Darbe bandoma išsiaiškinti komandinio darbo ypatumus formuojant vaikų su regos sutrikimais sąvokas ir vaizdinius. Manoma, kad specialistų komandiniam darbui trūksta bendro kolektyvinio situacijos supratimo, bendrų interesų, kurie skatintų kolektyvinę veiklą. Komandos narių funkcijos gali būti labai artimos, bet pakankamai diferencijuotos, tačiau jų veiklos tikslai bus tie patys – padėti vaikams kuo sėkmingiau išspręsti visas jų socialines, ugdymosi, psichologines bei kitas problemas. Svarbu žinoti komandos narių funkcijas ir skatinti visų grandžių bendradarbiavimą, plėtoti tarpusavio sąveikos kokybę. Komandinis specialistų darbas tampa aktualiu formuojant vaikų su regos sutrikimais sąvokas ir vaizdinius. / This work deals with peculiarities of professionals’ team work while structuring concepts and images for children with visual impairment. It is supposed that the work of professionals’ team lacks common collective situation understanding and common interests which encourage team activities. Team members’ functions could be related but differentiated, however, the aims of their performance will be the same – to help children to solve successfully all their social, developmental, psychological and other problems. It is essential to define the functions of all team members and encourage the cooperation of all team links, to develop the quality of interaction. Professionals’ team work becomes relevant while structuring concepts and images for children with visual impairment.

視覺障礙者主要透過聲音來記錄生活與體驗世界，如同明眼人以文字或相片記憶重要時刻一般。然而觀察現有錄音裝置與軟體，皆尚未能提供適合視障者使用的完善錄音流程；即使是有語音功能的輔助裝置，不僅其價格、軟體更新、硬體維修等因市場小眾較為不易，也因為只是單純的錄音工具而無法流暢的銜接後續的檔案整理與分享。直到近幾年智慧型手機的興起，藉著其為市場主流產品、有豐富的軟體支援、隨時可連上網路等條件，逐漸成為視障者更好的輔助裝置的選擇。 為使視障者也能順利的操作觸控式介面，過往研究者針對Eyes-free情境提出了相關設計原則，而現今手機作業系統也大多內建螢幕報讀機制，讓視障者能自在與自信的與手機互動。雖然手機的可及性與通用性越來越受重視，專門為視障者設計的軟體卻並不多，輔助功能的開發資源和準則也待進一步的發展。本研究於初期的使用者觀察與訪談中，先深入了解視障者利用聲音記事的習慣與遇到的困難，並再進行初步設計方案的功能需求訪談，以切合使用者實際錄音的情境。 綜上所述，本研究為以視覺障礙者為目標使用族群，於觸控式手機設計錄音輔助軟體「HearMe」，解決視障者日常生活中聲音記錄的問題，並嘗試以手勢和語音設計，探索視障者操作觸控式介面的可能性。本系統原型有幾項重要特點：（1）快捷手勢可開始或結束錄音、（2）標記與播放重點段落、（3）即時編輯與歸類檔案、（4）以分類清單快速搜尋、（5）行動通訊立即分享；其他特色功能包括語音檔名、快轉與倒轉手勢、自訂群組和地標等。本系統原型開發時運用迭代設計流程共實作三次週期，每個版本皆經過設計、測試、分析、和調整功能等過程，逐步驗證系統的可行性與實用性。 經過三次的設計循環與共計18位視障者參與測試，本研究於第三版系統原型完成能實際應用在生活中的錄音軟體。受測者認為HearMe操作簡單、容易學習，快速播放重點段落省時省力、分類清楚而方便尋找檔案；同時它能夠以完善的語音提示和整合的錄音流程彌補現有裝置不足的部分，讓手機成為生活中記錄聲音的最佳輔助工具。最後，本研究以Google Analysis分析HearMe實際使用數據，並搭配訪談回饋總結系統設計的成果與互動設計之建議，提供HearMe或其他開發者做為日後設計的參考。 / The auditory sense is the primary channel for the visually impaired to experience the world, just as sighted people using words and photos to capture important moment. However, current recording devices mostly don’t have compact recording flows for the visually impaired. The devices with voice feedback are very expensive, nearly no softwares updated, and lack of maintenance supports due to the minority of the market. Also, these devices only can record and play but not organizing and sharing files with others. In recent years, smartphone’s popularity has been rising. It is the mainstream product with variety softwares and can be always online, showing the potential to become alternative accessible device for the visually impaired. In order to allow the visually impaired to use the touch screens, researchers have presented several design principles under eyes-free situations. Moreover, screen readers are embedded into smartphone operating systems like iOS and Android, which enable the visually impaired to freely and comfortably interact with smartphones. While the accessibility and universality of smartphones have been noticed, there are few applications tailored for their use, and the accessibility resources and principles need to be developed. In the first phase of user interview, we investigated their behaviors and difficulties when recording. After the design strategy has been made, we planned a second interview to verify if the functions we defined are suitable for their actual needs. This study focus on the visually impaired and tries to resolve the recording and memorizing problems they faced everyday by developing an accessible recording application on smartphone. The prototype, HearMe, provides specialized gestures and voice feedback. Followings are the highlight features of HearMe: (1) Short-cut gesture to start and finish recording, (2) marking and playing important parts, (3) editing and grouping files on device, (4) rapid searching by classified lists, and (5) real-time sharing. Other features include audio file name, gestures to play forward or backward, and custom groups and landmarks. While developing, this prototype