Visually-impaired educator helps guide New Caney students

New Caney resident Vicki Albrecht has been considered legally blind for nearly a decade. She suffers from a condition known as retinitis pigmentosa, or more commonly known as tunnel vision.

According to the National Library of Medicine, this condition is a degenerative eye disease that leads to visual impairment. While some individuals exhibit symptoms as early on as infancy, others do not show any signs of the condition until much later in life, as is the case with Albrecht, who also suffers complications with hearing loss, caused by contracting measles at an early age.

While regaining her independence and learning to live with visual impairment, Albrecht attended Criss Cole Rehabilitation Center in Austin.

There, she learned skills associated with living and working as a blind person, such as orientation and mobility (O & M), daily living skills, career development, technology and learning to read Braille, while also attending numerous seminars devoted to adjusting to a life with blindness.

When I was at Criss Cole, there was a Braille workshop, cooking, cleaning; everything you would use in your daily life, said Albrecht, who credits fellow staff member Kellee Costello with her position at the school. Kellee, who is one of the VI teachers, as well as my O & M trainer, told me about the job here. I started working for the district through her and she has been a lifesaver.

Albrecht teaches visually impaired students in the district daily living life skills.

She also credits her service dog, Dolly, with many of her day-to-day accomplishments.

Dolly, who is one of three trained service dogs owned by Albrecht, is very good with the students, and has been trained to not be easily distracted while on duty.

She is my eyes, said Albrecht. The children ask a lot of questions but I really have no issues with it at all. I try to make sure people know that if they interfere with Dolly, then it could be disastrous for me. People typically respond very well.

Another positive aspect of having a guide dog like Dolly is that it allows for more independence.

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Visually-impaired educator helps guide New Caney students