Shan­non Madar

The In­ter­na­tion­al Coun­cil for Ed­u­ca­tion of Peo­ple with Vi­su­al Im­pair­ment (ICE­VI) is ded­i­cat­ed to pro­mot­ing in­clu­sive, eq­ui­table, and ac­ces­si­ble ed­u­ca­tion for in­di­vid­u­als with vi­su­al im­pair­ments, in­clud­ing both blind­ness and par­tial sight.

This glob­al mem­ber­ship or­gan­i­sa­tion works to elim­i­nate the bar­ri­ers pre­vent­ing mil­lions of chil­dren and young peo­ple from ac­cess­ing qual­i­ty ed­u­ca­tion.

Through ad­vo­ca­cy, re­search, and part­ner­ships, ICE­VI strives to en­sure that schools are equipped with the nec­es­sary re­sources, trained staff, and ac­ces­si­ble ma­te­ri­als to sup­port stu­dents with vi­su­al dis­abil­i­ties.

ICE­VI’s ul­ti­mate mis­sion is to fos­ter a world where every child, re­gard­less of vi­sion, has the op­por­tu­ni­ty to learn, grow, and suc­ceed. From No­vem­ber 14 to 17, 2024, ICE­VI host­ed its World Con­fer­ence and Gen­er­al As­sem­bly in Ahmed­abad, In­dia.

This year’s theme is “In­clu­sion in Di­ver­si­ty: Eq­ui­ty and Ac­ces­si­bil­i­ty for All”. A time­ly fo­cus on cre­at­ing ed­u­ca­tion­al en­vi­ron­ments that tru­ly sup­port di­verse learn­ers, in­clud­ing those with vi­su­al im­pair­ments. The con­fer­ence aims to pro­mote di­a­logue, share ex­pe­ri­ences, and ex­plore the cur­rent state of eq­ui­table ed­u­ca­tion for chil­dren and young peo­ple with vi­su­al im­pair­ments.

The theme un­der­scores the grow­ing recog­ni­tion that di­ver­si­ty in ed­u­ca­tion is not just about rep­re­sen­ta­tion; it’s about en­sur­ing all learn­ers, re­gard­less of their abil­i­ties, have ac­cess to the tools and re­sources they need to suc­ceed.

For stu­dents with vi­su­al im­pair­ments, this in­cludes ac­ces­si­ble learn­ing ma­te­ri­als, as­sis­tive tech­nolo­gies, and, most im­por­tant­ly, an in­clu­sive mind­set among ed­u­ca­tors, pol­i­cy­mak­ers, and com­mu­ni­ties.

The con­fer­ence pro­vides an es­sen­tial plat­form for glob­al stake­hold­ers to ad­dress the chal­lenges that re­main in in­te­grat­ing blind and vi­su­al­ly im­paired stu­dents in­to main­stream ed­u­ca­tion sys­tems.

De­spite ad­vance­ments in tech­nol­o­gy and pol­i­cy, chil­dren with vi­su­al im­pair­ments con­tin­ue to face nu­mer­ous bar­ri­ers to ac­cess­ing qual­i­ty ed­u­ca­tion.

Dis­par­i­ties in ac­cess to re­sources, such as braille text­books, tac­tile ma­te­ri­als, and as­sis­tive de­vices, of­ten hin­der their full par­tic­i­pa­tion in ed­u­ca­tion­al set­tings.

While some coun­tries have made sig­nif­i­cant strides in pro­vid­ing these re­sources, oth­ers, es­pe­cial­ly in de­vel­op­ing re­gions, con­tin­ue to strug­gle with in­ad­e­quate in­fra­struc­ture and a lack of aware­ness around in­clu­sive ed­u­ca­tion. Be­yond re­source lim­i­ta­tions, neg­a­tive so­ci­etal at­ti­tudes and the lack of spe­cialised teacher train­ing re­main key ob­sta­cles.

Many ed­u­ca­tors are not ad­e­quate­ly trained to sup­port stu­dents with vi­su­al im­pair­ments, lead­ing to missed op­por­tu­ni­ties for in­clu­sion and aca­d­e­m­ic suc­cess. This calls for a sig­nif­i­cant shift in teacher train­ing pro­grammes to en­sure ed­u­ca­tors are equipped with the skills and knowl­edge to cre­ate learn­ing en­vi­ron­ments where all stu­dents, re­gard­less of their abil­i­ties, can thrive.