applied iterative design process and repeated the flow cycle for three times. Every generation has been through steps of design, testing, analyzing, and modifying; by this approach, system’s usabilities can be gradually improved. After three cycles of design process which involved total 18 participants, we present a recording application that can use in real life. Participants command that HearMe is easy to operate and learn, playing by parts saving a lot of effort, and structured grouping helps file searching. Additionally, it provides well-defined audio feedbacks and integrated recording flow, complementing the shortcomings current devices have. These advantages make HearMe become the best tool to assist them for recording sounds during everyday life. This study finally concludes design considerations and suggestions by discussing usage data from Google Analytics and interview feedbacks, provides references for other assistive developers.

No description available.

Im Beitrag werden Anwendungen aus dem Web2.0-Bereich, die besonders geeignet sind, bestimmte Behinderungsgruppen in ihrem Kommunikationsverhalten zu unterstützen, identifiziert und klassifiziert. In Verbindung mit der Betrachtung von möglichen Barrieren in diesen Web2.0-Anwendungen kann daraus abgeleitet werden, welche Anwendungen besonders kommunikationsunterstützend für bestimmte Behinderungsgruppen wirken und welche Maßnahmen zur Steigerung der Nutzungsraten getroffen werden sollten.

Functional vision refers to the use of vision to perform day-day tasks and is assessed by the ability to perform these tasks. Assessment of functional vision is an integral component of the management of children with visual impairment. The results of the assessment help in designing appropriate educational and rehabilitation intervention strategies. The L V Prasad-Functional Vision Questionnaire (LVP-FVQ) is a reliable and valid tool for assessing self-reported functional vision performance (FVP) in children. Self-reports are obviously the child's perception of his or her ability to perform certain tasks but they may not reflect actual performance. Various studies of FVP in adults have used actual performance measures of everyday tasks, but very few studies, even in adults with visual impairment, have compared self-reports and performance measures and none have included identical tasks on the 2 methods of assessment. To date, no study has assessed FVP using performance measures of daily tasks in the paediatric population. Therefore, the aims of the current study were: (1) To develop performance measures of FVP and compare them with self-reports of FVP from the LVP-FVQ in a prospective cohort of Indian school-going children with visual impairment. (2) To investigate the effect of a psychological attribute, self-concept, on self-reports, performance measures and the relationships between the 2 measures. (3) To investigate the relationship between clinical measures of vision and FVP. Performance measures of FVP for children with visual impairment were developed for 17 day to day tasks for comparison with self-reports of the same tasks for the LVP-FVQ. The LVP-FVQ was verbally administered by the researcher to 178 Indian school-going children aged between 8 and 17 years with visual impairment. Similarly, the performance of each of the tasks by these children was measured by the researcher. The performance measures for most of these tasks were recorded on continuous scales and later categorized to match the ordinal ratings from the LVP-FVQ. The self-report and performance measure ratings for the 17 tasks were then converted into the same metric using a Rasch model allowing an accurate picture of whether and how these two measures of FVP compared with each other. Rasch analysis was used to estimate the person ability and item difficulty for FVP from the 2 methods of assessment. Self-reports showed stronger correlations with performance measures of FVP than were hypothesized. Similar to some studies in adults, binocular high-contrast visual acuity was found to be the single most significant predictor of a child's functional vision performance. Contrary to expectations, self-concept did not have a significant effect on the relationship between the 2 measures. A few reasons for the stronger than expected relationship between the 2 methods of assessment of FVP in children with visual impairment are suggested. Firstly, the use of identical tasks for self-reports and performance measures of FVP is likely to improve the relationship. Secondly, the LVP-FVQ was developed using