I am an advisory teacher for vision impairment (ATVI). My Fellowship is to research cerebral vision impairment (CVI) in children and young people. CVI is a brain-based vision impairment which until recently was thought to be rare. However, new research has revealed that CVI affects one child in a class of 30.

In my role as an ATVI, I have a significant number of children on my caseload who have a diagnosis of CVI. I plan to visit the CVI Centre at the Perkins Institute for the Blind in Boston, Massachusetts. As the Perkins Institute is a school, my research project will be enhanced by meeting and talking to other school professionals, observing children who have a CVI diagnosis, observing the specialist CVI assessments and the individualised intervention programmes, and day-to-day classroom practice.

I plan to share this most current CVI knowledge with parents and carers, school staff and sensory services. In a sense, to lead the change so that CVI is understood more widely.

Every child with CVI, no matter where they live or how their CVI manifests, has a right to early diagnosis, effective vision services and accessible educational programmes.