Cheryl Evans, Specialist Teacher of VI

Testimonial: Impact on young people

Cheryl Evans – Specialist Teacher for Vision Impairment

Cheryl is a specialist teacher for visual impairment, providing services to special and mainstream schools for children aged 0 – 19 in Wales. She is part of a team that has 7 Qualified Teachers of Vision Impairments (QTVIs) and two-part time mobility officers working across a number of settings.

She began working as a QTVI in 2012 and Positive Eye’s Director Gwyneth McCormack was a tutor on the course she attended. After meeting Gwyneth she incorporated many of Positive Eye’s resources into her practice, and uses them both in schools and at training sessions. Among the resources Cheryl uses are the Braille Literacy Pack and the Easy / Easier Postbox and Who’s in the Driving Seat programmes, which are designed to help the child engage with their own learning, set goals and attain independence and social skills.

Gwyneth also delivered a course for teenage girls on how to apply make-up. Cheryl worked with Positive Eye and Boots, and reports that the girls – many of whom do not have the chance to discuss make up and fashion at home – were delighted with the results and really grew in confidence.

Cheryl says, “I find the Positive Eye range of resources really easy to use and if I am working with Learning Support Assistants I always point them to the Positive Eye website where they can get some really top tips. I also recommend it to parents because it is a trusted resource and also makes the information so easily accessible to people. Gwyneth has done the research and found the most useful information so anything on the site is going to be good.

Gwyneth herself is really helpful too, always ready to answer questions or offer advice. Positive Eye helps students to become involved in their own learning. I worked with one girl who wrote the points in her own statement after working with us, and she now has a place at Cardiff University studying history.”