Different Levels of Visual Impairment & the 7 Vectors

I, embarrassingly, need to admit a very poor assumption that I made about Drake.  I assumed that the fact that he was visually impaired met that he was blind.  WOW!  That is not necessarily true.  A quick browse online quickly showed me that visually impaired can mean a number of things. If you are visually impaired it doesn't necessarily mean you are blind.  The terms partially sighted, low vision, legally blind, and totally blind are often used in the educational context to describe students with visual impairments.

In reading through Chickering & Reisser's seven vectors of development this week and discussing them in class, I initially related the seven vecotors to my life and my personal, professional, and academic experience.  The more we discussed the seven vectors in class, the more I thought about Drake and how this model might apply to him.  The vectors include developing confidence, managing emotions, moving through autonomy toward interdependence, developing mature interpersonal relationships, establishing identity, developing purpose, and developing integrity.  We learned that the vectors are broad themes and are best pictured by a spiral or steps and not a straight line.  The vectors do build on each other, but they are not sequential.  I wonder what vecotrs Drake feels are his strengths.  How does the fact that he is visually impaired affect his ability to develop confidence, manage his emotions, move through autonomy toward interdependence, etc.?  My assumption is that Drake would experience some challenge with each of the vectors due to his visual impairment.  And the vector I think he would find most challenging during the college years is moving through autonomy toward interdependence since this vector moves one away from the need for constant approval, involves taking action to solve your own problems, and interdependence.  I also think that Drake has problems developing mature relationships because it has to do with rebalancing the need for autonomy and attachment and the capacity for intimacy.  Drake probably has a difficult time making friends on campus and sharing at a deeper level with others.  The fact that Drake is a white male, with visual impairments, shapes the context of psychosocial development.  Psychosocial development is skills-based and there are age-related developmental tasks that need to be successfully resolved for continued development and maturity. New situations or stress may require the need to revisit tasks or relearn coping strategies.  Depending on the level of Drake's visual impairment, he may find himself in new situations and/or situations that invoke stress quite frequently as he navigates campus, attends class, participates in campus activities, etc.  He may or may not be certain about who he is, what he believes, who he loves, and what he wants to do.  When matched against other white males in a collegiate setting, he may not earn the level of respect he desires and deserves due to his visual impairment.