This course is designed to help those new to the Older Individuals who are Blind (OIB) program to become acquainted with basic history, program requirements, factors that affect OIB programs, critical issues in service delivery, best practices, and the Independent Living Older Individuals who are Blind Technical Assistance and Training Center (IL OIB-TAC). Participants will learn terminology, acronyms, and issues common to OIB programs. Additional IL OIB-TAC resources are suggested throughout the course.

This course is available for 1-hour ACVREP and NBPCB credit.

Course Objectives:

1. Identify the legislation that established the OIB program
2. Identify the allowable services with OIB funding
3. Identify reports that need to be completed for the OIB program
4. Identify common terminology and acronyms used in the OIB program
5. Identify eligibility criteria for OIB services
6. Identify three levels of technical assistance available through the IL OIB-TAC

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: