---
title: "Low Vision Therapist, Orientation and Mobility Specialist, and Vision Rehabilitation Therapist"
description: "Provide therapy to patients with visual impairments to improve their functioning in daily life activities. May train patients in activities such as…"
canonical: "https://nuecareer.com/careers/low-vision-therapist-orientation-and-mobility-specialist-and-vision-rehabilitation-therapist"
last-updated: "2026-08-23T15:56:39.581Z"
---

# Low Vision Therapist, Orientation and Mobility Specialist, and Vision Rehabilitation Therapist

**Category:** Healthcare Practitioners and Technical · **SOC code:** 29-1122 · **O\*NET-SOC code:** 29-1122.01

Provide therapy to patients with visual impairments to improve their functioning in daily life activities. May train patients in activities such as computer use, communication skills, or home management skills.

Also advertised as: Certified Low Vision Therapist (CLVT); Certified Orientation and Mobility Specialist (COMS); Mobility Specialist; Orientation and Mobility Instructor (O and M Instructor); Orientation and Mobility Specialist (O and M Specialist); Rehabilitation Teacher; Rehabilitation Therapist; Students with Visual Impairments Teacher (TVI).

## At a glance

- **Median annual wage:** $100,330 (BLS OEWS, May 2025)
- **Median hourly wage:** $48.24/hr
- **Wage range (10th–90th percentile):** $71,690 to $131,950, with the middle half between $82,510 and $116,670
- **Total US employment:** 162,450
- **Typical entry education:** Master's
- **Preparation required:** Considerable preparation — O\*NET rates this "Job Zone Five: Extensive Preparation Needed"
- **Projected growth:** +13.8% over 2024–2034 (BLS EP, 2024–2034)
- **Annual job openings:** 10,200 openings a year
- **AI-resilience score:** 55/100 — a NueCareer heuristic over O\*NET work activities and context, not a BLS or O\*NET figure

## Pay

National wage distribution, BLS OEWS, May 2025, across 162,450 US jobs.

| Percentile | Annual wage |
| --- | --- |
| 10th | $71,690 |
| 25th | $82,510 |
| 50th (median) | $100,330 |
| 75th | $116,670 |
| 90th | $131,950 |
| Mean (average) | $101,280 |

### Pay by state

The 15 highest-paying states, by median annual wage. The cost-of-living-adjusted column divides the state median by that state's BEA Regional Price Parity, so the columns answer different questions: the first is what the job pays there, the second is what that pay buys there.

| State | Median annual wage | Cost-of-living adjusted | Employment |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| CA | $124,510 | $112,455 | 13,810 |
| OR | $112,310 | $108,658 | 1,170 |
| NV | $110,520 | $110,543 | 1,080 |
| DC | $109,170 | $99,335 | 540 |
| WA | $107,670 | $100,614 | 3,340 |
| MD | $106,980 | $101,926 | 2,390 |
| CO | $106,720 | $103,559 | 3,390 |
| AR | $106,360 | $122,341 | 2,160 |
| TX | $106,140 | $109,358 | 13,400 |
| OK | $104,300 | $118,735 | 1,180 |
| GA | $104,010 | $108,014 | 3,650 |
| AK | $103,680 | $101,291 | 410 |
| AZ | $103,660 | $102,963 | 2,680 |
| NJ | $103,410 | $95,042 | 6,290 |
| HI | $102,870 | $93,560 | 390 |

37 more states with published wage data are omitted here. The full table for all 52 states is at https://nuecareer.com/careers/low-vision-therapist-orientation-and-mobility-specialist-and-vision-rehabilitation-therapist/salary-by-state, or as JSON at https://nuecareer.com/api/v1/careers/low-vision-therapist-orientation-and-mobility-specialist-and-vision-rehabilitation-therapist.

## Outlook

BLS projects employment to move from 160,000 in the 2024–2034 base year to 182,100 by the end of the cycle — a gain of 22,100 jobs, or +13.8%. Much faster than average: 13.8% against 3.1% projected for all occupations over the same cycle. About 10,200 openings a year are expected on average, counting openings from growth as well as from workers leaving the occupation permanently. Source: BLS EP, 2024–2034.

## How to get in

- **Typical entry education:** Master's degree (BLS Employment Projections).
- **Preparation level:** Considerable preparation — O\*NET's preparation band for this occupation is "Job Zone Five: Extensive Preparation Needed".
- **Related work experience typically required:** None.
- **Typical on-the-job training:** None.

### Education people in this job actually hold

O\*NET surveys incumbents, so this distribution describes who is in the job today and can differ from the BLS entry requirement above.

| Education level | Share of workers |
| --- | --- |
| Master's Degree | 56.5% |
| Post-Baccalaureate Certificate | 21.7% |
| Bachelor's Degree | 17.4% |
| Post-Master's Certificate | 4.4% |

## What the work involves

- Write reports or complete forms to document assessments, training, progress, or follow-up outcomes.
- Train clients to use tactile, auditory, kinesthetic, olfactory, and proprioceptive information.
- Assess clients' functioning in areas such as vision, orientation and mobility skills, social and emotional issues, cognition, physical abilities, and personal goals.
- Teach self-advocacy skills to clients.
- Provide consultation, support, or education to groups such as parents and teachers.
- Participate in professional development activities, such as reading literature, continuing education, attending conferences, and collaborating with colleagues.
- Obtain, distribute, or maintain low vision devices.
- Collaborate with specialists, such as rehabilitation counselors, speech pathologists, and occupational therapists, to provide client solutions.

