The RT program is aimed at helping persons with blindness and visual impairments gain skills suitable for the workplace. Rehabilitation teachers help participants with communication, orientation, mobility and daily living skills, so that they feel more confident at home, on the job, and in the community.

They could be described as liaisons, case managers, or even "teachers of tricks." For people facing vision loss, rehabilitation teachers at KSBVI are invaluable. They teach "tricks" such as how to cook for yourself when you cannot see the temperature gauge on the stove. They serve as a bridge that allows participants who feel unsure of themselves due to vision loss to cross back into the world of everyday life. They are often the first people contacted when someone is losing their vision.

"We teach personal adjustment to vision loss. It is the real ‘life skills' part of the program," said Nancy Johnson, who has been a rehabilitation teacher for nearly 20 years.

Rehabilitation teachers also prepare participants for the next steps in adjusting to vision loss, such as seeking and maintaining employment. "You can't go to work if you don't know how to use transportation or have the skills to present yourself well to an employer," Ms. Johnson said. "If you don't have confidence in normal, day-to-day things, you probably don't have the confidence to do a job."

Ms. Johnson is blind and uses a cane. She calls her condition an advantage in her job, which involves going to the homes of people who call for assistance when vision loss becomes a problem. She said: "It adds credibility when I walk in as a blind person. Being a role model is an important part of the job. They begin to perceive a blind person as an independent, working person.

Ms. Johnson also said: "Once they see that I go to work every day, they ask things like ‘how do you get there?' This is your perfect ‘in' to tell them about the training at RCBVI. I tell them: ‘If you go there, they can teach you things like how to use the bus.' It gives them hope in all these areas."

As for the oven trick: "You put a little adhesive sticker with a raised dot on the oven temperature knob, or sometimes use textured paint," she said. "There are all kinds of tricks, tricks for survival."

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