Podcast Summary:
Your next chapter starts before you set foot on campus. Join Jeff Thompson and Leighann Fuller, visually impaired service coordinator at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville, for a practical conversation about making the leap from high school to college. Leighann shares her own experience navigating vision loss during her master’s program and explains why students must take the lead in requesting college accommodations. From accessible textbooks and screen reader skills to finding classrooms, doing laundry, and making dinner, this episode explores what independence really looks like. Discover how disability services, vocational rehabilitation, summer programs, and connections with other blind students can help you prepare. Parents will hear ways to support growing independence while encouraging students to speak up, solve problems, and ask for help before frustration becomes a crisis. Whether college feels exciting, intimidating, or both, Leighann’s message is clear: you can do this, and support is there for the journey.
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