Blind students

There are several aspects in the world today, which are moving the countries of the world toward an international mathematics curriculum.  Some of these influences include globalization, real-time communication, international examinations, and twenty-first century research.  Globalization is an inevitable part of our world today.  As a concept, globalization refers both the to fact that the world is growing smaller and that, at the same time, the increased consciousness of the world is growing larger. More than this, we come to understand globalization as a new way of living, which affects every facet of life: the ways we shop, the ways we eat, the ways we interact with others.  Societies across the globe have developed progressively closer contact over the past several centuries, but within the past two decades, the pace of collaboration and cooperation has increased overwhelmingly.  Jets, enormous cargo ships, and instant capital flow: all these have made the world interdependent, one nation on the other.  More importantly, in our world today, ideas circulate more freely than ever before.  As a result, many academics treat these international globalization trends as both inevitable and welcome.  Whether we want globalization or not, this movement is not waning.  Real-time communication occurs on an epic scale from one side of the earth to the other.  The World-Wide Internet has enabled us to have almost instantaneous communication with people from many other countries throughout the world.  With essentially real-time video streaming, people around the world can watch a concert or listen to a lecture, at almost the same time, so that these events become shared aspects of a worldwide culture.  Scientists and everyday people together watch as a new photograph is projected millions of miles to Earth from the moon Kerberos as it orbits around Pluto.  More and more people in third-world countries are enjoying free email, free texting services, and audio-visual abilities.  Most people in the world have access to social websites and research-oriented networks, such as Facebook, Twitter, Research Gate, and Academia.edu.  People have acquaintances around the globe, with whom they communicate daily.  Moreover, the “people of the world are inextricably linked in such a way that local happenings are shaped by events happening around the globe.” The terrorist attacks in Paris on 13 November 2015 are a case in point.  Support for Paris came almost instantly from around the globe, including pledges of solidarity and allegiance from Pope Francis, United States President Obama, British Prime Minister Cameron, and millions of people from around the world who changed their Facebook profile photos to the French flag, and who spread the word on Twitter with #PrayForParis and #PrayForTheWholeWorld in communal support of the Parisian people.  An event thousands of miles away affected the lives of caring people around the globe.  This is indeed real-time communication on an epic level.

Environmental, organizational and attitudinal obstacles continue to prevent people with vision loss from meaningfully engaging in dance education and performance. This article addresses the societal disabilities that handicap access to dance education for the blind. Although much of traditional dance instruction relies upon visual cuing and modeling, evidence suggests that dance can be successfully taught to blind students by integrating verbal and tactile modes of instruction. There is a need for professional development to train teachers in inclusion dance methodologies that specifically address the learning needs of students with vision loss. There is a further need for a significant paradigm shift towards the acceptance of blind people as dance students and performers with full capacity to experience, appreciate and expand the current boundaries of the art form. We surveyed fifteen parents of dance students with vision loss to assess their perceptions of the importance of dance education and the challenges of accessibility. Thematic content analyses indicated that
parents perceived benefits in health, socialization, and dance literacy. Parents also perceived a lack of accessibility to dance for students with vision loss. This article provides evidence of successful dance inclusion for the blind. We recommend integration of dance pedagogy specific to the needs of people with visual impairment in the training of our teachers and the teaching of our students. Spotlighted techniques include: somatic approaches, tactile modeling, physical guidance, oral description, and one-t-one partner teaching.

