Also an instructor of blind and low vision, although I usually work with adults or late teens. But one thing that I often see they need more soft skills, and life skills. Off the top of my head, I can think of 5 teenages I am working with who are severely lacking in them. I know late teenagers who can't zip up their coats, can't make themsevles a snack (such as a sandwich) or clean up after themselves after a meal. On a less severe note, I can think of plenty more who don't know how to do laundry, keep track of their own schedules or do basic problem solving (such as using Voiceover to figure where the nearest Starbucks is).

Social skills as well, although I'm not sure if that is something you would be teaching, or if the parents should be doing more.

I wish we could've had some sort of training in how to deal with public systems (care, money, applying for things, assistance). Basically a "what to do if you find yourself out of luck" course.

This is a hard question for me, and it's probably going to result in a lot of writing. Also, I liked my TVI's, so this is more about flaws in the system that I don't know how to solve, than anything. Sorry in advance!

First, I'll start off with the good stuff. I loved all my TVIs, and had a strong, close relationship with each one. While there were several TVIs working in that school system who weren't trained in Braille, I never worked with any of them. In fact, I only learned about the problems with some TVIs because all blind/VI students got to attend a 2 night camp together every year, and so all the blind students in that school system got to know and work with each other quite well. That yearly camp, even though it took us out of school for two days a year, was a hugely important experience for us students. Swapping tips, information, experiences, and just plain old gossip meant a lot. Even if it did sometimes result in the blind students banding together to try and get school board policies changed. Also, when you're a teenager, knowing that you're not alone, and that there are other blind students having the same struggles you are is a huge comfort. I made my best blind friends at that yearly camp, and still talk to some of them daily ten years later.

Now I'll give some examples of the bad stuff. Even though all of my TVIs were wonderful, there were problems that I don't think they had the power to change, and that left me with an overall negative impression of the mainstream educational experience. First off, in Canada, French is a required class. Unfortunately, my school had one French teacher for grades 5 to 8, and she was awful. Once she actually said directly to me, in front of the entire class, "You should be going to a school for the blind, so I don't have to deal with you." As far as I can recall, this was in response to my asking if a picture she was showing could be described. Obviously, that teacher had absolutely zero interest in working with my TVI to make sure lessons were accessible, or that any of the material was in Braille. My TVI did her best, but thanks, I believe, to a strong union, she didn't have the power to get teachers fired, or do much of anything other than complain ineffectively about how terrible my French teacher was. In fact, there was work to rule going on in the school system off and on during my time there, and the French teacher would actually complain about other teachers who took extra time to help me, for undermining the work to rule position. I was eventually just exempted from the French requirement entirely, and allowed to graduate high school without it. By the time I hit high school and got better teachers, I was so far behind from 4 years of bad instruction, that it was decided I couldn't catch up. What could a TVI have done differently, here? I really don't know. But to this day, I don't speak a word of French.

Another big problem I had was math. I wanted to take computer science in university, and in order to do that, I needed to take advanced math in high school. In this case, though, I actually liked my math teacher, and I really do think he did his best. However, the advanced math curriculum he had to teach was just awful. It focused heavily on graphing, visual learning, and use of the school supplied graphing calculators. I was given an accessible graphing calculator, of course. However, it worked in a completely different way from the ones the rest of the students were using, had some features they didn't have, and was missing some features they had. My TVI hadn't taken advanced math during his school days, so was really at a loss helping me through the curriculum. Also, neither me nor my TVI got any training on the accessible graphing calculator I was using, and had to figure out how I could draw graphs to complete the assignments that required them. It got to the point where I was spending 3 or 4 hours a night on my math homework, plus daily meetings with my math teacher, just to try and figure out the point of the assignment, and then come up with some way I could complete it. But I was passing the course! The downside, of course, was that I was putting all of my time and energy exclusively into that class, and failing almost everything else. It got to the point where I had no choice but to drop the advanced math. I went on to attend university in journalism, largely because I had good English marks and enjoyed writing, rather than because I had any interest at all in Journalism. Today I work with computers every day, and sure wish I had that comp-sci degree. What could have been done differently here? I don't know. Everyone did there best to help me, but the teachers don't get to change the curriculum, and didn't have the resources or training they'd have needed to make it easier for me.

So...those are some thoughts for you, on the off-chance reflections from a blind former student might be useful.

I had a great couple of TVIs growing up, but a lot of the things about soft skills, life skills, etc, I got from other programs outside of school.

I wish my TVI had taught me the basics of how to do taxes. I did NOT want to learn the braille math code, (nemeth, i think it was?) but the basics of how the system works would have been nice.

I wish my TVI had also been a kung-fu instructer.

I wish my TVI had been able to give me more adaptive resources like sticker bumps or information on where to get them.

I wish my school taught me not to put up with sighted peoples' bullshit, instead of accepting my place as a disabled, "second-class" citizen with special needs.

I wish my 7th grade social studies teacher wasn't a heartless person who tried to insist I hand-write things while I still could instead of letting me learn the technology I would need literally two years later.

I wish my school paid for more of the software and tools I've needed to replace since I graduated.

I'm glad I had the good teachers I had, and that I had parents who were able to recognize "Well, he's going to have to learn this crap himself some day," and make me do it even if it was hard with my shitty eyes. I'm glad I had patient TVIs who were willing to get to know me and help me understand that if I wanted a place in a world run by the sighties, I had to take it by the short hairs.

To the TVIs and teachers who help blind/VI kids, thank you. Keep doing your best. It means the world.