Senior Instructor: Kristopher I. Crawley
Hey there,
My name is Kristopher Idrees Crawley. I am the creator of VO Academy and one of the senior instructors of this program. Please continue reading to learn a little about me.
About Me
I have spent my career teaching in the field of vocational rehabilitation (VR) over the last several years where I specialized in curriculum development. VR provided me the opportunity to work with blind youth, adults, and our older population on a variety of non-visual skills such as Braille, orientation & mobility (cane travel), assistive technology (A.T.) training and consulting, self-advocacy, and work readiness. I have also contracted with a number of VR agencies to provide services such as accessibility consulting, A.T. training, and pre-employment transition services (Pre-ETS).
Working with blind and vision impaired (BVI) individuals became a passion for me after attending a vocational rehabilitation center for the blind myself. During this program I began tutoring other students and I learned not only the importance of these skills, but I also learned that I could motivate and teach others how to become independent and achieve their individual goals, whether that was in academics, professional spaces, or independence in their home.
After completing my program I began thinking about how I could best serve the BVI community. Over the next few years I gained experience in ecommerce, digital marketing, accessibility consulting, and entrepreneurship before beginning a career in vocational rehabilitation. I obtained certifications in JAWS, ZoomText, NVDA, and Digital Accessibility while teaching non-visual independence in the states of Florida and South Carolina.
I created this program to provide a virtual learning environment for individuals, students, professionals, and organizations to both expand and validate their knowledge of assistive technology and other non-visual tools and techniques. In-person training is not for everyone, and is not possible for all. My hope is that this platform provides an environment that can benefit our community as a whole.
