This course provides introductory information for professionals who will be working with those who are blind or visually impaired. It was created for professionals who are just entering the field.

This course is available for CRC, ACVREP, and NBPCB credit.

Course Objectives:

1. Learn the definitions of blindness and low vision
2. Understand the stereotypes of blindness
3. Understand the socioeconomic impact of blindness
4. Understand barriers to social acceptance

The following are recommended screen reader and browser combinations.

Mac: Voiceover with the latest version of Safari,

PC: JAWS or NVDA with Firefox

Note that currently, course quizzes are not functioning properly for Microsoft screen reader users with Chrome or Edge.

The course shows a start date, but this is simply the date the course was made available to the public. They are self-paced. So, there is not an end date. You can enroll at any time.

This course was developed by the National Research & Training Center on Blindness and Low Vision (NRTC) at Mississippi State University. We are the only national center funded to conduct research related to employment for people with blindness or low vision, and training and technical assistance for the federal Older Individuals who are Blind program. As a national center of excellence, we offer resources on a variety of topics for service providers, businesses, and persons with vision loss on our websites:

For daily content relevant to the field of blindness and low vision, connect with us on social media: