Challenges and perspectives of students with visual impairment in higher education: analysis of scientific production

Abstract

The inclusion of students with visual impairments in higher education has still been challenging for managers and teachers to ensure academic success. Despite the investment initiatives by the government, but they are still insufficient in the face of the difficulties of access and permanence of these students. Therefore, the objective of this work is to analyze research on access and permanence with an emphasis on Specialized Educational Assistance for students with visual impairments in the productions of the Special Education Journal of the Federal University of Santa Maria (UFSM) in the period from 2014 to 2019. We used a quantitative-qualitative analysis of the nature of reviewing scientific production in the journal in question, for this we work with the indicators of disability, visual impairment, higher education, access, permanence, specialized educational assistance and their combinations. The search resulted in 519 articles, of which only 39 address inclusion in higher education. 14 were selected for analysis, dealing with visual impairment, higher education, inclusion and permanence. We conclude that the number of visually impaired students in Higher Education has increased by more than 50% (fifty percent), that there is a set of legislation that favors inclusion, but the conditions, whether of resources/technologies or teacher formation, do not yet appear for its effectiveness, according to research. Specialized educational assistance, guaranteed by law, is not yet perceived as materialized. Publications are relevant for the creation of new policies, actions and strategies for the permanence of students with disabilities in higher education and specialized educational assistance according to their specificities, but it still need further study.