The Institute for Community Inclusion’s Darick Wright was presented with the Paul McDade “FOCUS” Award for Distinguished Service. This award highlights Darick's contributions to UMass Boston, the Vision Studies program, our students, the community and most of all, individuals with disabilities. Darick's passion for the profession and willingness to share his expertise is a win-win for us all.
Darick was presented the award with these kind words:
"It is a privilege to not only recognize you for your commitment to the education of Teachers of the Visually Impaired and Orientation and Mobility specialists via the Vision Studies Program at UMass Boston but also for your significant involvement (along with the Vision Studies Department at UMass Boston) with FOCUS programming during many of our early meetings as well as for your invaluable contributions to the care of children with visual impairment during your many years at the vision clinic at Perkins. Further, you were an early and creative adaptor to the transition to online learning and continue to provide an awesome online and in person mentoring for your students during their practicum training.
Aside from those activities, you have also inspired many optometry students through your participation in NECO’s Low Vision through the Ages course. Finally, you were one of the first orientation and mobility instructors to write about assessment and approaches to intervention for children with cerebral visual impairment. Therefore, for these reasons and more, on behalf of the conference’s Executive Committee, we would be very honored if you would accept our 2024 “FOCUS” Award for Distinguished Service.”
