Independent Living Specialist

Position Title: Independent Living Specialist (ILS)

Reports To: Head of Client Services

Location: 912 West Broadway Avenue, Fort Worth, TX 76104

Position Type: Full Time, Salaried and Exempt

Salary Range: $55,000 - $75,000

The mission of the Lighthouse for the Blind of Fort Worth is to encourage and empower blind and significantly visually impaired children, youth, adults and seniors to achieve their highest level of independence through competitive employment, specialized training and client services (at no charge).

The Independent Living Specialist (ILS) provides services to clients with significant visual impairments that often create barriers for them to function independently in their home and with their community. The ILS will provide the necessary tools so that clients can make informed decisions to achieve equality of opportunity, employment, independence, and social self-sufficiency.

CORE RESPONSIBILITIES

1. Trainer
2. Coordinator
3. Advocate

Trainer

• Teach basic independent living skills like kitchen preparation and home organization.  
• Establish trust and rapport with individuals with vision loss and other types of disabilities.  
• Facilitate one-on-one training with older adults who are blind or visually impaired.
• Independently manage your appointments, prioritize client visits, and provide in-home services in multiple surrounding counties in North Texas.
• Practice dedication, patience, and compassion in a workplace setting to help individuals overcome obstacles and increase independence in their homes.
• Increase client decision-making skills by ensuring clients are aware of all devices available to them, not just the ones, you the trainer, deem most appropriate.
• Empower the client as the decision-maker to develop a self-advocating strategy and support network.
• Implement a training curriculum for clients to achieve personal goals towards independence.
• Develop a checklist or progress report to track skills and service progress growth.
• Determine specific learning styles, strengths, and limitations to adapt teaching strategies and materials to address individual learning styles.
• Provide training on assistive technology devices like video magnifiers and recorders.
• Evaluate progress and recommend strategies for continued learning and support.

Coordinator

• Complete onsite, in person assessments according to the referral partner request to determine training needs and develop training plans.

• Manage and coordinate the ILS case load, which includes referrals from the Texas Workforce Commission (TWC) Older Individuals who are Blind (OIB) program, community clients and internal employees that may need assistance.
• Build and cultivate long-term relationships with community referral partners.
• Complete case notes and all required documentation within a specific timeframe.
• Meet weekly performance measures in line with overall agency outcomes.
• Familiarity with Microsoft 365 and Case Management Databases.

Advocate

• Promotes the Lighthouse for the Blind of Fort Worth in the community to increase the Client Services department in the number of persons served and scope of services provided.
• Experience with “Cooking without Looking” and other types of IL training techniques.
• Collaborate with internal employees and external partner organizations to ensure all clients receive appropriate accommodation and resources related to transition, job retention, self-employment, or vision related services.
• Provide IL skills and support as needed for internal employees.
• Provide consultation, guidance, direction and support to community members as needed regarding accommodating a person with vision loss.
• Participate in continuing professional education and development activities such as reading literature, attending conferences and colleague collaboration.    
• Have a broad and clear knowledge of the most current and up to date tools for teaching independent living skills to individuals that are blind or visually impaired.
• Conception of adaptive devices such as handheld magnifiers, as well as the marking of appliances and equipment to assist in completing daily tasks in the home.
• Knowledge of local public transportation systems and alternative transportation options.
• Awareness of local, state and national organizations that serve people with vision loss. 

QUALIFICATIONS AND REQUIREMENTS

Qualifications and Knowledge

• Excellent written and verbal communication skills.

• Demonstrated professionalism in attitude, teamwork, behavior, teaching, ethical integrity, empathy, and sensitivity.
• High level of dependability with a strong mission alignment to the Lighthouse for the Blind of Fort Worth.
• Experience with braille; reading and writing uncontracted and contracted a plus.
• Performs other duties, as assigned.

Education and Training

1. The ILS must meet the following criteria.
   • Earned a bachelor’s degree from an accredited college or university with a concentration in rehabilitation, education, psychology, sociology, or a related field and obtained one year of work experience in rehabilitation teaching, rehabilitation, or education of people with disabilities,

1. • or two years' work experience in general education or another related field;
     • and presented written and/or hands-on training sessions on IL skills. Sessions must be observed and determined qualified by the ILS-OIB (Older Individuals who are Blind) program specialist's designee. Preference is given to candidates who have experience providing individual, hands-on training to individuals who are blind and/or visually impaired.
   • *Twelve Semester hours of graduate study from an accredited college or university may be substituted for each year of the required qualifying experience. One additional year of full-time qualifying work experience may be substituted for the course concentration requirements for the bachelor’s degree.
2. The ILS must also meet the following requirements before or during their employment with Lighthouse for the Blind of Fort Worth.  
   • Obtain other certifications and training as required by the State of Texas.

Physical Requirements

1. General Physical Requirements
   • Medium work: Exerting up to 50 pounds of force occasionally and/or up to 20 pounds of force frequently, and/or up to 10 pounds of force occasionally to move objects.
2. Physical Activities

• Climbing: Ascending or descending stairs, escalators, ramps and the like, using feet and legs and/or hands and arms. Body agility and balance are emphasized. This factor is important to maintain the safety of students, consumers and trainees.  
• Bending: Bending body downward and forward by bending spine at the waist. This factor is important if it occurs to a considerable degree and requires full use of the lower extremities and back muscles.
• Kneeling: Bending legs at knee to come to a rest on knee or knees.
• Crouching: Bending the body downward and forward by bending leg and spine.
• Reaching: Extending hand(s) and arm(s) in any direction.
• Standing: Particularly for sustained periods of time.
• Walking: Moving about on foot to accomplish tasks, particularly for long distances or moving from one work site to another.
• Pushing: Using upper extremities to press against something with steady force to thrust forward, downward or outward.
• Pulling: Using upper extremities to exert force to draw, drag, haul or tug objects in a sustained motion.
• Lifting: Raising objects from a lower to a higher position or moving objects horizontally from position-to-position. This factor is important if it occurs to a considerable degree and requires substantial use of the upper extremities and back muscles.
• Grasping: Applying pressure to an object with the fingers and palm.
• Feeling: Perceiving attributes of objects, such as size, shape, temperature or texture by touching skin, particularly that of fingertips.
• Talking: Expressing or exchanging ideas by means of the spoken word. Those activities in which they must convey detailed or important spoken instructions to other workers accurately, loudly, or quickly.
• Hearing: Perceiving the nature of sounds at normal speaking levels or without correction. Ability to receive detailed information through oral communication and make fine discriminations in sound.

1. Working Conditions
   • Outdoor environmental conditions: May require outside work in extreme, unpredictable North Texas temperatures including cold temperatures below 32 degrees or extreme hot temperatures above 100 degrees, depending on client need.
   • Indoor atmospheric conditions: Fumes, odors, or dust.  

Transportation

• Must have reliable transportation to and from work and within required business hours. We compensate for mileage, according to the Federal IRS rates.  

Office Hours

• Monday – Thursday, 7:00 am – 5:30 pm, in person. Hours outside of normal office hours may be needed to meet organization objectives.

Other Duties

Please note this job description is not designed to cover or contain a comprehensive listing of activities, duties or responsibilities that are required of the employee for this job. Duties, responsibilities and activities may change at any time with or without notice.

The above statements describe the general nature and level of work being performed.  They are not to be construed as an exhaustive list of all responsibilities, duties and skills required of the position.  Employees holding this position will be required to perform any other job-related duties as requested by management. All requirements are subject to possible modification to reasonably accommodate individuals with a disability.

Lighthouse for the Blind of Fort Worth, a non-profit organization, is an Equal Opportunity Employer.