The CVI pathway is an approach to learning how to understand the person's visual world from their perspective, that is inside-out, as opposed to understanding their world from our own perspective (outside-in) which is not possible.
To make sense we need to have a recap. If any of the following are unclear, please revisit the relevant section.
It helps a lot to have:
With this understanding, the number of different factors working together, affecting the person's visual world are huge, and too complicated for any sort of overall standardised measurement. With this in mind the next step is to demonstrate a pathway, using everything listed in the recap, to help you learn to understand the person's visual world, from inside out.
This step we've called the CVI Pathway which follows the same route through the brain as explained at the end of the Understand Section. However, before considering the effects and impact of CVI, you need some background information, including for example:
These sections described above we have called Pre CVI.
With this information we follow the pathway through the visual brain, in the order the brain processes vision. This is a scientifically based model of thinking but we are just using everyday language to explain it.
The visual brain processes in the following order:
At the end of Level 3 you should have a better understanding of how the person's visual world differs from yours, and the impact that difference has on their behaviour, actions and decision making process.
You are learning how to see their alternative world. Even if they do not face any other challenges, their CVI will have an impact on their whole being, not just their visual world.
Everything that has previously been described will be explained in much more detail, but using real examples. Each example will have multiple applications which will be listed. All explanations will follow this CVI Pathway in order.
Understanding and applying the CVI Pathway is a skill that improves with practice and over time becomes second nature. Eventually you will learn to understand the person's alternative visual world without even thinking about it. The knowledge you already have about the person is unique, and the CVI Pathway is a way to guide that knowledge through a process and turn it into understanding.
At the end of each example Further Suggestions will be considered, and a more technical explanation offered (in The Technical Stuff).
This may seem like a very complicated and long process, but with practice quickly becomes second nature, as Connor's mother explains:
"The reality is that very quickly it becomes intuitive, without consciously processing I know based on the external environment and how Connor is feeling whether something is going to be challenging, appropriate, fun, awful, and make decisions accordingly - I'm applying the CVI Pathway - I don't need to think about whether he has any OVI or if he is affected by a seizure, I know all that, I know without thinking now if things are big enough, if there is sufficient contrast, where it is in his visual field and then the further challenges. It's like learning to swing a golf club - when you start there are about eight things you have to learn (feet, weight, grip, shoulders, head etc, but with practice you just know how to swing. When I think about it in full it's long, but when I apply it in practice it is so intuitive now it's barely conscious."
As has been mentioned several times throughout this website, it is not possible to absolutely know someone else's reality. This process is to help you learn to understand if it might be CVI, and if so which strategies would be most useful.
To demonstrate we have used some genuine case studies, where CVI has been diagnosed, and also where behaviours might suggest CVI.
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