. Combined with the interactive exercises, the presentation can be extended to cover a long class session or multiple smaller class sessions. The slides can also be presented on their own as part of a short lesson on Advocating for My Rights Under the ADA.

3. Interactive Exercises

Several interactive exercises are provided to engage the students in considering specific examples that relate to the material “: The ADA and Effective Communication for Individuals who are Blind or Low Vision.” For example, while the presentation material explains effective communication and auxiliary aids and services for individuals who are Blind or have low vision, and includes the topics: methods of effective communication in public places, asking for accommodations, the rights of requesting an accommodation, and the public accommodation’s requirement to provide effective communication responsibilities of why it is important. an interactive exercise leads the students to practice how to request accommodations. Therefore, the exercise provides a concrete lesson on the accommodation process and explains how the ADA is a law that applies to public places.

SECTION 3: Suggested Advance Preparation for Facilitators

Readings

Workbook

Websites

Media

Web Courses

  • Foundations of the Americans with Disabilities Act Web Course (Southeast ADA Center)
    Source: Southeast ADA Center
    Link:     bit.ly/foundations-ada-course
    The ADA Foundations (bit.ly/foundations-ada-course) is a comprehensive web course designed to increase your knowledge and understanding of the core concepts about the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA) and the ADA Amendments Act of 2008 (ADAAA). The web course has been developed to help you learn about the important concepts of the ADA and to think about inclusive solutions for people with disabilities in the workplace, state and local government programs, and private businesses.
    Learning Objectives
    Upon completion of this web course, you will be able to:
    • Discuss the purpose of the ADA using a civil rights framework.
    • Identify the five titles of the ADA.
    • Provide a basic overview of each title of the ADA.
    • Define the general nondiscrimination requirements of the ADA.
    • Explain each nondiscrimination requirement using 1-2 real-life examples.
    • Identify the defenses or limitations of each nondiscrimination requirement.
    • Identify the federal agencies responsible for enforcing each title of the ADA.
    • Locate and use resources for information on the ADA.

SECTION 4: Suggested Advance Preparation for Students

The following advanced reading assignments and video excerpts can be assigned to students to prepare them for learning about Effective Communication for People with Hearing Loss.

Readings

Workbook

Websites

Media

Web Courses

  • Foundations of the Americans with Disabilities Act Web Course (Southeast ADA Center)
    Source: Southeast ADA Center
    Link:     bit.ly/foundations-ada-course
    The ADA Foundations (bit.ly/foundations-ada-course) is a comprehensive web course designed to increase your knowledge and understanding of the core concepts about the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA) and the ADA Amendments Act of 2008 (ADAAA). The web course has been developed to help you learn about the important concepts of the ADA and to think about inclusive solutions for people with disabilities in the workplace, state and local government programs, and private businesses.
    Learning Objectives
    Upon completion of this web course, you will be able to:
    • Discuss the purpose of the ADA using a civil rights framework.
    • Identify the five titles of the ADA.
    • Provide a basic overview of each title of the ADA.
    • Define the general nondiscrimination requirements of the ADA.
    • Explain each nondiscrimination requirement using 1-2 real-life examples.
    • Identify the defenses or limitations of each nondiscrimination requirement.
    • Identify the federal agencies responsible for enforcing each title of the ADA.
    • Locate and use resources for information on the ADA.

SECTION 5: Presentation

Pre-Module for the Training Facilitator:

Facilitator Note: “For people with vision loss, much of the information in our environments is not available. Under the Americans with Disabilities Act, people with vision loss have the right to equal access to the information and communications in our environments. This is the right to effective communication.”

“For people with vision loss, what are some ways you can think of that provide equal access to information and communications in our environment? Let’s make a list of all the ways we can think of that help people with vision loss to get equal access to the information and communications in our environments, especially when we go out into the community.”

