New trends and issues related to the humanities and social sciences

Abstract

Educational, vocational and social inclusion is one of the fundamental principles that provide people with disabilities the chance to have a normal life. In turn, accessibility is one of the most important components of inclusion and could be defined as the right of people with disabilities to benefit from the same products and services as other members of the community. According to government data in 2015, 752,931 people in Romania were disabled, 60,289 were children and 13,9% had different forms of visual impairment. For these people, any limitation of accessibility means isolation and discrimination. On the other hand, education and new technologies can increase accessibility for people with visual impairments to quality products and services in society. Therefore, the purpose of this research was to identify the attitudes and teacher training levels in the accessibility of the educational process for visually impaired students through the use of ICT. The sample consisted of 210 teachers teaching in the pre-university education system in Bihor, Romania and a research tool – a questionnaire consisting of 76 multiple choice articles – was administered online by the end of 2016. The results of the research show that, even if they want to support the inclusion of visually impaired people by using ICT in teaching/learning, most teachers do not have professional skills in this area and do not know how to use educational programs or adapt a curriculum for this category of students.

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