American Action Fund for Blind Children and Adults
Future Reflections Special Issue: COVID and Beyond LETTER FROM THE EDITOR
COVID-19: Lessons for the Future
by Deborah Kent Stein
For more than a year now students, parents, and teachers have been coping with a world turned upside down by the COVID-19 pandemic. COVID restrictions shut down schools and left families struggling to manage childcare and online classes. Many blind and low-vision students didn't have the technology they needed at home or lacked the computer skills necessary for handling remote classes.
Nevertheless, the upheavals of the past year have led to breakthroughs for many students and their families. Free from inaccessible print handouts and handwritten assignment sheets, blind students found themselves on a level playing field with their sighted classmates. Without paraprofessionals hovering nearby they grew adept at advocating for themselves, communicating directly with their teachers to explain what they needed.
The articles in this issue of Future Reflections look at our COVID year from many perspectives. Jackie Anderson and Janna Kowalik share the challenges and discoveries of teaching remotely. Beth Sellers and Carla Keirns reflect upon their experiences managing their children's virtual schooling. Terri Rupp explains how remote education has given her family the chance to explore new horizons. Penny Duffy and her daughter, Abby, look back on the past year and offer a glimpse into Abby's experiences returning to in-person school at last.
Leading off this issue of Future Reflections is a thoughtful article by Gary Wunder, "The Things We Must Dare to Say." A longtime Federationist and editor of the NFB’s flagship publication, Braille Monitor, Gary Wunder looks at the ways today's education system fails our blind and low-vision students all too often. Were blind children better served in the years before mainstreaming, when resource rooms and residential schools were the norm? For the chance to live at home with their families and attend their neighborhood schools, must blind students sacrifice intensive instruction in Braille, keyboarding, and the other nonvisual skills they need for success? Perhaps our experiences with remote education offer some exciting new possibilities. We welcome your thoughts and ideas!
In these troubled times I hope that you and yours are well. I look forward to meeting you at the 2021 NFB National Convention, "anywhere and everywhere."