This course is designed to assist professionals in becoming familiar with the concepts of ethical and cultural competence needed to work with people who are blind or visually impaired. This first course on the subject provides a background and understanding of the topics and then gives case studies on respecting others’ rights and values and advocating for them. 

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

Course Objectives:

1. Assist rehabilitation counselors and/or rehabilitation professionals in becoming familiar with the concepts of ethical and cultural competence that is needed to work with people who are blind and vision-impaired.
2. Assist these professionals in identifying and exploring their ethical obligations when working with this population.
3. Identify ethical codes that can be specifically linked to challenges rehabilitation counselors and professionals may encounter when working with people who are blind and visually impaired.
4. Provide examples of ethical dilemmas that rehabilitation counselors and/or professionals may face and discuss potential conflicts, ramifications, and consequences that are potential outcomes based on the counselor's decisions.
5. Discuss strategies that rehabilitation counselors and/or professionals can employ in order to ensure the provision of ethically sound services when working with people who are blind and vision-impaired.
6. Identify and discuss strategies that rehabilitation counselors and/or professionals can implement when confronted with making ethical decisions while working with individuals who are blind and visually 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: