(Re)Building the school space

an experience report on the inclusion of a blind child

Abstract

The school success of the visually impaired child results from multiple adaptations. It also depends on actions planned to include the visually impaired child and to make them, together with their peers, accessibility agents in the school and in the community in general. This experience report describes the participation of the visually impaired child in the regular activities of the school that gave rise to a project, aiming, initially, at their inclusion in the classroom. During the development of the project, other actions were implemented in the direction of seeking accessibility, teaching braile and the use of blindfolds by colleagues, in order to change the perspective and practices of all agents in the school context, and possibly, out of it. The objective of this study was to present and discuss the impact and reverberations of this experience, which began in the classroom and was intended to maximize blind children's access to school activities in other school spaces. The activity included, in addition to the visually impaired child and the Specialized Educational Service teacher, the classroom teacher, the assistant and all of the child's colleagues. Indirectly, the development of the project expanded to the school space as a whole, involving different actors. From this report, we allude to the domino effect: the children in the class were the targets, but the effects reflected on the employees who witnessed the activities; it also had an effect on students from other grades, who shared the same space in common use breaks and spaces; in the action the teachers of these students; about school management; and finally, the community. The expectation is that the school culture is structured, observing the differences and that similar experiences expand to the community in general the result of living with these differences in the school space.