focus groups of children with visual impairment, their parents, low vision specialists and rehabilitation professionals leading to good content validity. Since children were included in the development of the LVP-FVQ, the tasks were representative of a child's typical daily life. Thus, the performance measures were also suited to the day-day tasks of school-going children but were not tapping any social and psychological issues relating to visual impairment. Thirdly, the use of Rasch analysis which addresses many of the issues of unequal measurement and defines a hierarchy of items for self-reports and performance measures could have led to higher correlations in the present study. Finally, the high reliability and validity of self-reports and performance measures of FVP in the present study may have contributed to the higher than expected correlations. None of the demographic variables or self-concept affected the relationship between self-reports and performance measures of FVP, but self-concept had a weak significant association with self-reports. This result is unique to this study and warrants further investigation. Binocular high-contrast visual acuity alone, the most common visual function measured in ophthalmic clinics, explained between one-third and two-thirds of the variance in functional vision performance. This confirms the expected trend that with worse visual impairment, FVP is lower. The addition of the variable, self-concept, resulted in a very small increase in the variability explained for self-reported FVP. Similarly, the addition of other clinical measures of vision such as binocular low contrast visual acuity and colour vision resulted in a small increase in the variability explained for performance measures of FVP. The correlation between binocular high-contrast visual acuity and performance measures of FVP was statistically significantly higher than that between binocular high-contrast visual acuity and self-reports of FVP. There are a few possible reasons for this higher correlation. Firstly, performance measures are considered to be a more "objective" form of assessment, while self-reports are a child's perception of his or her ability and therefore lack a context, which may result in either over-estimation or under-estimation of actual ability. Furthermore, performance measures include dimensions such as the time taken to perform a task or other criteria specific to a task, while self-reports do not use such qualifiers. Secondly, the higher correlation may be the result of the visual complexity of some of the tasks. While self-concepts of children with visual impairment played a small but significant role in the self-reported FVP, studies in adults with visual impairment have suggested that other psychological factors such as mood, anxiety, motivation etc. are associated with an individual's perception of visual performance. Future studies are required to explore the possible role of these and other factors in FVP in Indian school-going children with visual impairment. This thesis makes a significant contribution to the field of paediatric low vision rehabilitation by providing performance measures of FVP and relating them to self-reports in children with visual impairment and their relationship with common measures of visual function. With self-reports, the child is reporting his or her perception of ability to complete a task, where performance measures examine the child's ability to complete a task by observing his or her performance. Thus, although the two methods are comparable, it is because of the different yields from each of these measures that they are not considered interchangeable. A combination of the 2 measures where practical would perhaps provide a richer depiction of the FVP of children with visual impairment. As developing countries such as India have limited resources allocated for eye care services where less than seven percent of the gross national product is spent on health care, self-reports can be utilized together with clinical measures of vision (mainly visual acuity) to assess the FVP in children with visual impairment in a community setting. However, both methods of assessment of FVP together with clinical measures of vision are essential if a comprehensive assessment of FVP is to be carried out in children with visual impairment. Information from these assessments can help clinicians better understand the functioning of children with visual impairment and incorporate them in the management of low vision in school-going children with visual impairment in India.

