VIDBE-Q 2025 Volume 70 Issue 3
While safety is the number one concern, the next is making accommodations
for the curriculum. Ms. Mitchel says, "I allow all students to try new tasks,
regardless of visual status…" However, she notes that few Ag settings are
accommodating so she teaches using direct instruction on how to navigate and
work in an agricultural setting. Accommodations for her students include, but are
not limited to, safety glasses and goggles that can fit over prescribed lenses, leather
gloves for animal handling, rubber gloves for cleaning cages, tactile and high
contrast maps of work areas, high contrast equipment, organized supply bins that
are labeled in braille and large print, tool storage clearly labeled, and orientation
and mobility using self-protective techniques. Assistive technology is also used
with braille measuring cups, talking scales, talking calculators and thermometers,
talking tape measure, braille and large print textbooks or manuals, PixBlaster® for
making tactile images, magnification devices, and refreshable braille or use of an
IPAD for taking notes. With all these accommodations in place, students can thrive
in an agricultural setting.
An additional accommodation that has been used in crop production is the
use of raised beds. This allows the students to stand at the bed to work on weeding
and watering instead of bending over and searching for the plants in a field. In
addition, Ms. Mitchell uses a black felt liner material in her beds to ensure that
students with low vision can have contrast to better see the green plants. While it
