[nabs-l] blind person becoming a teacher

[Kelsey Nicolay]

Hello,
I completed my undergraduate studies in communications and 
French, but I am finding that the French is not being useful to 
me at all since "ow are no jobs in the French field.  
Communications is a little better.  However, ever since I started 
tutoring my two students, especially my student who is in 
kindergarten, I think I would like to go back to school at some 
point to become a teacher.  Family members keep telling me that 
there is no way I could be a teacher, but I think otherwise.  I 
went to a work and learn camp in 2007 with a girl who wanted to 
be a preschool teacher.  I don't know if she eventually persued 
that or not, but she was talking about it.  We both had the same 
eye condition but she had a little more vision than I do but she 
is still considered legally blind and uses Braille and JAWS.  So 
my question is, what do you think about this? Can someone who is 
totally blind be a teacher? I already decided that I would not 
want middle or high school, but early childhood would be ok, 
especially kindergarten.  Did anyone major in education or are 
you majoring in education right now that you could give me some 
suggestions on how I could make this happen? I know I would 
probably need an aide in the classroom, right? Also, how would I 
manage my class effectively without vision? I think I would want 
to teach kindergarten or first grade.
"To ó please share your thoughts and experiences.
Thanks,
Kelsey Nicolay