Hope Springs from High Expectations

Authors: Emily Coleman, Superintendent, Texas School for the Blind and Visually Impaired, TSBVI

While recently crafting a message to staff, I came upon research stating that what employees need most in 2025 is Hope. Hope isn’t just optimism and saying everything is OK; hope is about building a roadmap to a better future. When times are uncertain, we can ask ourselves what is in our control to improve for us and our students. One thing I know for sure is that we can be in control of setting higher expectations.

Lately, I’ve been considering the concept of deficit thinking and the role this plays in the lives of our students. Deficit thinking is part of implicit and explicit bias that our students face every day. When students are struggling with academics, daily living skills, or any path to independence, they can be met with high expectations, or they can be met with deficit thinking.

When we expect students to struggle to meet goals because they have low vision, because they are blind, or because of any other disabilities, this is deficit thinking. This is the opposite of hope. Instead, we can expect students to succeed and ask ourselves how we can provide better instruction, how we can eliminate barriers to learning, and how we can make sure content and communication are accessible. This is expecting success and growth, and finding a way to make it happen. This is hope.

Personally, I want to be an educator who brings hope to the table. Imagine in five, ten, or twenty years when one of our students or families thinks back on the impact we had on their lives. We want them to remember the hope that was given to them that positively changed their future. We all have those stories about school and the adults that shaped our journey, and I want the story about TSBVI to be a good one.

TSBVI exists, and we need to have hope for the future, because deficit thinking is a real barrier to our students within their community and world. We need to make sure it’s not a barrier at TSBVI, too. We can eliminate it by raising expectations. We can empower our students. I asked our staff to define “empower” and received many great responses. I entered their replies into Chat GPT, or what the kids are calling “Chatty.” Chatty shared that the main themes emerging were independence, skill development, support systems, choice and autonomy, confidence building, community connection, and real-world preparation. These are the ways we can eliminate deficit thinking, empower students, and offer hope.

While taking my son with multiple disabilities to Morgan’s Wonderland, he developed a sunburn where sunscreen was accidentally missed. Although it wasn’t severe, the irritation was enough that he kept talking about it. I offered to help, and to each suggestion, Eddie said, “No.” “Lotion is cancelled.” I asked Eddie what he wanted, and he said, “Cut.” I said, “Cut what?” He said, “Cut it off.” I said, “Cut your arm off?” To which he replied, “Yes.” At this moment, I knew I had to offer Eddie one thing, and that was Hope. Hope that in just a few days his arm will feel better and he’d be grateful I didn’t take his advice. Sometimes we need hope in big ways, for our future and our lives. And sometimes, we need hope in small ways, by just knowing that even a sunburn won’t last forever.