An Educator's Guide to Visual Disabilities

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Introduction:
The term visual impairment encompasses a broad spectrum of disability, from complete loss of vision (blindness) through reduced visual ability, whether through color, fluctuation, or clarity of vision. When considering these learners, a variety of accommodations may be needed. Individualization in this case, is important.

 

Issues:
Printed materials necessary for classroom settings continue to be an immense challenge to those with visual impairment. Paired along with this is the ever-increasing use of computer technology in the classroom. Computer technology can be a challenge to visually impaired students who often have difficulty reading text from a computer monitor, or using software requiring visual learning.
To accommodate these students, a broad spectrum of provisions can be made aside from Braille texts. Something as simple as writing on an overhead or chalkboard in larger letters, to increasing font size in texts and computer monitors can accommodate some visual challenges. In addition, many texts have accompanying audio tapes, and lectures and discussions can easily be recorded in a variety of ways, and teachers may find these options incorporate into a multi-intelligence classroom structure nicely. There are also ever-increasing options for these visually impaired students as technology advances. Below are a few examples of the wide selection of similar options available:
Ai Squared - ZoomText screen magnification software
Duxbury Systems and Access 20/20- Braille translation software
Enabling Technologies Company - Braille Printers & More
VirTouch Ltd. - Provided the VirTouch Mouse: a multifunctional device enabling the user to use touch in order to recognize graphic shapes, diagrams, pictures, to draw symbols, icons and graphical schemes, to read text in regular alphabets, in addition to Braille, and to play tactile computer games.
Pulse Data HumanWare - products for people who are blind and visually impaired: Our solutions include complete computer systems for information access; BrailleNote and VoiceNote Windows CE-based personal data assistants; Braille Star refreshable braille terminals; screen reading programs including JAWS for Windows, Window-Eyes, Dolphin and outSPOKEN; braille embossers; the Mountbatten Pro braille writer; Kurzweil scan and read systems; textHELP reading and writing software; Pulse Data International's SmartView electronic magnifiers
IBM Accessibility Center - Home Page Reader - a self-voicing Web browser.
Self Voicing Kit - allows developers to add an audio user interface to Java applications. Open Book, Ruby Edition - Windows 95, 98, NT tool for the blind and low vision reader.
Madoogali - Products such as Noa Virtual Assistant which Reads aloud all your documents, including web pages, and Key2Speak allows you to hear your documents read as soon as you type them.

TACK-TILES® Braille Systems LLC - Braille learning block tools in a variety of languages and forms.
Telesensory Corporation - Video magnifiers and scanners, including small portable units that can easily be carried by students.
Other Considerations: With the increased use of Internet technology in the classroom, additional consideration should be made to web design and structure for those with visual impairment. Tips in accessible web design are available on many web sites. Guidelines provided from http://www.about.com make the following suggestions when creating disability accessible web sites:
Use Good Basic Design Techniques
Make your page layout simple and consistent.
Use consistent navigation throughout the site.
Place navigation elements in the same position on every page of the site.
Use valid HTML and CSS.
Create a meaningful and unique title for each page.
Use the ALT Attribute
Include a short informative description for every image.
For images that are not important or are redundant, include an empty ALT attribute in the IMG tag. For instance:
<IMG src="clear.gif" width=1 height=1 alt=" ">
Provide Text Alternatives
For important video content, provide equivalent text or audio content.
For important audio content, provide text transcripts or captions.
Provide alternative text links for image map navigation.
Gracefully Degrade
Ensure that pages using Javascript, Java, graphics, Flash, CSS, audio, or plug-ins will be usable and readable in browsers that lack those capabilities.
Don't Rely on Color
Provide a text description for content that is displayed in graphs, charts, or tables.
Be Descriptive
Links or navigation elements should clearly describe the destination. For instance, "click here" does not tell the user where the link will take them.
User Control
Use stop, pause, and play buttons to give the user control of audio and video.
Blinking Content
Avoid the use of content that blinks, flashes, or flickers.
Frames
Avoid frames whenever possible. When using frames, be sure to provide a unique title for each frame.
Tables
Consider using stylesheets to define the layout and appearance of your pages. However, if you use tables, avoid more complex layouts and, where appropriate, describe content with the use of header mark up. For instance:
<th>description of column content</th>
Forms
To ensure that users know the purpose of each input area, give each form and element a descriptive name.
Skip Navigation Link
Use a small transparent GIF to create a link that allows users of screen readers to skip over navigation elements. The link will be invisible for those using standard browsers. Here is an example:
<a href="#content><IMG src="spacer.gif" width=1 height=1 alt="Skip to page content"></a>
Verify Accessibility
Just as there are many types of disabilities, there are a wide variety of alternative browsing aids. While testing your site with each of these applications and aids would be very difficult and time consuming, remember the more testing you do, the more likely your site will be accessible.
At a minimum, be sure to:
For additional information and suggestions on web accessibility, along with additional resource links, visit
The Alliance for Technology Access:
http://www.ataccess.org/rresources/web/vision.html
Recommended Sites:
An Educator's Guide to Access Issues (1999)
Health Communication and Public Relations: Blindness and Visual Disability Statistics
Royal National Institute for the Blind
Lighthouse International
American Foundation of the Blind

 

References:
Makoa Organization (July 2002). disABILITY Resources and Information. Retrieved July 25, 2002 from http://www.makoa.org/
Omni Home Page: Purdue University. Adaptive Learning Programs Retrieved July 27, 2002, from http://omni.cc.purdue.edu/~alps/
Tiresias Organization: International Information on Visual Impairment. Retrieved July 25, 2002, from http://www.tiresias.org/index.htm

This page was completed as a course project for:


EPS 304
CTER Online
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

Last updated:  08/05/02