VIDBE-Q 2025 Volume 70 Issue 3
services for students with VI; unfortunately, neither of them had discovered
effective ways to properly support the needs of a student with autism and VI
(ASD+VI). The experience became a seed of curiosity, soon to be watered by
forthcoming opportunities through a community agency.
Fast forward to the summer of 2018. I am a soon-to-be master's degree
graduate, preparing to join a district-designated ASD specialized school in the fall
when a special invitation comes my way on Sunday morning. A parent with a child
participating in my church's Children's Ministry approaches me to share about his
job at a local agency for the blind to relate hiring opportunities for their youth
summer programs. As of that moment, I had spent every summer engaged in either
disability ministry internships or nonprofit disability summer programs through
national and local organizations, respectively. So, the opportunity sounded
appropriate and timely, as I had not settled on my activities for that summer. A few
weeks later, I was drafted into the Lighthouse of Broward (Lighthouse) as a
summer instructor, where I encountered a few more Leos, but in a completely
different way.
At the Lighthouse, I met a series of students with complex and multiple
disabilities. Some were verbal while others were nonverbal. Some were totally
blind, while others had functional vision or light sensitivity. Some were highly
independent, and others required a bit more support. Some were fairly typical,
