President's Message
Derrick Smith
For this special issue of the DVIQuarterly, the
topic is diversity. Diversity is an incredibly interesting and timely topic as we as a society are becoming more diverse. While there are many
things that I could write about diversity, I decided
to focus on a more practical matter as it relates to
the organization. A few years ago, with the urging
of CEC, each division was asked to create a diversity statement and include it in its guiding
documents. Therefore, DVI added its diversity
statement in 2005 through the work of our Diversity Committee, led at the time by Phyllis Simmons. Since the creation of this statement, our
Diversity Committee has been a persistent member of CEC's Diversity Committee. Many of DVI's
members are also members of various CEC caucuses that focus on diversity. DVI member Lou
Tutt even served on the CEC Board in the
"Diversity" position. However, there is much
more work for our Division to do in order to serve
our diverse profession. We need to provide support for those who serve students with visual impairments, blindness, and deafblindness from diverse backgrounds while attempting to recruit, retain, and diversify our field. It is my sincere hope
that this special issue will start a conversation
within the field to support these concepts. With
that being said, I believe our diversity statement
provides a good starting point for this special issue:
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