## Skills and knowledge

### Essential skills

- Active Listening — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Speaking — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Learning Strategies — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Reading Comprehension — importance 3.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Writing — importance 3.8 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Active Learning — importance 3.8 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Monitoring — importance 3.8 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Critical Thinking — importance 3.5 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale

### Transferable skills

These are the skills that carry into other occupations, and they drive the related-occupation and career-change rankings on this site.

- Social Perceptiveness — importance 3.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Instructing — importance 3.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Service Orientation — importance 3.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Complex Problem Solving — importance 3.5 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Judgment and Decision Making — importance 3.4 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Persuasion — importance 3.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Coordination — importance 3.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Negotiation — importance 3.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale

### Knowledge areas

- English Language — importance 4.3 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Education and Training — importance 4.2 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Psychology — importance 3.8 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Transportation — importance 3.7 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Customer and Personal Service — importance 3.6 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Therapy and Counseling — importance 3.5 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale

### Abilities

- Oral Expression — importance 4.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Oral Comprehension — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Written Comprehension — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Problem Sensitivity — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Written Expression — importance 3.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Speech Clarity — importance 3.8 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale

## Who it suits

O\*NET rates every occupation on the six Holland (RIASEC) interest areas, on a 1–7 scale. This occupation's strongest areas are Social (S), Realistic (R), Investigative (I).

| Interest area | Score (1–7) |
| --- | --- |
| S — Social | 6.52 |
| R — Realistic | 3.93 |
| I — Investigative | 3.89 |
| A — Artistic | 3.20 |
| C — Conventional | 2.83 |
| E — Enterprising | 2.12 |

### Personality fit

These scores are **derived by NueCareer**, not published by any government agency: they are cosine similarities between a personality type's trait profile and this occupation's O\*NET interest and work-style ratings, expressed 0–100. Treat them as a starting point for exploration, not as evidence that a type belongs in a job.

| Type | Fit score (0–100) |
| --- | --- |
| ISFP | 67.0 |
| ESFP | 64.5 |
| INFJ | 62.4 |
| ENFJ | 62.4 |
| ESFJ | 61.6 |

Best-fitting types: ISFP, ESFP, INFJ, ENFJ.

## Related occupations

O\*NET's primary related occupations, in its own ranked order.

- [Rehabilitation Counselor](https://nuecareer.com/careers/rehabilitation-counselor) — median $46,850
- [Occupational Therapy Assistant](https://nuecareer.com/careers/occupational-therapy-assistant) — median $72,300
- [Recreational Therapist](https://nuecareer.com/careers/recreational-therapist) — median $61,960
- [Occupational Therapist](https://nuecareer.com/careers/occupational-therapist) — median $100,330
- [Occupational Therapy Aide](https://nuecareer.com/careers/occupational-therapy-aide) — median $39,160
- [Speech-Language Pathologist](https://nuecareer.com/careers/speech-language-pathologist) — median $97,870
- [Special Education Teacher, Kindergarten](https://nuecareer.com/careers/special-education-teacher-kindergarten) — median $67,170
- [Mental Health Counselor](https://nuecareer.com/careers/mental-health-counselor) — median $60,320
- [Adapted Physical Education Specialist](https://nuecareer.com/careers/adapted-physical-education-specialist) — median $76,580
- [Physical Therapist](https://nuecareer.com/careers/physical-therapist) — median $102,760

## Sources

- **O\*NET** — O\*NET 30.3 Database, May 2026. https://www.onetcenter.org/database.html
- **BLS OEWS** — BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025. https://www.bls.gov/oes/
- **BLS EP** — BLS Employment Projections, Table 1.2, 2024–2034. https://www.bls.gov/emp/
- **BLS OOH** — BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook, 2024–2034 edition. https://www.bls.gov/ooh/
- **BEA RPP** — BEA Regional Price Parities by State, 2024. https://www.bea.gov/data/prices-inflation/regional-price-parities-state-and-metro-area

---

This bank includes information from the O\*NET 30.3 Database by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA). Used under the CC BY 4.0 license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). O\*NET® is a trademark of USDOL/ETA. NueCareer has transformed the data by joining it to BLS wage and projection data and deriving facet, personality-fit and AI-resilience scores. BLS and BEA data are public domain (17 U.S.C. §105).

O\*NET content is used under [CC BY 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). How these figures are sourced and derived: https://nuecareer.com/careers/methodology

JSON representation of this page: https://nuecareer.com/api/v1/careers/low-vision-therapist-orientation-and-mobility-specialist-and-vision-rehabilitation-therapist