This work is part of the development of research online Educational Technology Network, the Graduate Program in Educational Technology Network of the Federal University of Santa Maria, conducting an investigation based on a case study, qualitative, proposing the development of accessible interfaces on the AVEA Moodle. From the blind user's perspective, the objective is to develop accessible interfaces in accordance with the principles defined by the WCAG 2.0 accessibility standard. The theoretical framework behind information related to Visual Impairment, Assistive Technologies, Web accessibility, Web Application Design and Web Development Standards. During the observations and analyzes were listed all the elements for the format, resources and environment activities that may suffer some change to meet the principles proposed by WCAG 2.0. After the records from the observations and analyzes made by the blind student, subject of this research, he elaborated the final product of this dissertation, the AVEA Moodle interface design, containing the user's characteristics, definition of use cases, prototype mapping goals, defining the set of tasks associated with each action, screen images development for each share of interface and identification of user interface objects used in the implementation. After preparing the final design Web interface, it moved to the implementation phase of the survey recorded changes, following the development of standards for web accessibility. After the implementation process, finalized to research by performing the validation process following two scenarios with different technologies using the browsers Internet Explorer and Google Chrome, and the screen reader Jaws and NVDA, respectively. Research has shown through the made observations and analyzes that, in this scenario, much remains to be done, but many of these obstacles are solvable. The weaknesses relating to the accessibility of the AVEA Moodle interface identified in the survey, confirm the belief that various aspects of accessibility can only be detected by blind users, confirming the importance of manual validation. / Esta dissertação faz parte da linha de pesquisa de Desenvolvimento em Tecnologias Educacionais em Rede, do Programa de Pós-Graduação em Tecnologias Educacionais em Rede da Universidade Federal de Santa Maria, realizando uma investigação baseada em um estudo de caso, de caráter qualitativo, propondo o desenvolvimento de interfaces acessíveis no AVEA Moodle. A partir da perspectiva do usuário cego, objetiva-se desenvolver interfaces acessíveis de acordo com os princípios definidos pelo padrão de acessibilidade WCAG 2.0. O referencial teórico traz informações relacionadas à Deficiência Visual, Tecnologias Assistivas, Acessibilidade na Web, Projeto de Aplicações Web e Padrões de Desenvolvimento Web. Durante as observações e análises foram elencados todos os elementos referentes ao formato, recursos e atividades do ambiente que podem sofrer alguma alteração para atender aos princípios propostos pelo WCAG 2.0. Após os registros provenientes das observações e análises efetuadas pelo aluno cego, sujeito desta pesquisa, elaborou-se o produto final desta dissertação, o Projeto de Interface do AVEA Moodle, contendo as características do usuário, definição dos casos de uso, protótipo, mapeamento de objetivos, definição do conjunto de tarefas associadas a cada ação, desenvolvimento de imagens de tela para cada ação da interface e identificação dos objetos de interface do usuário utilizados na implementação. Após a elaboração do projeto final da interface Web, passou-se para a fase de implementação das mudanças registradas na pesquisa, seguindo os padrões de desenvolvimento web para a acessibilidade. Após o processo de implementação, finalizou-se a pesquisa realizando-se o processo de validação seguindo dois cenários com tecnologias diferentes, utilizando os navegadores Internet Explorer e Google Chrome, e os leitores de tela Jaws e NVDA, respectivamente. A pesquisa mostrou, através das observações e análises efetuadas que, nesse cenário, muito ainda há por se fazer, mas que vários desses obstáculos são passíveis de solução. As fragilidades referentes à acessibilidade da interface do AVEA Moodle, apontadas na pesquisa, confirmam a convicção de que vários aspectos de acessibilidade só podem ser detectados por usuários cegos, confirmando a importância da validação manual.