Facilitator Note: Make a list of all responses from the group on a white board, flip chart, etc., and save this list for an activity at the end of this module.
“Today we are going to learn about the Americans with Disabilities Act and effective communication for people with vision loss.”

Facilitator Note: Use Module 10 PowerPoint slides, The ADA and Effective Communication for Individuals who are Blind or Low Vision.

Post Module for the Training Facilitator:

Facilitator Note: Using the list from the Pre-Module Activity, ask if the group would like to add to the ways that help people with vision loss to get equal access to the information and communications in our environments.

Use a different color or a similar method to indicate new responses during the Post-Module Activity. Refer to the PPT Slide on “Examples of Auxiliary Aids and Services for People Who Are Blind or Low Vision” to make sure all of these are included in the final list from the group. If you need a prompt, ask something similar to the following:

“Can anyone think of a situation where an e-mail might be useful in providing effective communication for someone with vision loss?”

Once the group agrees that this is a way to provide effective communication and equal access for people with vision loss, add it to the list during this Post-Module Activity.

SECTION 6: Learning Activities

For the Training Facilitator:

Facilitator Note: Learning activities have been designed to reinforce the content from the PowerPoint presentation. A menu of activities has been provided. You may choose one or more activities based upon the time that you have to present the material and upon the needs of the students. For each interactive activity designed to reinforce the content from the PowerPoint presentation, suggested time frames are included below. Please keep in mind the age of your youth as well as the individual skill levels and specific disabilities to allow time frames that are appropriate for your group.

Activity #1 Group Discussion

Facilitator Note: Please allow time frames for these discussions and activities that are appropriate for the size of the group and the makeup of the group. Please be flexible if the discussion or the sharing is productive, and the participants are actively engaged.

Activity: “Effective Communication—How Do I Get Equal Access?”

Time: 5 – 15 minutes

Facilitator Script: “Let’s think of places we might want to go in our community and think of ways that we can get equal access to information and communications at these places in our community.”

“For example, if we go to the public library, what are some things that would help us to get around the library and to participate in all of the programs, services and activities that a library provides?” (Reinforce all responses that identify auxiliary aids and services for people who are blind or low vision. See PPT Slide on Examples of Auxiliary Aids and Services for People Who Are Blind or Low Vision.)

“If we go to a movie theater or a local community theater, what are some things that would help us to get around the theater and help us to enjoy the movie or a live performance?” (Reinforce all responses that identify auxiliary aids and services for people who are blind or low vision. See PPT Slide on Examples of Auxiliary Aids and Services for People Who Are Blind or Low Vision.)

“If we are going to a medical appointment to see a new doctor for the first time, what are some things that would help us to get around in that new environment and help us to provide information and understand all communications from the staff and the doctor?” (Reinforce all responses that identify auxiliary aids and services for people who are blind or low vision. See PPT Slide on Examples of Auxiliary Aids and Services for People Who Are Blind or Low Vision.)

“What are some other places in the community where you would like to go, and what are some things that you would need for effective communication and equal access at that place?”

Activity #2 Art Projects & Musical Expression

Art Projects

Facilitator Note: If your group is engaged by art activities, such as drawing, painting, collages, murals, etc., you might use art materials to do the following. Please keep in mind the age of your students as well as the individual skill levels and specific disabilities to allow time frames that are appropriate for your group. If members of your group have difficulty manipulating art materials, such as students who have difficulty using scissors due to limited hand dexterity, consider working in partners or small groups.
If your group is made up of students with varying levels of vision loss, consider having students with low vision work as partners or in small groups with students with total vision loss. Using materials such as magazines, advertising flyers, brochures, pamphlets, etc., have the students with low vision audio describe the pictures and words that the partners or small groups might decide to use in a collage or mural. If your group is made up of students with total vision loss, consider using the Musical Expression activity with your group.

Activity: “What Does Effective Communication Look Like?”