Past research has largely characterized disadvantage as an individual or social condition that somehow impedes mathematics learning, which has resulted in the further marginalization of individuals whose physical, racial, ethnic, linguistic and social identities are different from normative identities constructed by dominant social groups. Recent studies have begun to avoid equating difference with de fi ciency and instead seek to understand mathematics learning from the perspective of those whose identities contrast the construction of normal by dominant social groups. In this way of thinking, "understanding" disadvantage can be discussed as understanding social processes that disadvantage individuals. And, "overcoming" disadvantage can be explored by analyzing how learning scenarios and teaching practices can be more fi nely tuned to the needs of particular groups of learners, empowering them to demonstrate abilities beyond what is generally expected by dominant discourses. In this chapter, we consider theoretical and methodological perspectives associated with the search for a more inclusive mathematics education, and how they generally share a conceptualization of the role of the teacher as an active participant in researching and interpreting their students' learning. Drawing from examples with a diverse range of learners including linguistic, racial and ethnic minorities, as well as deaf students, blind students, and those with speci fi c dif fi culties with mathematics, we argue that by understanding the learning processes of such students we may better understand mathematics learning in general.

El contenido de este libro se basa en la investigación sobre las estrategias de representación espacial del entorno producida por el efecto de un dispositivo tecnológico que se adapta al ser humano a través de sus mecanismos sensoriales. El texto comienza por presentar literatura sobre actualización, disposición estrategias y mapeo del espacio, lo que da razón al lector de los antecedentes sobre el estudio de la representación espacial en personas invidentes. De manera complementaria se presenta una descripción del hipocampo como el principal órgano encargado de la representación espacial y se definen los conceptos de la percepción y los parámetros de la representación espacial, relevantes en la exploración del espacio. Lo tratado conceptualmente sirve de referente para indagar acerca de las estrategias manejadas en la exploración del entorno, la modelación y la anticipación perceptiva de las personas invidentes, intervinientes en esta experiencia. De la misma forma, el estudio proyecta sus resultados a la aplicación pedagógica, técnica y científica en beneficio de los limitados visuales.

The implementation of the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) in Australia requires professionals working with young children who are blind or have low vision to have an understanding of best practice in early childhood intervention. This paper describes how Orientation and Mobility (O&M) specialists can make use of the Australian Early Years Learning Framework (EYLF), a document that provides a nationally consistent approach to early childhood education for children aged birth to five years and extending into the transition to school. It provides some practical examples of how this framework can be used to develop a strength-based and capacity building approach with families and early educators that are appropriate to early childhood practice and which foster early independence.

Conceptual Metaphor Theory and the conceptualisation strategies in gesture of blind and visually impaired children.

The human nervous system evolved for the control of complex physical actions. Yet, we are far from understanding the human capacity for complex abstract thought. One theory suggests that both abstract and concrete thinking is based on a single perceptual mechanism grounded in physical experience. Asking the question posed by psychologist Daniel Casasanto whether "abstract concepts are like dinosaur feathers" we investigate the evolutionary processes that allowed humans to deal with abstract phenomena by putting them in concrete terms. After all, we frequently resort to analogies, similes or metaphors when describing the intangible. We may say "put that into words" as if words were containers into which thought can be stored. Conceptual Metaphor Theory goes a step further by saying that not only do we speak about abstract concepts in physical terms, but we think about them in this manner as well. However, the theory itself has been vigorously criticised because its principal theses are considered impossible to falsify. The author of this book proposes a new perspective on the conceptual role of metaphors. Filled with theoretical analyses and empirical research on the speech and gesture of seeing, blind and visually impaired children, this book demonstrates that the basis for abstract thought may well lie in physical experience.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the self-advocacy practice for inclusion of blind students in the University of Gondar. A case study design with qualitative inquiry approach was used. In-depth interview guide which was developed out of comprehensive review of literature was used as data gathering instrument. The in-depth interview instrument on its content and construct validity was checked by one blind special needs education professional who works as an instructor in the Department of Special Needs and Inclusive Education in the University of Gondar. There were only five blind students in the university; three were taken as the rest two were unwilling. The data collected through semi-structured interview guide was analyzed thematically in four dimensions of self-advocacy: knowledge of self, knowledge of rights, communication and leadership. Additionally, there was a theme that investigates how the blind students were self-advocating in fighting back their challenges. Results indicate that the blind students were not found to be self-advocates for their inclusion. Except in knowledge of self to some extent, they were found to have limitations in their knowledge of rights, communication and leadership. Recommendations such as improving knowledge of rights, communications and leadership have been forwarded.

Le nuove tecnologie per la digitalizzazione tridimensionale aprono i Beni Culturali a nuove metodologie per la fruizione dell’esteso patrimonio culturale di cui disponiamo, esse infatti non si limitano a potenziare i campi del rilievo e della diagnostica, ma restituendo copie digitali dei manufatti divengono essi stessi materiale per la musealizzazione. Ciò che accade è una convergenza tecnologica tra i contenuti e gli strumenti della comunicazione svolta su piattaforma digitale, materia che si tramuta in parola, in diagrammi di eventi che arricchiscono le possibilità di espressione e di attuazione dei significati delle cose, queste ultime colte in una dinamica di relazioni che le rinviano ai contesti di appartenenza. La ricerca e le innovazioni tecnologiche, inoltre,
possono contribuire notevolmente a innalzare il livello di salvaguardia dei beni
artistici e archeologici, mettendo a disposizione dei tecnici delle soprintendenze e delle forze dell’ordine strumenti che facilitano l’operato nella tutela del patrimonio culturale. L’interesse è particolarmente rivolto al concetto di innovazione, inteso come rinnovamento, cambiamento che genera progresso umano e che deve essere sempre più al servizio della valorizzazione del nostro patrimonio storico, artistico e paesaggistico.

Este artículo analiza la situación del teatro producido desde y para la población con discapacidad en México, específicamente con dos de ellas: la discapacidad visual y la comunidad de Sordos. Se exploran brevemente los antecedentes que han permitido que se gesten paulatinamente propuestas de este tipo en México y otros países del mundo. Se presentarán las dos experiencias mayormente consolidadas en México: compañía de teatro de Sordos “Seña y Verbo” con 21 años de trabajo ininterrumpido y la puesta en escena La casa de los deseos con 15 años y superando ya las 1500 representaciones, la cual fue creada para un público con discapacidad visual. Se hace para finalizar, una reflexión final sobre los avances y deudas en cuestión de acceso a la cultura de la población con discapacidad.

U radu raspravljamo o ulozi konceptualne metafore pri retenciji frazema kod učenja engleskog kao stranog jezika. Konceptualna metafora ima učinak na retenciju oblika i značenja figurativnih izraza, što potvrđuje i naše istraživanje provedeno na uzorku slijepih i slabovidnih te videćih hrvatskih srednjoškolaca, učenika engleskog jezika. Taj je rezultat u skladu s tvrdnjom da konceptualna metafora omogućuje duboko procesiranje frazema, pri čemu je ključno osvješćivanje konceptualne metafore kao načina strateškog konstruiranja jezičnih izraza. U radu se upozorava da konceptualna metafora u nastavi nije "čarobni" mehanizam koji će riješiti sve probleme učenja i poučavanja frazema, nego valja imati na umu da proces poučavanja i učenja stranog jezika ovisi i o brojnim drugim čimbenicima. Stoga u radu zagovaramo induktivni pristup, koji će potaknuti višestruko kodiranje i samostalno postavljanje hipoteza, što je u skladu sa sociokonstruktivističkim teorijama učenja.

Telephone interviews were conducted with 18 blind academic library users around the U.S. about their experiences using their library and its website. The study uses the perspective that blind users’ insights are fundamental. A common theme was that navigating a webpage is time consuming on the first visit. Issues identified include the need for “databases” to be defined on the homepage, accessibly coded search boxes, logical heading structure, and several problems to be resolved on result pages. Variations in needs depending on users’ screen reader expertise were also raised. Suggestions for libraries to address these issues are offered.