Les recherches précédentes et les observations cliniques suggèrent une prévalence élevée des troubles du spectre de l'autisme (TSA) dans la population d'enfants déficients visuels. Un phénomène de régression ou de stagnation développemental dès la deuxième année de vie des bébés déficients visuels semble être un précurseur de troubles autistiques ultérieurs. Relativement peu de recherches ont examiné les manifestations comportementaux des très jeunes enfants déficients visuels avant et autour de l'apparition de cette période de régression. Pour cette étude rétrospective, des films familiaux d'enfants aveugles à l’âge de 12 mois, de 24 mois et entre 3 et 4 ans, sont analysés et les comportements de la communication sociale codifiés, afin de repérer des signes précurseurs des TSA. Des films d'enfants aveugles ayant un diagnostic ultérieur de TSA ont été comparés aux films d'enfants aveugles sans TSA. Les résultats indiquent une fréquence moins élevée chez les enfants ayant un diagnostic de TSA de certains signes de la communication sociale dès l'âge de 12 mois, avec des différences très marquées pour les comportements d'ouvertures sociales. D'importantes différences du langage fonctionnel sont observées à partir de l'âge de 24 mois. Des stéréotypés motrices et langagières sont observées à fréquence égale dans les deux groupes jusqu'à 3 ans mais ensuite diminuent chez les enfants sans troubles associés et augmentent chez les enfants avec TSA. Des différences dans le type d'activité ludique sont aussi observées, les jeux sensoriels étant plus fréquents chez les enfants aveugles avec TSA. Certains comportements de rejet social et de particularités sensorielles sont observés uniquement chez les enfants aveugles avec TSA. Ces résultats pourraient contribuer à une meilleure compréhension des signes autistiques chez les personnes aveugles, l'amélioration du dépistage des TSA chez les très jeunes enfants déficients visuels, et peuvent guider des dispositifs d'intervention précoce. / Previous research ans clinical observations suggest a high incidence of autism spectrum disorders (ASD) in visually impaired children. A phenomena of developmental regression or stagnation « developmental setback » observed in the second year of life of visually impaired babies appears to predict the later occurrence of ASD. Relatively little research has explored the behavioural manifestations of very young visually impaired children before and around the apparition of developmental setback. For this retrospective study, home movies of blind children at the age of 12 months, 24 months and between 3 and 4 years, are analysed and behaviours of social communication are coded, to detect early signs of ASD. Films of blind children having later recieved a diagnosis of ASD are compared to films of blind children without ASD. The results indicate a lower frequency of certain social communication behaviours in blind children with ASD as early as 12 months old, with particular differences being observed in social engagement behaviours. Differences are also observed in the level of functional language from 24 months. Motor and language stereotyped behaviours are observed equally in the two groups until the age of 3 when these behaviours increase in the blind ASD children and decrease in the blind children without ASD. Divergences in the type of play are identified, sensory play being more frequent in the blind ASD children. Certain social rejection behaviours and sensory sensitivities are only observed in the blind ASD group. The results of this study contribute to a better understanding of early ASD signs in the blind, and improvements in the early screening of ASD in very young visually impaired children, as well as guiding early intervention programmes.

241 f. / Submitted by PPGE PPGE (pgedu@ufba.br) on 2013-09-18T16:18:26Z No. of bitstreams: 1 TESE TODA 6 abril Virgínia 13 MAIO 13.pdf: 2417557 bytes, checksum: 861d741b496474717e052ea3d3e6c85b (MD5) / Rejected by Maria Auxiliadora Lopes(silopes@ufba.br), reason: Prezado, Favor renomear o arquivo. Auxiliadora on 2013-09-18T16:51:19Z (GMT) / Submitted by PPGE PPGE (pgedu@ufba.br) on 2013-09-23T13:12:56Z No. of bitstreams: 1 SANDRA REGINA ROSA.pdf: 2417557 bytes, checksum: 861d741b496474717e052ea3d3e6c85b (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Maria Auxiliadora Lopes(silopes@ufba.br) on 2013-09-23T16:43:43Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 SANDRA REGINA ROSA.pdf: 2417557 bytes, checksum: 861d741b496474717e052ea3d3e6c85b (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2013-09-23T16:43:43Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 SANDRA REGINA ROSA.pdf: 2417557 bytes, checksum: 861d741b496474717e052ea3d3e6c85b (MD5) Previous issue date: 2013 / A Audiodescrição, ou AD é um