EDUCATIONAL EXPERIENCES AND ASSISTIVE TECHNOLOGY: CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE SCHOOLING OF THE BLIND

Abstract

Inclusive Education requires attention to learning and coexistence to provide spaces for everyone to play a leading role. We need to go beyond obstacles and look at the potential of people with disabilities. This article proposes a reflection on people with visual impairments, considering the processes that segregate and exclude them, as well as their potential and experiences of inclusion. To this end, narrative interviews were carried out to access the educational experiences of four adults with visual impairments. The interviews were analyzed using Bardin's Content Analysis (2011), with the support of the software Atlas TI, and were asked how the educational trajectories and experiences with Assistive Technology contributed to the interviewees' schooling process. The results show that the time the participants spent in educational institutions was segregating and excluding, but that there were also possibilities for developing potential and learning in inclusive and emancipatory contexts. Assistive Technology resources appeared throughout the participants' school lives in different ways and for different reasons, acting as mediators in the learning process.