Eighteen academic library users who are blind were interviewed about their experiences with academic libraries and the libraries’ websites using an open-ended questionnaire and recorded telephone interviews. The study approaches these topics from a user-centered perspective, with the idea that blind users themselves can provide particularly reliable insights into the issues and potential solutions that are most critical to them. Most participants used reference librarians’ assistance, and most had positive experiences. High-level screen reader users requested help with specific needs. A larger number of participants reported contacting a librarian because of feeling overwhelmed by the library website. In some cases, blind users and librarians worked verbally without the screen reader. Users were appreciative of librarians’ help but outcomes were not entirely positive. Other times, librarians worked with users to navigate with a screen reader, which sometimes led to greater independence. Some users expressed satisfaction with working with librarians verbally, particularly if websites did not seem screen reader user friendly, but many users preferred independence. Participants agreed it would be helpful if librarians knew how to use screen readers, or at least if librarians were familiar enough with screen readers to provide relevant verbal cues. Many users liked and used chat reference and many preferred Purdue Online Writing Lab (OWL) to learn citation style, though learning citation style was challenging. Questions such as reference librarians’ role when e-resources are not equally accessible deserve wider discussion in the library literature and in practice. Given the challenges described by the research participants and legal requirements for equally effective electronic and information technologies, libraries and librarians should approach reference services for blind users more proactively. Recommendations are provided.

Kütüphanelerde görme ve işitme engelli kullanıcılara yönelik hizmetler özellikle son yıllarda önem kazanmakta, gelişen teknolojiler sayesinde de sürekli geliştirilmektedir. Kütüphane binasının da, bu hizmetlerden yararlanmak isteyen engellilerin kullanımına uygun bir şekilde tasarlanıp üretilmesi gerekir. Bunun için geliştirilmiş bazı mimari standartlar bulunmaktadır. Binanın bu standartlara uygun olarak oluşturulması durumunda kullanımı sırasında engelli kullanıcıların gereksinimlerini karşılayabileceği düşüncesi, bu çalışmanın çıkış noktası olmuştur.

Çalışmanın amacı; kütüphane binası tasarlarken engelli kullanıcıların gereksinimlerinin doğru belirlenmesi, hangi uluslararası standartlara uyulması gerektiği ve üretim aşamasında da bunların uygulanması durumunda bu kullanıcıların bilgiye erişimindeki bina kaynaklı engellerin ortadan kaldırılması yönünde mimarlara ve kütüphanecilere yardımcı olmaktır. Çalışmanın kapsamı görme, işitme ve bedensel engelliler ile sınırlı tutulmuş, diğer engellilik durumları kapsam dışı bırakılmıştır.   

Bina, gereksinimler sonucu oluşturulan yapay bir kabuktur. Çalışmaya öncelikle insan haklarının da bir parçası olan bilgiye erişim hakkı vurgulanarak başlanacaktır. Daha sonra bina içinde ve dışında fiziksel erişime engel olan durumlar sırasıyla ele alınacaktır. Bu doğrultuda önce, kabuğun çevrelediği iç mekân ile kabuğu çevreleyen dış mekânın işlevselliği engelli kullanıcı gereksinimleri açısından irdelenecektir. Devamında ise, kütüphane binası kullanıcıları (binanın sürekli kullanıcıları olan kütüphane çalışanları ve geçici kullanıcıları olan dermenin kullanıcıları) tanımlanacak, sonra bunlar içerisindeki engelli kullanıcı grubunun özellikleri ortaya konulacaktır. Son olarak, kütüphane binası ile engelli kullanıcı arasındaki bağ vurgulanacaktır.

Türkçe Anahtar Sözcükler: Kütüphane binaları, engelli kütüphane kullanıcıları, engelli kullanıcı için kütüphane tasarım ilkeleri, bedensel engelliler, görme engelliler, işitme engelliler.

Satın almak için:
http://www.kitapyurdu.com/kitap/kamusal-alan-olarak-bilgi-merkezleri-ve-yenilikci-yaklasimlar/446096.html

http://www.okumaajansi.com/kamusal-alan-olarak-bilgi-merkezleri-ve-yenilikci-yaklasimlar/

It is 25 years since the Salamanca Statement called on the international community to endorse the approach of inclusive education, including at the tertiary level. The past quarter century has witnessed the global massification of postsecondary education, yet this explosion of facilities and enrollment has largely entrenched and exacerbated the exclusion of people with disabilities from the sector. Higher education systems must become disability-inclusive in order to meet international obligations and global frameworks.

This study aims to study the improvement of eye direction understanding through. The subject of this study was the VA SLB-A Yaketunis class students who discussed five students. Data collection is carried out with the test results of learning and observation techniques. The data analysis used was descriptive quantitative. Instructions for the media used in mobility conversation learning about the concept of Direction. Students can determine the direction by learning by using instructions as road directions and wind direction. Instructions for using media, namely students walking in the neighborhood with the aim that the teacher has pointed to, students walk using the instructions in the surrounding environment.

Basing ourselves on a case study in which one of us successfully taught mathematics to an adult blind student on a one-to-one basis and her more recent positive experience of teaching a blind student within a regular classroom, we try to shed light on the mathematics education of blind students and the ramifications that this carries for the inclusion of blind students in mathematics classrooms. The ensuing discussion is embedded within the inclusion discourse that is gradually evolving in educational spheres. Our paper ultimately carries a message of hope: not only can blind students learn mathematics and get certified for it, but it seems that they can also do so within a normal classroom situation.

This study investigated the concept images of blind students about the polygon concept. For this purpose, four open-ended questions were asked to five blind middle school students. During the interviews, geometric shapes were presented with raised-line materials and blind students were given opportunities to construct geometric shapes with magnetic sticks and micro-balls. Qualitative research techniques applied in grounded theory were used for analyzing documents pictures, which were taken from magnetic geometric shapes that blind students constructed, raised-line materials and researchers’ observation notes and interviews. As a result, it is determined that blind students have more than one concept image for the polygon concept. They scrutinized the polygon concept analytically not with a holistic perspective. They were often conflicted about triangle, rectangle, square, circle and circular region whether or not being a polygon. They also encountered with the difficulties associated with the combination of polygon sides’ endpoints consecutively.

Smartphones have now become an irreplaceable part of one’s daily routine. They play the role of a personal
assistant who takes care of communication, navigation and entertainment needs. Visually challenged people find
the user interface of smartphone difficult due to its visual nature. Text input is one among the major challenges.
In this paper, we list out all the available solutions and how they have helped a Blind and Visually Impaired
(VBI) user to input text to a smartphone. We also discuss some of the shortcomings of these solutions and how
to correct them. Based on the survey, a better approach is proposed and plans for future work are discussed. This
will be a simple yet efficient hardware based solution making use of a wireless hand-held device.

Objectives: The purpose of the study was to compare the emotion regulation strategies of
blind and sighted students.
Methods: The research method used was descriptive and causal-comparative, and the
statistical population included all the sighted and blind students at the University of Isfahan and
the Islamic Azad University of Khorasgan. The sample volume was 64 members (32 members
in each group). Sampling was conducted using the availability sampling method for the first
group and the simple random sampling method for the second group. Data was gathered and
measured with the help of the Emotion Regulation Scale by O.P. John and J.J. Gross, and
analyzed using SPSS 21 and the ANOVA test.
Results: The results indicated a significant difference between two groups with regard to
applied emotion regulation strategies (P<0.05); Blind students applied both strategies (cognitive
reappraisal and expressive suppression) less. The effect of gender, interaction between gender
and vision status was also not significant with respect to emotion regulation (P>0.05).
Discussion: Emotion regulation is a possible influential factor in many problems that blind
people suffer from, more than sighted ones, and using interventions that target emotion
regulation strategies would be useful.

Building on the notational principles of C. S. Peirce’s graphical logic, Pietarinen has tried to develop a propositional logic unfolding in the medium of sound. Apart from its intrinsic interest, this project serves as a concrete test of logic’s range. However, I argue that Pietarinen’s inaugural proposal, while promising, has an important shortcoming, since it cannot portray double-negation without thereby portraying a contradiction.

This is a case-study of a blind college student, Sonia, at the College of Languages and Translation (COLT). She has an iPhone, iPad and laptop as well as a Twitter, Facebook, WhatsApp and Skype accounts. She uses MS Office and the university's Academic Portal. The iPhone VoiceOver App and the Braille Sense Notetaker enable her to surf the internet, take notes in class, synchronize her calendar and contacts, and read silently through the use of a refreshable Braille display. She gives her Camera voice commands to take photos and write captions. A navigation software helps Sonia to walk around alone. Sonia reported that the voice software helps her communicate with people better, especially on social media. Since Sonia takes listening and interpreting courses in the Multimedia Language Lab at COLT, she indicated that no screen reading software is available at the lab like HAL or JAWS. Everything is operated by the mouse, not voice. Instructors do not wait for her during the listening and interpreting classes. Although she finds the Braille Sense Notetaker very useful and handy, she cannot afford to buy it. She borrows it from the Centre for Special Needs Students at the university. Recommendations for helping blind students make the best use of assistive technologies are given.

Mathematical language, which embodies visuals and abstract concepts such as symbols, shapes, contains differences for visually impaired individuals. Using various writing codes that make these differences and reading by touch is the source of mathematical communication for visually impaired individuals. Mathematical language does not have a common framework in braille, which differs according to countries and institutions. Therefore, there is no standard in mathematical language for braille in Turkey. This situation is reflected in the mathematical communication of visually impaired students. In this study, it is examined the role of braille in mathematical communication. The participants of the study which was designed in a multi-case study design were six visually impaired individuals determined according to the criteria and stratified sampling method. The texts, tables and graphics that the participants frequently use in classrooms were used in the clinical interviews on their experiences in mathematics learning and their reflections on some algebraic concepts. When the findings obtained by content analysis were examined, it was found that braille caused difficulties in mathematical language usage and played an important role in the use of symbols and shapes. In addition, it has been determined that embossed writing should be adapted in a way to enable communication with visually impaired individuals in the educational practices and in consideration of mathematical language requirements.

Today, most of necessary equipment in a physics laboratory are available for smartphone users via applications. Physics teachers may measure from acceleration to sound volume with its internal sensors. These sensors collect data and smartphone applications make the raw data visible. Teachers who do not have well-equipped laboratories at their schools may have an opportunity to conduct experiments with the help of smart phones. In this study, we analyzed possible open source physics education applications in terms of blind users in inclusive learning environments. All apps are categorized as partially, full or non-supported. The roles of blind learner's friend during the application are categorized as reader, describer or user. Mentioned apps in the study are compared with additional opportunities like size and downloading rates. Out of using apps we may also get information about whether via internet and some other extra information for different experiments in physics lab. Q-codes reading or augmented reality are two other opportunity provided by smart phones for users in physics labs. We also summarized blind learner's smartphone experiences from literature and listed some suggestions for application designers about concepts in physics.

All the students use some electrical machines which include electric circuits in their daily life but this subject is not easy to understand as mechanics, optics or waves. The reason is simple and base on their perceptions before school years; electricity is dangerous. To take students interest, 3D electrical toys seems more attractive and also appropriate for blind students. This tangible set up has easy-to-handle components to design different circuits. It is safe and simple to operate. The procedure was designed according to the revised Bloom's taxonomy of cognitive domain. The method has six main steps; introducing the kit (Knowledge), listening student's explanation about some circuits (Comprehension), building a new circuit from the guide (Application), analyzing the function of components, circuit (analyzing), combining two situations (Synthesis), and making decision about circuit (Evaluate). After all these steps, it was seen from the interview that the responses to attitude questions on electric circuits changed positively.

The theory of embodied cognition aims to explain the origin of meaning by going against the philosophical notion that thought and motor processes are independent, and can be studied as such. Cognition is considered embodied when mental processes depend on the physical body, or “when aspects of the agent's body beyond the brain play a significant causal or physically constitutive role in cognitive processing” (Wilson and Foglia, 2011).  Proponents of this view believe that thought is influenced by sensorimotor experience (Robbins and Aydede, 2009). Empirical research within embodied cognitive science has exploded in the past decade, most notably suggesting that the relation between the body, mind and environment is not unidirectional. It is likely that physical reality shapes our perception. At the same time, it can serve as an extension of the mind, for example through epistemic actions: strategies for dealing with cognitive effort by offloading it onto the environment (Kirsh and Maglio, 1994). This paper investigates the potential of gesture as epistemic action. 12 blind and severely visually impaired children and young adults, as well as a control group of 7 seeing young adults were interviewed for the purpose of the study. Participants were asked to explain a set of abstract and concrete concepts to a computer while their speech and gestures were recorded. If gesture plays a role in reducing the mental load by externalizing thought, gestures should be produced not only for concepts that are directly embodied (concrete), but also for those with an abstract referent, with the latter possibly generating a larger gesture rate due to the increase in cognitive load. Furthermore,  the presence of gesticulation in the descriptions of not only directly embodied, concrete concepts but also those which do not have a direct physical basis produced by early and congenitally blind children and young adults would support the notion that gesture plays a role in the processing of both concept types.  This is because one could not argue that the gestural repertoire of the blind group has been acquired visually, prompting the assumption that at least part of the underlying motivation for gesture use in abstract concept descriptions is cognitive rather than communicative.
While descriptive statistics did not show that abstract concepts generate more gestures, qualitative data analysis revealed that blind and visually impaired speakers employed different gestural strategies than did their sighted peers. Notably, while sighted young adults relied on deictic, iconic and metaphorical gestures, blind and seeing-impaired participants performed iconic and metaphorical gestures as well as complete reenactments of situations. For the purpose of this paper these gesture-and-sound performances were dubbed simulation gestures, and were defined as precise reenactments of whole situations performed by the respondent in an attempt to define a given concept. The presence of simulation gestures yields support to the visible embodiment, or Gestures as Simulated Action (GSA) framework (Hostetter and Alibali, 2008), which proposes that gestures emerge from embodied mental simulations underlying both conceptualisation and language. Furthermore, such simulations resemble epistemic actions described by Kirsh and Maglio (1994) in that physical action is used to simplify a cognitive task.  A number of examples demonstrates that indeed abstract concepts in blind children are strongly grounded in their experience of real-world situations. Cautiously interpreted findings suggest that gesture should not be regarded merely as a tool for communication, but as a way of extending the capabilities of the mind, and one that is deeply rooted in physical experience. If replicated, such observations may pave the way to employing epistemic actions in education, in particular revalidation education for blind and severely visually impaired.

The theory of embodiment (Lakoff and Johnson 2003; Gibbs et al. 2004) explains the origin of meaning by postulating that thought is influenced by sensorimotor experience (Robbins and Aydede 2009). However, the relation between the body, mind and environment is not unidirectional. Not only do we derive information from the world, but we are also able to use it as an extension of the mind through epistemic actions, strategies that minimize the cognitive load by offloading it onto the environment (Kirsh and Maglio 1994). This paper investigates the potential of gesture as epistemic action. 12 blind and severely visually impaired children and young adults, as well as a control group of 7 young adults were interviewed for the purpose of the study. Participants were asked to explain a set of abstract and concrete concepts while their speech and gestures were recorded. If gesture indeed plays a role in reducing the mental load by externalizing thought, more gestures should be produced for ...

There have been insurmountable obstacles for sharing instructions with disabled students but now they can be easily overcome by using the free programs TeamViewer 5 in combination with Skype, Krut Computer Recorder and Zoomtext because they allow to transmit all instructional material in accessible format in real time from the lecture computer directly to the screen of the disabled student.

