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University of the West of Scotland


Support for Specific Impairments

Visual Impairment

Introduction

Many students have impairment in vision that can be corrected by spectacles or contact lenses. Where visual impairment cannot be corrected by these means, the individual may be registered as either:

  • blind, or
  • partially sighted.

These classifications are of little help in establishing the needs of the individual partially-sighted student, since the degree of impairment can vary greatly. Only 4% of people registered as either of the above have no sight at all. Others may:

  • be able only to distinguish light and dark.
  • have blurred vision.
  • have a restricted field or range of vision.
  • experience vision which is patchy.

Other possible impairments include difficulties in distinguishing between objects of differing shapes or colours or in gauging distance and speed.

Visual impairment can also co-exist with other disabilities. For example, in many people, partial sight occurs along with hearing impairment. Sight impairment can also occur as a result of some other condition. For example, ME sufferers sometimes experience blurred vision.

Visual Impairment and the Student

The student learning experience is usually based on both accessing and producing written text. Sight-impaired students will usually, by the time they reach university, have developed their own preferred means of carrying out these two activities. The different methods they use will depend on the nature and degree of their visual loss and the training and technology available to them.

The degree of visual impairment in the individual can fluctuate. For other people, the impairment is gradual and deteriorating. The strategies and technologies used by these students may have to be adjusted from time to time.

Sight-impaired students may also require special means to help them get about, both within and outside the university. It is important to ensure that these various aids are understood and facilitated. They include:

  • Guide dogs : some students will be able to get to and around the campus with the aid of their guide dogs. It is clearly important that the university should be able to cater for the dog’s needs as well as the student’s.
  • Canes : long white canes may be used by the students to help them navigate and to indicate their sight impairment. Many sight impaired students will need no other aid to mobility, particularly where the environment is well-lit.

Accessing and Producing Text

Vision-impaired students may use a variety of methods to access text, depending on the nature and extent of their impairment. Partially-sighted students may use means of magnifying normal text, such as a small hand-held illuminating magnifier. Closed-circuit television (CCTV) is a non-portable alternative. CCTV can be used to enlarge print and to alter the background to make it easier to read. A CCTV is available on the 2nd floor of the University Library and in the Special Needs Resource Suite.

Other options include:

  • Audio-tapes of text in spoken form. Audio versions of some books are available from the library of the Royal National Institute for the Blind (RNIB),
  • Employing readers to read text onto tape. Where this option is used, the student has to be well-organised, indexing each tape appropriately and being able to access the tape at the required points.
  • Braille is a long-established form of text, which the student can read by touch. The availability of key texts in Braille may be a problem.
  • Text may be scanned into a PC and accessed in a number of forms. Some software programmes allow scanned-in text to be read out by a synthetic voice system. It may also be possible to print out scanned-in text in Braille form.

Accessing diagrams can pose additional problems. Partially-sighted students will prefer diagrams that are kept as simple as possible and which are drawn clearly. Photocopying or CCTV can be used in order to enlarge the diagram if necessary. Students who read Braille may prefer to use a tactile version of each diagram, if available.

For producing text, students again have a number of options. Many students can type effectively, perhaps making use of a computer equipped with enlarged text or voice synthesis to enable them to check their work. Other alternatives include:

  • An amanuensis or scribe who writes to the student’s dictation.
  • Hand-writing, still a common practice amongst sight-impaired students. They may use a magnifier to help them write legibly, and ensure that they write in strong, direct light.

Assisting the Vision-impaired Student

The needs of visually-impaired students differ. What helps one may be unsuitable for another. For example, while one student may benefit from larger-print text, this would not be a solution that would help someone with tunnel vision. As we have seen before, there is no substitute for meeting the students and discussing their needs with them.

Whatever the individual student’s visual impairment, he or she has to extract the same amount of benefit from classes and reading as sighted students. Ensuring that they have adequate access to text in a usable format can be a complicated process that requires careful planning with the student. Some suggestions and hints for optimising the learning experience of the sight-impaired student follow in these areas:

  • lectures and other classes,
  • student information,
  • examinations,
  • placements and off-campus activities.
Lectures and other Classes

A basic problem for many blind or partially-sighted students is taking notes at lectures. The following ideas may help you to assist them:

  • If students have software with voice synthesis or Braille conversion facilities, it may be helpful to provide them with electronic (web, email or disc) copies of lecture notes, handouts and information displayed on OHP handouts.
  • Partially-sighted students may benefit from enlarged copies of notes and diagrams.
  • Where the student uses a tape recorder, you should help him or her to place it to the best advantage.
  • Some students may want to use a Perkins Brailler, which records notes in Braille format.
  • Keep diagrams clear and simple. This will help partially-sighted students and also make it easier for tactile versions of the diagrams to be constructed.
  • Make sure that you read out the content of any visual material, such as OHP transparencies, that you display.

The environment in which the class takes place is also worthy of attention. Partially-sighted students benefit from effective lighting, but the acoustics of the room are also important: sight-impaired students rely more on hearing or taping the lecture, and so rooms with excessive echo or poor acoustics may be unsuitable.