recurso que visa tornar acessível ao público deficiente visual conteúdos imagéticos produzidos no âmbito educacional e cultural. No Brasil, as ADs são realizadas ainda experimentalmente, a partir da experiência do convívio com deficientes visuais ou de um modelo fundamentado nas normas britânica (ITC, 2000), espanhola (UNE, 2005) e americana (ADC, 2008). Ao seguir tais modelos, as ADs apontam para um padrão internacional, o qual prioriza a objetividade, a clareza e a fidelidade à obra transcrita. Este estudo tem como objetivo analisar o alcance de duas versões de AD realizadas para o filme português Atrás das Nuvens (2007) de Jorge Queiroga, fixando o olhar na poética produzida pela Linguagem Cinematográfica – LC nesta obra. Também se dispõe a discutir a questão da objetividade, expressividade e poética passadas nas versões abordadas. Para fundamentar a tese, é feito um estudo de caso com base na pesquisa qualitativa, alicerçada na análise de um trecho desse filme e aportada por entrevista semiestruturada com um grupo de pessoas deficientes visuais. Teoricamente, a discussão foi mediada, principalmente, nos trabalhos de Diniz (2007); Franco (2010); Neves (2011); Gomes (2004); Deleuze (2005) e Minayo (2001). Identificou-se que a AD não pode ser realizada apenas como um serviço de tradução de forma mecânica, identificando imagens, no intuito de favorecer ao espectador deficiente visual a captação apenas de forma instantânea. Os resultados demonstraram ser possível realizar a AD a partir da força embutida na poética da LC e transmiti-la de forma expressiva, criativa e poética. / Salvador

MARTINS, Ana Kristia da Silva. Mapas afetivos táteis: vivências urbanas não visuais na cidade de Fortaleza. 2015. 162f. – Dissertação (Mestrado) – Universidade Federal do Ceará, Programa de Pós-graduação em Psicologia, Fortaleza (CE), 2015. / Submitted by Márcia Araújo (marcia_m_bezerra@yahoo.com.br) on 2016-01-20T11:41:37Z No. of bitstreams: 1 2015_dis_aksmartins.pdf: 5398787 bytes, checksum: bb5c62d6ee728855969359f4db841d53 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Márcia Araújo(marcia_m_bezerra@yahoo.com.br) on 2016-01-20T12:18:45Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 2015_dis_aksmartins.pdf: 5398787 bytes, checksum: bb5c62d6ee728855969359f4db841d53 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2016-01-20T12:18:45Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 2015_dis_aksmartins.pdf: 5398787 bytes, checksum: bb5c62d6ee728855969359f4db841d53 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2015 / This paper aims to study the way visually impaired people feel, think and act in the city of Fortaleza. The impairment has been considered as a social subject and not only as a sensorial restriction. Based on the theoretical inputs of social and environmental Psychology, this work considers the individual as a historical, social and emotional being, who establishes a relationship with his/her physical and social environment, transforming it and being transformed by it. This study questions the impact of the urban experiences from visually impaired people as emotional intensifiers (or not) of their actions in the city. The affective theory and the concept of esteem of place have guided the comprehension of the individuals’ relationship with the city, inclusively guiding us in the choice of the study methodology.By applying the generator instrument of affective maps (Bomfim, 2003), we proposed the construction of tactile images of the city, using molding and assembly materials, such as cotton, straws, strings, play dough and others. Thirty-seven visually impaired people with complete and partial blindness, from both genders, were consulted. The results indicated the construction of four images of the city of Fortaleza: Insecurity,Contrast, Destruction and pleasantness. The bad conditions on architectural and attitude accessibility in Fortaleza were emphasized as elements that cause much more insecurity to the contestants than the violence or the crime rate, causing a fear of moving through the city. Despite of the high occurrence of disempowering feelings, the respondents also identified positive aspects on their experiences, which are especially connected with the taste for public places, such as beaches and shopping malls; and for intimacy places, that are part of the contestants’ daily experiences and with social living with close friends and other in habitants of the city. The study concludes that the abundance of information which was gotten by the non-visual references allows us to have a full understanding of the city, even though the research had highlighted that the contestants have specific comprehensions and needs in relation to the urban environment, that are not fulfilled on Fortaleza, since the negative