Time: 15 minutes or more

Facilitator Note: Use large pieces of paper and any materials to cut up such as magazines, advertising flyers, brochures, pamphlets, etc., have the students work in pairs or small groups to create a collage using pictures, words, symbols, cartoons, etc.

Facilitator Script: “With your partner (or small group), think of a place in the community where you would like to go. Using any of these materials, create a collage that shows things that you would need to have effective communication and equal access at the place where you would like to go. It might help you to think of all the things you would like to do at the place where you want to go, and then think of what you might need to help you to do those things. When I call time, we will get back together to share our collages and share our ideas of what effective communication looks like for us.”

Facilitator Note: After each pair or small group shares a collage, ask the group if there are any other ideas of what might be needed for effective communication and equal access at that place in the community.

Musical Expression

Facilitator Note: If your group is engaged by musical expression, you might want to use activities such as singing, simple musical instruments, percussion instruments, drumming, etc. The activity of drumming can be done using plastic buckets or containers, or using hands on tabletops. Please keep in mind the age of your students as well as the individual skill levels and specific disabilities to allow time frames that are appropriate for your group.

Activity: “Where Will I Go & What Will I Need?”

Time: 15 minutes or more

Facilitator Note: This musical expression activity follows a “Call and Response” format. Using any object as the “Musical Wand,” each person in the circle or group can only “perform” when that person has possession of the Musical Wand.

The first person who is given the Musical Wand has to call out in song a place to go in the community in the following format:

  • “I want to go to the City Museum.
    What will I need at the City Museum?”

Then the Musical Wand is immediately passed to anyone else in the group, and the person who receives the Musical Wand has to sing out one thing that would provide effective communication and equal access at that place using the following format:

  • “When I get to the City Museum,
    I need a Tactile Map at the City Museum.”

The members of the group continue to pass the Musical Wand around as long as someone has a response to add that names a new way to provide effective communication and equal access at that place.

Then the activity starts all over, and another person is given the Musical Wand and has to call out in song a place to go in the community in the same format as above.

Facilitator Note: If your group needs prompts for places to go in the community, you might use any of the following as the “Call” for prompting responses from your group:

  • “I want to go to my favorite restaurant.
    What will I need at my favorite restaurant?”
  • “I want to go to the movie theater.
    What will I need at the movie theater?”
  • “I want to go to the City Park.
    What will I need at the City Park?”
  • “I want to go on the city bus.
    What will I need on the city bus?”
  • “I want to go to the polls to vote.
    What will I need at the polls to vote?”
  • “I want to go to the city library.
    What will I need at the city library?”

Think about places in your community that the members of your group might be familiar with and include those places in this activity.

Activity #3 Dramatic Arts

Facilitator Note: If your group is especially engaged by dramatic arts, such as role plays, skits, improvisation, etc., you might use dramatic arts activities.

Activity: “Effective Communication—Let Me Be Clear!”

Time: 15 minutes or more

Facilitator Note: Using partners or small groups, have each pair or each small group create a skit about effective communication and equal access at a specific place in the community, and act out the skit in front of the group. Write places in the community such as the list below on small index cards, and give one place in the community to each pair or small group. Following each dramatic arts performance, ask for feedback from the group about the auxiliary aids and services shown in the skit. Ask the group if they have any suggestions for the situation shown in the skit.

Possible Places in the Community to write on Index Cards:

  • Retail Stores
  • Movie Theaters
  • Sports Arenas
  • Restaurants
  • Doctor’s Office
  • Local Bank
  • Polling Places for Voting
  • Yoga Class at Parks & Recreation Center
  • Nature Walk in City Park
  • Public Library
  • City Museum
  • City Council Meeting at City Hall

Facilitator Note: If you know some favorite places your group likes to go in the community, consider including these on the index cards for use in creating skits about effective communication and equal access for people with vision loss.

