Low vision can't stop high expectations for KHSD teacher

Aug. 14—Chris Fendrick knew his visual impairment would worsen at some point.

The 51-year-old Ridgeview High teacher was born with an X-linked genetic condition known as retinitis pigmentosa, a rare eye disease that slowly breaks down the retina over time, according to the National Eye Institute.

He's always been night blind, he said, which precluded him from driving after dark. And his peripheral vision has always been compromised to about 20 degrees.

But his central vision had been pretty good, up until about 2005. Eventually, he realized he could no longer get behind the wheel, period.

Yet he became driven like never before, transitioning from a career that had taken him from a social studies teacher in the Kern High School District to dean of students for its Regional Occupational Center and now back to the classroom, where he feels like he can have the most profound impact.

His KHSD teaching is largely done in the resource room at Ridgeview High School, where the district provides support for its visually impaired students who tend to require more resources. There are about 55 visually impaired students in the district, the majority of whom are taught by itinerant educators who work at various school sites.

"It is intentional, because I like being involved," Fendrick said of his passion for helping visually impaired and blind students and his involvement in the community.

"It's kind of therapeutic, in dealing with my blindness or low vision, that I'm able to give back and use my skill sets to improve other people's (lives)," he added.

"Part of my mission and credo is to help others and that's part of my personality. I like giving to people ... That's why I'm an educator, actually."

His most recent accomplishment includes the completion of Blind Leaders Development Program at the American Foundation for the Blind, or AFB, which was celebrated with a special commencement earlier this month.

Those who know Fendrick and have worked with him since his transition to teaching visually impaired students full-time paint the picture of a man described as charismatic, involved and driven to help others as his leadership in the vision-impaired community continues to grow.

Building a network

Richard Rueda began working with Fendrick not long after Fendrick's vision took a more significant turn for the worse, around 2010.

"I think you put people in one of two camps, or at least I do," said Rueda, whose bailiwick as a vision-impaired professional is to help people who are blind or adjusting to vision loss find employment and career opportunities nationwide for the American Printing House for the Blind's Career Connect program.

"You either thrive and prosper, or you just kind of turn inward and go, 'I'm just going to allow myself to wallow,'" Rueda said. "He decided that he wanted to really thrive and become a professional in the profession. So he kind of changed his expertise to be a teacher of the visually impaired."

In obtaining his credentials at San Francisco State for teaching and working with the visually impaired, Fendrick also began to expand his network of resources to another part of the state. It's been an asset for a number of the service groups he's joined or now leads.

In addition to the AFB program, he's worked at conventions with the CSUN Disabilities Conference and the Californian Council of the Blind. He's also involved with the Association for the Education for and Rehabilitation for the Blind, and became president of the California Transcribers and Educators for the Blind and Visually Impaired last April, after serving as its vice president.

As leader for the CTEBVI, he became "extremely hands on," according to the organization's executive director, Grant Horrocks, who also noted that while the community faced unprecedented challenges during the pandemic, Fendrick took part in every committee and worked tirelessly to support the organization's network and resources.

In May, he became a board member for the Valley Center for the Blind, a nonprofit that currently serves Fresno, Kern, Kings, Madera and Tulare counties to support, train and employ people who are blind or considered low vision.

"I think that speaks volumes about who he is and what he wants to do," Rueda said, adding that Fendrick's ability to create these networks is both a reflection of the confidence he's built through his experience and also how he's been able to use it to help others.

"He wants to be involved and he wants to make a change in the world," Rueda added. "He wants to help people be as competent and as employable as possible."

A pressing need

One of the unfortunate challenges facing those who have visual impairments is that this challenge can not only affect people's confidence, but employers also often aren't aware of how capable people can be in spite of the challenge of vision loss.

Those with visual impairment also face challenges, including prejudice, that contribute to startling data regarding employment opportunities for the visually impaired.

When the VCB surveyed 50 local employers about five years ago, 100 percent said that people who are blind or low vision "should absolutely should be given the opportunity to work," according to Shellena Heber, executive director of the Valley Center for the Blind. However, the data also showed that only about five of those employers thought that they might be able to have a job for them.

"A lot of the problem around employment for people who are blind or low vision is that you don't necessarily get the opportunity to get work experience," Heber said. "And it's pretty hard to get a job if you don't have work experience. And so we have a chicken-and-the-egg problem in our industry that contributes to that nationwide 70 percent unemployment rate."

Under-employment is also a challenge, with Heber giving the example of a woman with low vision who was sorting items in a warehouse, despite the fact that she had a law degree. Ultimately, VCB was able to help her find work at a law firm, but the fact that she was essentially doing menial work with a graduate degree provides a powerful personification of the problem.

"Without having an organization like VCB come alongside these folks," Heber said, "it can be really hard for them to help talk to employers in a way that helps employers see them as viable candidates."

Leadership roles

Fendrick's recent experience at the American Foundation for the Blind's leadership program — which allowed him to work under Jeff Blair, a former project manager for IBM who's also visually impaired — strengthened his approach for how he can work with both his students and other professionals in his field, he said.

"I really like to focus on what kids are doing well, build upon what they're doing well and then give them that confidence," Fendrick said. "And then, what they're struggling with, build those skills."

Neva Fairchild, who oversees the monthslong AFB leadership program Fendrick completed earlier this month, noted Fendrick's goals made him an ideal candidate for his cohort.

"It's not that we want to build this perfect little blind world that doesn't exist," Fairchild said. "We want to teach the world that blind people are capable, innovative, interesting people who have something to offer to the world."

Both Fairchild, who's visually impaired, and Heber, who's not, recognize that Fendrick's dual experience with vision put him in a unique experience to inspire and lead, a capability he's constantly working to expand.

"I think his diminishing vision made his need for more skills poignant," Fairchild said, "and also because he's working with transition-age youth, he's able to start young people to get on a path for success maybe earlier than he had an opportunity to be on that path," she said, noting she found her calling in her 30s.

"He wants to take some of that to his youth so he can help them see their potential earlier," she added. "Wouldn't it be grand if you can see your potential in your late teens and early 20s, and you don't have to wait for things to come to you?"