Residency in Low Vision Rehabilitation and Ocular Disease is offered by the Illinois College of Optometry in conjunction with the Chicago Lighthouse for People Who Are Blind or Visually Impaired and the Deicke Center for Visual Rehabilitation. 

The goal of this program is to provide residents with advanced clinical training in low vision rehabilitation, in an interdisciplinary as well as a private practice clinical setting, through:

• Prescribing low vision devices
• Prescribing low vision rehabilitation training
• Interacting with professionals in other disciplines
• Interacting with state agencies that serve people who are blind or visually impaired
• Low vision rehabilitation of children, working age adults, and seniors
• Low vision rehabilitation in various settings
• Diagnosis, treatment and management of ocular disease, with an emphasis on those conditions that frequently result in vision loss
• Use and interpretation of advanced diagnostic technologies
• Clinical and didactic teaching

Interaction with various programs for people who are blind or visually impaired, including job readiness and placement, a manufacturing facility that employs blind workers, a school for children with visual and other impairments, a program for individuals who are both deaf and blind and an adult living skills program, is an integral part of the residency.  In addition to the direct low vision patient care experience at the main Lighthouse facility and the Deicke House of Hope, the resident will have the opportunity to examine patients in a variety of satellite facilities and the Illinois Eye Institute.

The program also emphasizes advanced competency in the diagnosis, treatment and management of ocular disease, with a focus on those conditions that frequently result in vision loss.  This is accomplished through clinical rotations at the Illinois Eye Institute’s Center for Advanced Ophthalmic Care.  Residents will provide patient care in the Center’s Vitreo-retinal, Glaucoma and Urgent Care Services.  Rotations in Cornea and External Disease and Comprehensive Ophthalmology are included in the curriculum.


For more information, please contact:
Kara Crumbliss, O.D.
Director of Clinical Services
Phone: 312-997-3686
Fax: 312-997-3663