VIDBE-Q Volume 66 Issue 3
understandings to support students beyond access and direct provision of minutes.
As we teachers approach the year with vim and vigor, eager for a return to a
semblance of normalcy, we should not forget these new social emotional tools we
developed to better support our students.
In the upheaval and emotional duress the pandemic brough to all our lives, a
narrative emerged on the profound and initially overlooked impact on the mental
health of students, and the pressing—dire--need to address it (Prothero, 2020).
Students are inextricable members of their communities, and the same hardships of
losing work, fear of community spread, and heart-wrenching deaths affected and
continue to affect them. Often times, students shouldered responsibilities beyond
their years to support their families, from taking jobs to becoming teachers for their
younger siblings (Cardona-Maguigad, 2020). It is important to remember
Augestad's (2017) systematic review of mental health for children and young
adults with visual impairments. Her review compiled and highlighted how students
with visual impairments faced more emotional problems than their signed peers. It
would be naïve to think that this predicating landscape of mental health struggles
for students with visual impairments would operate in isolation from pandemic
struggles. Our students, their families and communities have and continue to face
existential struggles in their daily lives while also handling mental health concerns
as related to their visual impairments and other conditions.
