This course is targeted to individuals who are new to the field of blindness and low vision, providing them with foundational information on critical matters within this multidisciplinary field. This introductory course will orient new professionals and paraprofessionals to the broad principles and basic facts necessary for functioning effectively in providing services to people with blindness and low vision.

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

Course Objectives:

1. Describe the terminology related to parts of the eye, common eye conditions, and functional limitations related to vision loss;
2. Know how to courteously interact with individuals with vision loss;
3. Identify the eye care/rehabilitation professionals who work with blind and vision impaired individuals;
4. Describe some strategies and access technologies used by blind and vision impaired individuals; and
5. Identify key service and membership organizations that exist for the benefit of individuals who are blind or vision impaired.

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: