Don't See, Must Tell: Teaching
Students
who are Visually Impaired
and Deafblind about Human
Sexuality
Jeff Migliozzi, TVI
(Jeff.Migliozzi@Perkins.org)
Jim Witmer, LICSW
(Jim.Witmer@Perkins.org)
Perkins School for the Blind
Scenarios
Imagine being in the seventh grade and at-
tending your first middle school dance: You step
into the doorway to see the boys standing against
one wall and the girls doing the same against the
other. You feel nervous and awkward. You set
your sights on the cutie standing alone by the DJ
booth and…
Now imagine yourself in that same scenario
and not being able to use your vision to navigate
the treacherous waters that separate you from a
potential magical moment on the dance floor, or
at least having someone say yes to sharing a
soda with you. Having vision in this situation
helps figure out who looks like they do not have a
date, who looks interested, and who is attractive.
A student who is visually impaired has little ac-
cess to this important information and a deafblind
student has less (and may require a sign lan-
guage interpreter to strike up a conversation with
someone).
Challenges
Much of what children and adolescents
learn about the world around them, including
things about the confusing yet critical issues of
sexuality and relationships, comes incidentally
through the distance senses of vision and hear-
ing. By observing other people, how they dress,
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