A case study of two music education majors with visual impairment

I made a campus visit [to another school] and you know, usually when you make a visit you get to meet with a professor in the department that you want to major in, and I went into the Music Department at that school with one of the heads of the department, and I was told that if I wanted to be successful I would have to change my major. They didn’t think I would be successful in music ed as a blind student. So that was kind of tough … I grew up in a smaller town and went to a smaller high school where everybody knew each other and were supportive and that’s how it is here. So that was the first time that I had been out of an environment where I had always been encouraged and it was discouraging to be told we don’t think you can do this, and that is really how I chose to come here. I knew I would get support and be encouraged rather than not be helped when I needed it.