Activity #4 Role Models

Facilitator Note: For young people with disabilities, it is very important to identify with role models who are people with disabilities living independently in the community. Sources for finding role models that may serve as guest speakers in class include:

Activity 4A: “And Now, A Word from the Real World”

Time: 5–15 minutes

Facilitator Note: Invite a speaker or a small panel of 2 – 4 people with vision loss to briefly share about a time when each one had to advocate for their rights to effective communication under the ADA. Then allow time for the group to ask questions and dialogue with the role model(s).

Activity 4B: Virtual Reality—"A Word from the Real World”

Time: 5 – 15 minutes

Facilitator Note: Using Zoom or a similar platform, invite a speaker or a small panel of 2 to 4 people with vision loss to briefly share about a time when each one had to advocate for their rights to effective communication under the ADA. Then allow time for the group to ask questions and dialogue with the role model(s).

SECTION 7: Handouts or Materials Needed

  • Audiovisual equipment for PowerPoint presentation and/or videos.
  • Art materials, blank paper, colored pencils or markers, rubber ball, and a bottle of liquid bubbles (Activity 1).
  • Photocopies of PowerPoint slides, including alternate formats such as large print, Braille, and electronic formats, such as a USB drive for students with visual or print disabilities.

SECTION 8: After Class

Homework Possibilities

Interview someone at home, your school, in your neighborhood or in the community. Ask one or more of the following questions:

  • Can you tell me about a time or situation when you had to request an accommodation or ask for help in a public place?
  • Can you tell me how you asked for help when you need it?
  • Can you tell me about a time when you had to know about your legal rights?

During the next session, we will share these interviews with the group.

Facilitator Note: You may wish to identify several people in the community who would be willing to assist with this homework assignment. Refer to Section 9 – Community Organizations for possible contacts. Students may also want to interview someone they know such as a family member or friend. The contacts for the exercise may be people with and without disabilities.

Quiz Questions

Use these quiz questions to reinforce learning by giving this pop quiz at the end of class, as a homework assignment, or at the beginning of the next class session. Correct answers are noted with an asterisk (*).

  • Braille is not a form of effective communication.
  • Yes
  • No*
  • Auxiliary aides are devices and services that help us to effectively communicate.
  • Yes*
  • No
  • Audio recording of written material is an example of an auxiliary aid.
  • Yes*
  • No
  • Local governments must communicate with you in a way you prefer.
  • Yes*
  • No
  • If my preferred communication style is not available then my government does not have to come up with another auxiliary aid.
  • Yes
  • No*
  • Governments must make sure you can communicate in your preferred way when you vote in elections.
  • Yes*
  • No
  • Waiters at a restaurant do not have to read a menu to you when ordering.
  • Yes
  • No*
  • If you need an auxiliary aid like Braille or large print you will have to pay for it.
  • Yes
  • No*
  • Sports stadiums are a “place of public accommodation”.
  • Yes*
  • No
  • Parks must have Braille or tactile signs.
  • Yes*
  • No

SECTION 9: Resources for Students

Additional Reading and Videos

Alternate Format Resources

  • Free Library Materials
    Source: National Library Service
    Link: nlsbard.loc.gov/login//NLS
  • Free Braille Books
    Source: American Printing House for the Blind, Inc.
    Link: www.aph.org/dolly-partons-imagination-library/apply/
  • Free Audio Books
    Source: American Printing House for the Blind, Inc.
    Link: https://www.aph.org/imagination-library-collaboration/

Apps

  • Be My Eyes
    Link: itunes.apple.com/ca/app/be-my-eyes-helping-blind-see/id905177575
  • Talking Calculator
    Link: itunes.apple.com/us/app/talking-calculator/id424464284
  • TapTapSee
    Link: itunes.apple.com/us/app/taptapsee-blind-visually-impaired/id567635020
  • Microsoft Soundscape
    Link: www.microsoft.com/en-us/research/product/soundscape/

Americans with Disabilities Act Information Center

National Resources

Community Organizations

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