esteem of place has obtained more answers than the positive esteem of the place. / Este trabalho objetivou conhecer a forma como pessoas com deficiência visual sentem, pensam e agem na cidade de Fortaleza. A deficiência foi abordada como uma construção social e não apenas como uma limitação sensorial. Com base nos aportes teóricos da Psicologia social e ambiental compreende-se o homem como ser histórico, social e ativo que interrelaciona-se com seu entorno sócio-físico transformando-o e sendo por ele transformado. O estudo questionou o impacto das vivências urbanas das pessoas com deficiência visual como afetos potencializadores ou despotencializadores de sua ação na cidade. A teoria da afetividade e o conceito de estima de lugar orientaram a compreensão da relação dos indivíduos com a cidade, apontando inclusive para a escolha da metodologia de investigação. A partir da aplicação do Instrumento Gerador dos Mapas Afetivos (Bomfim, 2003) propôs-se a construção de imagens táteis da cidade utilizando-se materiais para modelagem e montagem, tais como algodão, canudos, barbante, massa de modelar dentre outros. Foram consultadas 37 pessoas com deficiência visual total e parcial de ambos os sexos. Os resultados indicaram a construção de quatro imagens de Fortaleza: Insegurança, Contraste, Destruição e Agradabilidade. As más condições de acessibilidade arquitetônica e atitudinal em Fortaleza foram enfatizadas como elementos que trazem mais insegurança aos participantes do que a violência e a criminalidade, gerando medo de deslocar-se pela cidade. Apesar da elevada incidência de sentimentos despotencializadores os respondentes também identificaram pontos positivos em suas experiências, os quais estão ligados principalmente ao gosto pelos locais públicos como praias e shoppings; pelos lugares de intimidade, integrantes das vivências cotidianas dos participantes e pela convivência social com pessoas próximas e com os demais habitantes da cidade. Conclui-se que a riqueza de informações obtidas a partir de referências não visuais permite uma compreensão integral da cidade, ainda que a pesquisa tenha evidenciado que o público consultado tem leituras e necessidades específicas quanto ao ambiente urbano, que não são supridas em Fortaleza, visto que a estima de lugar despotencializadora obteve mais respostas do que a estima de lugar potencializadora.

This study was aimed to explore challenges of students with disabilities in higher education institutions in Namibia, as narrated and illustrated by themselves. Mixed methodologies, with specific reference to a small-scale quantitative survey and extensive qualitative design were employed as tools to understand the prevalence, extent and nature of challenges of students with disabilities in their pursuance of higher education in Namibia. Data was thus collected in two phases. The first phase consisted of a ten-item quantitative-survey which was largely used to determine the prevalence of students with disabilities in higher education institutions, and basic information regarding institutional standpoints pertaining to students with disabilities. Data acquired through this survey confirmed the prevalence of students with disabilities in Namibian higher education institutions. The second phase represented the qualitative design whereby data was collected through three main methodologies namely a narrative diary-based approach, a photo-voice and individual interviews. These methodologies ensured reliability of the data through triangulation. The study confirmed that inclusive education at the higher education level in Namibia was largely achieved through the goal of access, as all higher education institutions have admitted students with observable as well as hidden disabilities. However, a major finding of the study was that support and provision for students with disabilities was rendered in fragmented portions within and across institutions, and that the goals of equity and equality have not yet been achieved to the desired degree, if inclusive education was to become a reality for students with disabilities in higher education in Namibia. Students reported challenges related to physical accessibility of institutions; unavailability of educational material in alternative, as opposed to traditional formats; lack of sensitivity and skills of staff; as well as lack of structured support systems. The study also revealed that, notwithstanding the challenges students faced in their institutions, students with disabilities continued to perform their academic duties to the best of their abilities and were driven by their individual personal philosophies, many of which spoke of perseverance and courage, to make a success of their studies. / D. Ed. (Inclusive Education) / Language Education Arts and Culture