Abstract:
The purpose of the study was to investigate the support services for students with
visual impairment at the University of Education, Winneba. The study, which was
qualitative in nature, utilized the case study design with interview as an instrument for
data collection. A sample of 11 participants were used comprising 8 students with
visual impairment and 3 resource persons from a population of 60 students with visual
impairment who were conveniently sampled. A semi-structured interview was used.
Data from the study was thematically analyzed based on the emerging themes.
Findings from the study revealed among others that, orientation and mobility services
help students with visual impairment to locate relevant places such as resource room,
canteen, offices and places of convenience. It was also found that the mobility
techniques that were employed at the University of Education, Winneba were the
white cane and sighted guides. It was found out that students with visual impairment
receive transcription services from the resource center in the form of braille
embossment and audio recordings of academic materials. However, there are some
challenges affecting the work of resource persons at UEW. Some of the challenges
were but not limited to inadequate resource personnel, few resource materials, lack of
resource center for students with special needs. The researcher recommended that
orientation and mobility specialist, braille transcribers and resource persons must be
provided by the authorities of University of Education, Winneba to help improve the
provision of service to students with visual impairment in order to make their stay on
campus a success.
Description:
A THESIS IN THE DEPARTMENT OF SPECIAL EDUCATION, FACULTY
OF EDUCATIONAL STUDIES SUBMITTED TO THE SCHOOL OF
GRADUATE STUDIES, UNIVERSITY OF EDUCATION, WINNEBA IN
PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE AWARD
OF THE MASTER OF PHILOSOPHY (SPECIAL EDUCATION) DEGREE
SEPTEMBER, 2017