FamilyConnect

Mickey Damelio is the Orientation and Mobility Coordinator for the Florida State University Program in Visual Impairments. Additionally, he works as a teacher of the visually impaired and as an orientation and mobility specialist for Leon County schools in Tallahassee, Florida, where he was awarded teacher of the year for the 2007-2008 school year.

In 2008, he traveled to Hue, Vietnam to provide instruction to teachers at schools for the blind in fundamental orientation and mobility techniques as well as strategies for community advocacy and outreach. Damelio is continuing this work in Vietnam and other developing nations with his founding of the nonprofit organization Ability Beyond the Horizon in 2009.

He earned his master’s degree in teaching students with visual impairments with an emphasis in orientation and mobility and worked with preschoolers from Florida State University. He is certified by the Academy for Certification of Vision Rehabilitation and Education Professionals as an orientation and mobility specialist. Additionally, Damelio is an active participant in the Association for Education and Rehabilitation of the Blind and Visually Impaired. He’s also a new dad, which he thinks may trump his other accomplishments.