Visual Impairment

Technological and technological adaptations and spatial organization.

The effective inclusion of visually impaired students requires a dual intervention: the adaptation of the physical environment and the implementation of specific technology (tiflotechnology). In terms of space, the fundamental premise is predictability.

The classroom must become a safe and constant environment where the student can develop his or her autonomy of movement.

This implies maintaining a fixed arrangement of the furniture; if changes are necessary, they should be communicated verbally and physically explored with the student before starting the teaching activity.

It is also critical to eliminate immediate architectural barriers, such as half-open doors or backpacks in the corridors, and to ensure adequate lighting for students with visual impairments, avoiding glare that saturates their perceptive capacity.

In the technological field, tiflotechnology acts as a bridge to the curriculum.

Tools such as screen readers (software that verbalizes the content of the monitor) or Braille lines (devices that transform digital text into tactile characters) are essential for students to access information at the same pace as their peers. These are not luxuries, but necessary cognitive prostheses.

The use of screen magnifiers, magnifying glasses for the blackboard and electronic note takers allows the student to actively participate in academic production, preventing his or her sensory disability from becoming a barrier to knowledge.

The teacher as visual translator: constant verbalization

From the methodological perspective, the teacher assumes a new role: that of "visual translator".

Since the student cannot grasp the incidental information that is transmitted through gestures, glances or notes on the blackboard, the teacher must explicitly verbalize everything that happens in the classroom.

This implies eradicating the use of vague deictics such as "this", "here" or "that", replacing them with precise and descriptive spatial references ("in the upper right corner of the page", "below the title in red").

This linguistic precision not only helps the student with blindness, but enriches the understanding of the whole group. In addition, social interaction must be verbally mediated.

The teacher should identify him/herself when speaking and encourage peers to do the same, preventing the student from speaking into the void if someone leaves without warning.

Methodology should prioritize tactile exploration whenever possible, allowing the student to manipulate real objects, models or raised gr