[humanser] Questions about Use of Aira in Counseling Work, Disclosures about Blindness, Readers, etc.

[Miranda]

While I cannot personally speak to the first two questions you pose, I would like to share my experience with your final question. I do not generally bring up my blindness in my internship, unless I am asked questions by clients. My blindness to is obvious, as I have a dog guide and use assistive technology. However, I believe that a conversation about my blindness could in itself be distracting, and my clients in my internships have not seemed to be concerned with my blindness. I have met with clients in group settings, and I will be meeting with clients on an individual basis more this semester. Just for a bit of background, I am in the final semester of my bachelors of science in social work.
I hope that the sharing of my experience is helpful.

Sent from my iPhone

> On Feb 18, 2019, at 4:53 PM, Sarah Meyer via HumanSer <humanser at nfbnet.org> wrote:
> 
> Hello,
> 
> I am writing with a few questions that have come up for me as I am on
> Master's Internship.
> 
> 1. Has anyone here used, or requested use of, Aira as an accommodation
> while completing essential tasks of your job as a therapist or social
> worker? I am particularly interested in hearing from those who are
> bound to HIPAA and FERPA compliance. I tried to get my internship site
> to explore Aira because I've had so many accessibility challenges
> within our database and being able to read assessment scores in a
> timely fashion, among other things, and when they heard that Aira
> wouldn't be working towards getting their HIPAA certification until
> Q2, they stopped having follow-up conversations. Aira was even willing
> to take a look at and possibly sign a privacy document that my
> counseling center was wanting vendors to sign (they have all outside
> consultants sign for confidentiality purposes).
> 2. If you use a reader or a service like Aira, would you include this
> in a consent for treatment or confidentiality disclosure as a blind
> provider? I could make an argument either way. I can see how allowing
> clients/patients to know this before seeing me seems like the best and
> most respectful thing to do of their privacy; yet at the same time, if
> these are accommodations that I use in order to provide care, then is
> it necessary? I hope this question makes sense.
> 3. Another question to therapists, social workers, psychologists
> (anyone treating clients): do you discuss your blindness with clients?
> If so, when, and how? Are there some settings in which you do disclose
> and others in which you do not? I personally cannot hide the fact that
> I'm blind; my cane is very obvious, my eyes jiggle and I can't make
> eye contact, and I use Braille and alternative technology. So, for me,
> it is more a question of do I bring what is in the room but not openly
> discussed out into the open?  So far, I have made a brief statement,
> acknowledging that I am blind and may at times use some different
> technology, and welcoming any questions/concerns about how this may
> impact treatment. I have done this with my individual clients and some
> groups; however I am getting ready to begin process observing a loss
> and grief group where I may eventually take on more co-leadership, but
> for now I will be silently observing. I am trying to decide if it
> would be helpful to clients or unnecessary to discuss the blindness
> factor, thus I was curious what others have thought and done depending
> on situation. To be honest, I would like to not always have the
> blindness conversation with a client, but my supervisor encouraged me
> that if I do it might help clients to know about the tech I use so it
> isn't as distracting to them.
> 
> Thanks for any thoughts you may have.
> 
> Sarah
> 
> -- 
> Sarah K. Meyer
> Graduate Student, Clinical Mental Health Counseling
> Ball State University
> sarah.meyer55 at gmail.com
> (317)402-6632
> 
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