Searching For Careers Involving Creativity and Working With People(self.Blind)
submitted by TheBlindBookLover
Hi. I consider myself to be a very creative person. I love making things and helping people. I am two years into a bachelors degree in psychology. For a while, I considered becoming a teacher for the visually impaired, yet I recognize that I don’t necessarily want my life to be all blindness all the time. I am interested in this career, but I realize that I need to keep my options open. I am interested in becoming an art therapist, but you kind of need vision to see what your client is making if the art piece isn’t tactile. I once loved to draw, and would have gone into something like animation or graphic design if I didn’t have a visual impairment. My vision is degenerative, so doing things with low vision adaptations just isn’t realistic in the long term. My current level of vision is like looking through straws. I currently use screen readers, Braille, and the whole nine yards. If you work in or know of a creative field that is accessible, I would love to hear your suggestions.
retrolental_morose3 points3y ago
not a helpful comment but ...
I'm a teacher of the visually-impaired. I didn't plan to be - in I had a fairly boring administrative job beforehand and just sort of ... fell into it. I teach the use of IT and access technology, and my creativity comes in finding solutions to problems outside manuals and training materials. I regularly write software or scripts to adjust things for my students needs, and find making their use of technology more effective a very worthwhile career path.
sorry — not very useful OP
TheBlindBookLover [OP]2 points3y ago
Hi. Thanks for responding. I agree that that there’s plenty of room for creativity as a VI teacher. I think that you get to exercise your creativity in the VI world even more so than traditional teaching out of pure necessity. That is one of the things that I like about this career. I have done some volunteering, and I enjoy how you can adjust your approach to meet every student’s needs.
I just want to consider opportunities outside of the blindness world. Being stuck in all blindness all the time just feels a bit suffocating. I want to work in this career, but I don’t know if I want to do it for the rest of my life. I have good and bad days as far as vision related things go. I don’t want to be in a position in which I cannot be emotionally available to my students because I am going through a rough period related to blindness.
retrolental_morose2 points3y ago
I've got no, nor never had any sight, and am lucky to be quite a ... resigned? person to it all. Emotionally at least. As I said, I sort of fell into the job, but whilst I feel I can make a positive difference I'm happy to keep it up. I can really see wanting to do something apart from being visually-impaired, but I guess for me, it's one of my strengths.
BlueRock9562 points3y ago
Just with what you wrote, I thought about recommending life coach. Check that career out.
TheBlindBookLover [OP]1 points3y ago
This sounds intriguing. I just did some light research into becoming a life coach, and I am open to the idea. I also like how this field does not seem as emotionally charged as traditional careers in psychology. I will definitely keep thinking about it and continue to research this career. Thanks for the response.
[deleted]1 points3y ago
Honestly, “creativity” and “working with people” are words I would use to define my job—and I work in blind rehabilitation. There are so many avenues you can go down in this field; you don’t have to be a TVI. You can be a Certified Orientation and Mobility Specialist, Vision Rehabilitation Therapist, Assistive Technology Instructor, Braille Transcriptionist, etc. I think telling your students how you feel and being “emotionally unavailable” would cause students to respect you more. I hate when people act positive and upbeat all the time—it is not realistic. Life sucks sometimes, whether you are blind or not, and it is okay to share these feelings with others, including your students.
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