Inclusão de alunos com deficiência visual: concepções de professores da Universidade Federal do Maranhão

Abstract

The inclusion of people with disabilities in Higher Education has generated discussions about the effectiveness of public policies, which enable their access and permanence in the various courses offered by public universities. Educational inclusion is based on a concept of human rights and values, which adds countless possibilities for people with disabilities, involving, in particular, access and permanence in the educational field with equity, also encompassing Higher Education. The present study aimed to analyze the teachers' conceptions regarding the inclusion of students with visual impairments at the Federal University of Maranhão. We opted for the phenomenological method, quanti-qualitative approach, documentary, descriptive and field research. Sixteen teachers of visually impaired students, enrolled in the academic year of 2019 and attending courses at that university, participated in this research, located at the Center for Social Sciences, Dom Delgado campus. In data collection, written, official documents, statistical sources and semi-structured interviews were used. The analysis of the interviews was based on the selection of the speech in the language of each participant, and a phenomenological analysis (eidetic reduction) was performed in significant units in the descriptions. It is pointed out that the teachers' conceptions regarding the inclusion of the visually impaired student at the referred university contemplated the right to guaranteed access for that student through the quota system, full accessibility from the time of admission until their permanence and the guarantee for develop their skills by the cognitive potential of that student. It concludes, in the light of the concepts exposed by the teachers, that despite the actions developed and the services offered, the need for adequacy in relation to architectural, pedagogical and communicational accessibility for the effective inclusion of students with visual impairments at the Federal University of Maranhão.