To ad­dress these chal­lenges, ICE­VI of­fers vi­tal re­sources, in­clud­ing its Start-up Teacher Train­ing Cur­ricu­lum, which is de­signed to equip ed­u­ca­tors, par­tic­u­lar­ly those in de­vel­op­ing coun­tries and rur­al ar­eas, with the skills need­ed to ef­fec­tive­ly teach stu­dents with vi­su­al im­pair­ments.

The cur­ricu­lum sup­ports both new ed­u­ca­tors, who re­quire foun­da­tion­al train­ing, and ex­pe­ri­enced pro­fes­sion­als, who may ben­e­fit from up­dat­ed knowl­edge and best prac­tices in in­clu­sive ed­u­ca­tion. This cur­ricu­lum plays a key role in en­sur­ing that teach­ers in un­der-re­sourced ar­eas have the tools they need to cre­ate sup­port­ive ed­u­ca­tion­al en­vi­ron­ments.

It al­so en­sures that ed­u­ca­tors are aware of new de­vel­op­ments in as­sis­tive tech­nol­o­gy and in­clu­sive teach­ing strate­gies, help­ing them stay cur­rent in an ever-evolv­ing field.

ICE­VI has made a no­table im­pact in T&T, im­prov­ing ed­u­ca­tion­al op­por­tu­ni­ties for in­di­vid­u­als with vi­su­al im­pair­ments. Through part­ner­ships with or­gan­i­sa­tions like the Trinidad and To­ba­go Blind Wel­fare As­so­ci­a­tion (TTB­WA), ICE­VI fa­cil­i­tat­ed teacher train­ing, high­light­ed the im­por­tance of braille, and strength­ened lo­cal net­works of sup­port for vi­su­al­ly im­paired stu­dents.\

As an or­gan­i­sa­tion­al mem­ber of ICE­VI, the TTB­WA has been an ac­tive par­tic­i­pant in ad­vanc­ing in­clu­sive ed­u­ca­tion in the re­gion.

Through these ef­forts, ICE­VI has helped en­hance teacher com­pe­ten­cy, raise aware­ness of the needs of stu­dents with vi­su­al im­pair­ments, and ad­vo­cate for in­clu­sive ed­u­ca­tion poli­cies aligned with in­ter­na­tion­al frame­works, such as the UN Con­ven­tion on the Rights of Per­sons with Dis­abil­i­ties, which T&T rat­i­fied.

The TTB­WA, as a proud mem­ber of ICE­VI, has made sig­nif­i­cant strides in ad­vo­cat­ing for and sup­port­ing the ed­u­ca­tion of vi­su­al­ly im­paired stu­dents in T&T. The ex­ec­u­tive Of­fi­cer of the TTB­WA at­tend­ed the ICE­VI World Con­fer­ence 2024, where they will en­gage with in­ter­na­tion­al stake­hold­ers, share lo­cal ex­pe­ri­ences, and con­tribute to the on­go­ing ef­forts to cre­ate in­clu­sive ed­u­ca­tion sys­tems world­wide.

This con­fer­ence presents a unique op­por­tu­ni­ty for glob­al net­work­ing, learn­ing, and col­lab­o­ra­tion, as the in­ter­na­tion­al com­mu­ni­ty con­tin­ues to work to­wards cre­at­ing more eq­ui­table and ac­ces­si­ble ed­u­ca­tion for stu­dents with vi­su­al im­pair­ments.

The ICE­VI World Con­fer­ence 2024 of­fers an im­por­tant op­por­tu­ni­ty to re­flect on the progress made in in­clu­sive ed­u­ca­tion for stu­dents with vi­su­al im­pair­ments while ad­dress­ing the on­go­ing chal­lenges.

As the con­fer­ence theme em­pha­sis­es, di­ver­si­ty and in­clu­sion must be pri­ori­tised in ed­u­ca­tion­al sys­tems, en­sur­ing that every child, re­gard­less of their abil­i­ties, has ac­cess to the re­sources and op­por­tu­ni­ties they need to thrive.

With con­tin­ued col­lab­o­ra­tion, ad­vo­ca­cy, and in­no­v­a­tive ap­proach­es, we can work to­ward a fu­ture where ed­u­ca­tion is tru­ly in­clu­sive and ac­ces­si­ble for all.

This col­umn is sup­plied in con­junc­tion with the T&T Blind Wel­fare As­so­ci­a­tion Head­quar­ters: 118 Duke Street, Port-of-Spain, Trinidad.

Email: ttb­wa1914@gmail.com; Phone: (868) 624-4675; What­sApp: (868) 395-3086.