Navigating Identity and Belonging: Itinerant Teachers of The Deaf/Hard of Hearing and the Blind/Visually Impaired as Structural Hole Spanners in Educational Ecosystems

Itinerant Teachers of the Deaf/Hard of Hearing and Itinerant Teachers of the Blind/Visually Impaired are highly specialized teachers and service providers who provide services to students who make up less than two percent of all students eligible for special education services and subsequently experience high levels of mobility between many schools. This study unearths the lived experiences of IToDs and ITVIs and examines how their itinerancy and ecological factors shape their identity and organizational belonging within and between multiple social networks. Participants were those currently employed as either Itinerant Teacher of the Deaf/Hard of Hearing or Itinerant Teachers of the Blind/Visually Impaired. This study’s findings give insight into the lived experience of these unique professionals and improved understanding of their position as structural hole spanners. Itinerant teachers of low incidence disabilities were found to engage in an identity construction process disconnected from their sense of organization belonging but correlated to their high mobility, heterogeneous student population, and role ambiguity. This study acts as a springboard to future research and provides practical application of findings for educational leaders, current itinerant teachers of students who are deaf/hard of hearing and/or blind visually impaired, and insight for teacher preparatory programs.