Student Spotlight: Matthew Brown

Student Spotlight: Matthew Brown

Program: Visual Disabilities Education (BS/MS)

Hometown Brandon, Florida

How did you discover the field of visual disabilities?

The way I discovered the field of visual disabilities education was serendipitous. It all started when I was working as a paraprofessional for the school district of Hillsborough County, where I worked alongside certified teachers in self-contained and general education classrooms assisting those students with special needs. I fell in love with it so much that I decided to pursue a college degree to become one of those certified teachers.

After graduating with my associate degree at a community college, I continued on to the University of South Florida for a bachelor’s in special education where things all changed. As I was completing practicum hours for a course, I decided to attend Braille Challenge—an annual competition for students with visual impairments to put their braille skills to the test. Upon walking in, I immediately found myself caught up in wonder as I’ve never been around those with visual impairments before. The sounds of travel canes tapping through the halls, teachers and parents in conversation about how well their students are brailling and students laughing together as they explore the various activity tables at the event—I had to know more about it.

What made you choose FSU?

When I was at Braille Challenge, I was approached by Sue Glaser (M.S. ‘01), the statewide educational specialist for visual impairments from the Florida Instructional Materials Center for the Visually Impaired and talked with her about all the wonderful things happening at the event. It came to my attention that she was also an advisor for Florida State’s visual disabilities education satellite program based out of St. Petersburg, Florida and she gave me all the information about how to apply. So, in all reality, FSU chose me. Being accepted to Florida State was such an honor, and as a first-time university student (and now graduate) in my family, receiving that acceptance letter meant the most to my late mother and myself.

Tell us about a memorable experience you’ve had in the program.

Our program has a course dedicated to independent living skills and how to teach these skills to those who are blind or visually impaired. In this course, my colleagues and I were placed under blindfold and were asked to teach or complete various tasks relating to general living skills, such as eating, cooking, cleaning, organizing, etc. Anything relating to being a self-sustaining individual in terms of taking care of oneself—just one aspect our students with visual and/or multiple impairments need direct experience with to understand and gain conceptual knowledge about. Otherwise, other people will continue to do everything for them and will instill a sense of learned helplessness.

As we rounded out the semester in that course, my colleagues and I were asked to participate in a dinner while blindfolded. What a daunting task! Putting myself in the shoes of an individual with a visual impairment and taking all the skills I had learned thus far and putting them to the test (I was only a junior at the time and fresh to the program). I cannot tell you how frustrating the experience was. I never knew if the waiter was speaking to me or someone else, or if she was even next to me when I was ordering, my food and drink were placed in front of me without me even knowing (so that was a mess), and when trying to pay, I had no idea where I was signing. Good thing I had everything organized so I knew which card I was using while paying!

This all goes to show you what these individuals who are blind or visually impaired have to contend with on a daily basis when just leaving their house, and how blissfully unaware we were to how prepared and organized one must be to just leave the house! But this is where we as educators come in; we have to teach these skills not only to accommodate for their visual impairment, but to also accommodate for the unintentional ignorance of others. Introduce oneself, make it known you’re there. If you want to help someone with a visual impairment, offer assistance verbally first. And if you’re going to set down a tray of drinks next to me while I’m blindfolded, make sure you let me (or anyone with a visual impairment) know, or the entire section of the restaurant will have to be mopped. It’s up to you.

What are your plans for after graduation?

I expect to jump straight into work and hone these skills I have been adding to my repertoire to help educate those students with visual and multiple impairments. It’s been a while since I was last in a classroom, and I miss it terribly. This time, however, I will be back with a new, more specialized purpose to help these students gain the skills they need to live as much of an independent life as possible, provide unique, individualized instruction tailored to the needs of my students and to have fun doing it.

What’s something about this field that you want people to know?

I want people to know that these students, or anyone with a visual impairment, are much more capable than what people tend to give them credit for. We as future teachers of the visually impaired, as parents, as students, or as a society must start seeing individuals with visual impairment as who they really are: regular people. These individuals have likes and dislikes, work 9 – 5 jobs, attend AP classes and crush their courses and travel the globe, but they have a visual impairment and do it with a white cane. The stigma must end, but the fight for equity must continue as we advocate for the rights of our students and clients.

What would you tell someone who’s considering a career as a teacher of the visually impaired (TVI) or orientation and mobility (O&M) specialist?

If you have any interest in becoming a teacher, a special education teacher, or specifically have an interest in visual disabilities education, I would say pay the program a visit and check us out online at education.fsu.edu/visual-disabilities. This would give you an idea of what we do here as students and faculty and how much dedication we put towards helping individuals with visual impairments learn the skills necessary for an independent life (as much as possible while maintaining personal safety). As one of my previous professors stated before, “We want to teach ourselves right out of a job,” meaning we want to teach the skills needed by an individual and for them to master those skills completely so that they no longer need us to function as a fully capable individual. And if you feel like this last statement may be the most rewarding of all, then I believe this field may be a good fit for you and encourage you to apply.