I read an article by Gray (2005) about inclusion of children with visual impairment and I thought it would be intereseting to share it's key ideas.
Visual Impairment (VI) encompasses a diversity of eye conditions such as total blindness, partial sight, low vision and many more. This condition makes children learn a different way, because they can't rely on visual information, and most of the times that means learning slower if they are not aided.
This study was made to shed light over what are the views and perceptions on the educational experience of children with VI, using the testimonies of several people.
The Impact of VI can be seen in physicall, motor and social skills, but not in a developmental way. Even if children with VI can archive some milestones slightly later than other children it is not a developmental delay. In this matter, parental encouragement is vital. Some parents tend to be overprotective when their child has some kind of VI, and that is counterproductive. Another very important factor is friendships and social skills. Teachers have an important role in creating an inclusive environment so the children with VI are not excluded.
What about inclusion? Even though some children might need specialist schooling, inclusion with sighted peers is also important precisely because of the need to socialize and be able to develop social skills. Both special schooling and mainstream schooling can have bad effects if you don't take into account the needs of the child and awareness of the peers as we can see in this fragment from a witness: "started in mainstream and hated it. The kids made fun of me and I couldn’t keep up. Special school was as bad. I was in with kids in wheel chairs who had terrible disabilities. I used to ask my other friends what they were doing at school and we never did the same stuff."
The study may be small, but it gives a good idea of the problems a kid with VI can face and the options of wheter or not inclusion is a good idea. If the sighted peers have no awareness it can result in exclusion and bullying, but a specialist schooling deprives the child from the same education oportunities as the rest of the children, so there are many things to take into account.
My personal opinion would be that there is a very important task of awareness. Every child deserves the same opportunities even if they are different and or have impairments, and if a big but is always the bullying, maybe it's time we take some measures and normalize and spread awareness about the different impairments or difficulties the children can have instead of segregating them and hiding them from the world.
Reference: Gray, C. (2005). Inclusion, Impact and Need: Young Children with a Visual Impairment. Child Care in Practice, 11(2), 179–190. doi:10.1080/13575270500053126
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