Sight-impaired students may find it particularly difficult to benefit from demonstrations. It may help if the student is permitted to touch the equipment being used or have the equipment and its use described orally when the demonstration is under way.

Ensure that all sight-impaired students are given a course booklist before the start of their courses so that they can make use of the RNIB Transcription Service. Three or four weeks may be necessary to make use of this service.

A final point to bear in mind concerns the location of classes. Sight-impaired students take longer to get used to the geography of the campus and can have problems if the location of a class has to be changed. If you have sight-impaired students, be sure that you notify them of any changes and be prepared to offer assistance in getting to the new location. A blind student can be guided by letting them hold on to your arm rather than vice versa

Student Information

Typically, information about student activities, exam results and room changes is given on notice-boards, through hand-written notes on doors and other purely visual means. It may help sight-impaired students to be informed orally, by telephone, or by emailing text, which can then be read through magnifying or voice synthesis software.

Any printed information given to partially-sighted students should be as legible as possible and the print size large enough to be read comfortably. It is worth bearing in mind that documents - whether handouts, exam papers, or other information - that are printed with a point size of 14 can be read by 75% of the population. The Royal National Institute for the Blind (RNIB) also recommends using a clear font such as Arial..

Examinations

Visually impaired students will need alternative arrangements for examiniations:

  • Diagrams and tables in the paper must be presented in a way that the students can access, for example, in tactile format.
  • Partially-sighted students may benefit from examination papers printed in colours, which heighten the contrast, making them easier to read.

Special arrangements must also be made for the way in which students record their answers. If the student records answers in Braille, those answers must be transcribed into normal text, and some way must be found to enable the student to produce diagrams or tables, such as Computer Aided Design software. The student may wish to use a scribe or amanuensis: guidance on this method is provided elsewhere.

If answers are to be recorded on a computer, perhaps using a Braille keyboard, speech synthesis and enlarged fonts, the equipment must be set up and checked well in advance of the examination date.

Sight-impaired students are likely to require longer than the standard time for examinations. The additional length required will depend on the nature of the impairment and the equipment being used, but 50% extra is normal.

Placements and Off-campus Activities

When sight-impaired students are required to work off-campus, they will need to have their usual equipment for accessing and producing text available to them. Well before the placement occurs, discussion must take place about the best way to ensure that this is done. Recognition must also be given that the student will take some time to get used to the layout of a new working environment.

Case Study

Mandy, a visually impaired student found that she was able to help a fellow student. ‘The most important thing for me was to get everything sorted out with the Enabling Support Adviser before the semester started,’ she explained. ‘The adviser helped me to find out what I was entitled to in terms of support. I have some sight, but I do need large print. The lecturers were happy to give me copies of their handouts and overheads in large print. I then discovered Robert [who has impaired motor skills] hadn't made any arrangements to get copies of handouts and so I shared mine with him.’

Another visually-impaired student, Andrew, has arranged to receive a copy of all transparencies that appear on OHPs at lectures. ‘I can’t see material placed on an OHP unless I use my monocular, a device that looks like a telescope. It’s laborious and time-consuming to use, though.’

Andrew also used Disabled Student’s Allowance to buy a tape recorder for use in lectures. ‘I can listen to any section of the lecture I may have missed. I sometimes do miss bits, because it takes me longer to write down notes. I’ve also arranged to receive large-print copies of handouts.’

Andrew is permitted 25% per hour extra time in examinations, and also receives extensions in deadlines for coursework because it takes him longer to read books and carry out research.

Andrew has two suggestions that would help visually-impaired students.  ‘Visually-impaired students, and others who have reading difficulties, should receive individual copies of items placed on notice boards. Generally, I have to rely on others to read the board for me.’

Further Information

The Royal National Institute for the Blind (RNIB) offers help and advice to blind and partially sighted students, for example:   

  • Providing advice about rights and products that can help sight-impaired student.
  • Producing tactile diagrams.
  • Transcribing articles, papers or lecture notes onto Braille or tape.

The principal address is:

RNIB and GCC Transcription Centre
Centre for Sensory Impaired People
17 Gullane Street
Glasgow G11 6AH
Tel/Fax: 0141 334 5530
Website: www.rnib.org.uk

You can also contact RNIB Headquarters using on of the folllowing:


RNIB Employment and Student Support Network
Tel: 0141 357 3525
Freephone number: 0800 389 7650

RNIB Factsheets

Factsheets giving further information about working with blind or visually impaired people are available directly from RNIB direct. The following factsheets can be obtained from the Student Services Information Room (J217):

  • Guiding a Person who is Blind/Partially Sighted.
  • Careers Tape Library.
  • RNIB Tape Services.

The RNIB Transcription Service can be contacted as follows:

RNIB National Customer Service Centre
Bakewell Road
Orton Southgate
Peterborough
PE2 6XU
Tel: 0845 702 3153
Email: cservices@rnib.org.uk

 

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