The concept of equality of opportunity proposes that all people should be treated similarly, unhampered by artificial barriers, prejudices or preferences. Equality can be assured within multiple dimensions. There have been many initiatives to eliminate the barriers and provide equality of opportunity. As an instance, Universal Instructional Design (UID) intends to provide guidelines to increase accessibility for learners with special needs. In digital knowledge age, accessing information is crucial and digital books have been one of the significant source of information. In this sense, this research aims to contribute to “equality of opportunity” notion by providing design criteria for digital books for individuals with special needs. Within this perspective, the purpose of this study is to identify design criteria for digital books for individuals with special needs. Employing a qualitative exploratory methodology to reveal the needs of hearing-impaired, visually impaired and orthopedically handicapped individuals and identify sound and effective design criteria for digital books. The study also explores the needs of each group within seven themes: Written content, spoken content, static graphic content, dynamic graphic content, technology, layout and interaction. Additionally, research findings are discussed and suggestions for future implications are provided.

This paper describes how bodily positions and gestures were used to teach argument diagramming to a student who cannot see. After listening to short argumentative passages with a screen reader, the student had to state the conclusion while touching his belly button. When stating a premise, he had to touch one of his shoulders. Premises lending independent support to a conclusion were thus diagrammed by a V-shaped gesture, each shoulder proposition going straight to the conclusion. Premises lending dependent support were diagrammed by a T-shaped gesture, the shoulder premises meeting at the collar bone before moving down to the belly button. Arguments involving two pairs of entailments were diagrammed by an I-shaped gesture, going from the collar bone to a mid-way conclusion above the abdomen before travelling to the final conclusion at the belly button. The student’s strong performance suggests that placing propositions at different locations on the body and uniting them with gestures can help one discern correct argumentative structures.

Este livro não tem a pretensão de abordar a inteira complexidade do universo das pessoas com deficiência visual ou auditiva, nem apresenta diretrizes suficientemente capazes de solucionar toda a dimensão da problemática que envolve a comunicação com pessoas sem deficiências ou com outras deficiências. Faz isto sim, um recorte nesse universo para observar os processos de aprendizagem dos cegos e surdos em ambientes virtuais de aprendizagem, especialmente na direção do atendimento a legislação específica que trata da acessibilidade e também no atendimento das orientações da W3C. Porém, pondo em evidência o ser humano que convive com essas deficiências. Isto é, trata dessa gama de assuntos sob a ótica da aprendizagem em ambiente que propicie a integração de pessoas com e sem deficiências em um único ambiente virtual de aprendizagem.

O livro, com as premissas aqui apresentadas, não trata de todo o espectro das deficiências visual e auditiva, mas tão somente das questões ligadas à cegueira e a surdez congênitas. Assim, em seus capítulos, aborda diferentes temáticas ligadas aos processos de aprendizagem de pessoas com essas deficiências e pessoas sem deficiências no ambiente virtual de aprendizagem WebGD. Este ambiente é resultante dos trabalhos do grupo de pesquisadores que operacionaliza o projeto de pesquisa denominado ‘Ambiente Virtual de Aprendizagem Inclusivo’, ligado ao Programa de Pós Graduação em Engenharia e Gestão do Conhecimento da UFSC- Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina e amparado pelos recursos do edital Capes-AUX-PE-Proesp/2009 e coordenado pelo Prof. Tarcisio Vanzin.

Autores: Ana Lucia Alexandre de Oliveira Zandomeneghi, Angela Rossane B. Flores, Armando Cardoso Ribas, Carla Flor, Carlos Henrique Berg, Daniela Satomi Saito, Elisa Maria Pivetta, Gilson Braviano, Luís Henrique Lindner, Luiz Antônio Moro Palazzo, Mariana Lapolli, Marta Cristina Goulart Braga, Raul Inácio Busarello, Rosane de Fatima Antunes Obregon, Sabrina Bleicher, Sérgio Honorato, Silvia R. P. de Quevedo, Tarcísio Vanzin, Tatiana Takimoto, Vania Ribas Ulbricht, Vilma Villarouco.