Difficulty: Visual Acuity

6 Keywords: Blind, Visual Impairment, Partially Sighted, Visual Loss, Visual Acuity, Vision

The video clip of Ben talking about his visual impairment and use of assistive technologies is part of a discussion about recognising barriers from the Open University 'Making your teaching inclusive'.

Visual acuity is related to what can be seen in detail and is initially tested by use of an optometrist's chart with letters of different sizing and spacing. The term visual impairment is used to describe anyone who is blind or partially sighted, where may be some loss or distortion of vision, as opposed to short or long-sighted. (NHS direct)

SCIPS - Characteristics of Visual Difficulties Impacting on Learning and Teaching.

Tasks

• Task: Presentations
  • Issue: PowerPoint slides viewed from a projector
    • Strategy: Laptop and large fonts to make notes
• Task: Reading items on the screen
  • Issue: Magnification needs to be selective
    • Strategy: Changing font and icon sizes in Windows
  • Issue: Browser icon and text sizes
    • Strategy: Firefox - Enabling text menus
  • Issue: Reading from the screen - quick access to zoom
    • Strategy: Gestures on Mac touchpads
  • Issue: Magnification on the screen
    • Strategy: Switching magnification programs
  • Issue: Mobile phone choices
    • Strategy: Mobile phone with text to speech
  • Issue: Reading text with small print
    • Strategy: e-books on iPad as opposed to the Kindle.
• Task: Podcasts / Vodcasts (Audio / Video)
  • Issue: Keyboard access to multimedia players
    • Strategy: Keyboard access to flash audio player
• Task: Blogs, Wikis and Personal Reflections
  • Issue: Viewing web pages with magnification
    • Strategy: Accessibar in Firefox for web page changes
• Task: Research and Revision
  • Issue: Research and Exams online
    • Strategy: Large fonts, extra time and Google toolbar for research online
  • Issue: Research in the library
    • Strategy: Digital versions of information easier than books
• Task: Virtual Learning Environment Usage
  • Issue: Blackboard with Magnification
    • Strategy: Microsoft Windows Magnifier for viewing Blackboard
  • Issue: Navigation with magnification
    • Strategy: Blackboard reduce navigation options
• Task: Adobe PDF reading
  • Issue: Having to use a screen reader for reading
    • Strategy: Adobe Reader with magnification
• Task: Collaboration online
  • Issue: Using rich text editors for collaborating online
    • Strategy: Keyboard access to edit boxes in forums