articulated that students with disabilities retain the right to a free, appropriate
public education (FAPE) that is in accordance with their individualized education
program (IEP), including all needed assessments and special education services
(Siu et al., 2020). Nonetheless, as we heard from practitioners, parents and
researchers, school-age students with visual impairments in the U.S. experienced
hindered access to their education throughout the pandemic. In a prescient research
effort to describe the experiences of students with visual impairments, Rosenblum
and colleagues found that of the 61% of students who attended school online, 43%
had difficulty or were not able to access virtual educational programs due to their
visual impairment (Rosenblum et al., 2020).
At the same time, our TSVI and O&M graduate students at PSU experienced
barriers to participating with mentors and students in meaningful field-based
learning opportunities. This led us to thinking about ways that we could respond to
the needs of our own graduate students as well as K-12 students through the
structure of Mobility Matters. Geographically, WSSB is just north of Portland in
the city of Vancouver. Fort Vancouver, which is a part of the National Park
Service (NPS), has a longstanding educational partnership with WSSB. PSU alum
and social studies teacher Steve Lowry has frequently brought his classes to the
Fort for in-person field trips. Through a series of conversations WSSB, NPS Park
Rangers, APH and our own graduate students, we collaborated to design an
