Sights for Hope Welcomes Orientation and Mobility Instructor Nadya Krause

By Sights for Hope Team |
Sights for Hope contract Orientation & Mobility Instructor Nadya Krause works with a client and her black guide dog during an outdoor travel lesson on a residential sidewalk.

Sights for Hope has welcomed Nadya Krause as its contract Orientation and Mobility (O&M) Instructor.

Part of Sights for Hope’s Life Skills Education services, one-on-one O&M instruction teaches people who are blind or have permanent visual impairments to navigate their homes and communities safely, independently, and confidently.

O&M instruction is considered a foundational service after significant or complete vision loss because it helps people learn to move safely and independently. However, certified O&M specialists are scarce, making timely access to training a challenge in most communities.

Krause has been a Certified Orientation and Mobility Specialist (COMS) through the Academy for Certification of Vision Rehabilitation & Education Professionals (ACVREP) since 2009. She is one of approximately 200 certified O&M specialists in Pennsylvania.

Krause has been a full-time teacher of students with visual impairments and an O&M specialist for the Allentown School District since 2016. From 2009-2016, she taught students who were blind or had visual impairments for Colonial Intermediate Unit 20 in Easton, PA.

Krause earned her O&M certification through the former Salus University, now part of Drexel University, in Philadelphia. She also holds a bachelor’s degree in education from Kutztown University with concentrations in elementary education and education for people with visual impairments.

Sights for Hope is a nonprofit organization that empowers people to succeed however they see the world. Its programs and services build capabilities and confidence in people who are blind or have visual impairments, equip children to read in kindergarten, and enrich people’s lives with habits that protect their eyesight. Sights for Hope has proudly served Pennsylvania’s Lehigh Valley since 1928 and Monroe County since 2003. It is an independent member of the Pennsylvania Association for the Blind (PAB) and the multi-national VisionServe Alliance.

Image: Sights for Hope contract Orientation & Mobility Instructor Nadya Krause works with a client and her black guide dog during an outdoor travel lesson on a residential sidewalk.