The education process based on the inclusion concept enables primary school education close to home to children with visual impairment. Before admission of visual impairment pupil, the school environment and didactic materials are adapted and teachers are provided with additional training. The preparation of sighted peers is often ignored, who form erroneous ideas through observing the adaptations and activities of a visual impairment peer, or adopt prejudices and stereotypical beliefs from the society. This interferes with the social inclusion of children with visual impairment into a classroom and, in a broader sense, into society. Sighted peers need a social-emotional experience in order to understand reactions of the people with visual impairment.
In order to educate sighted peers on visual impairment, an experiental workshop was prepared, performed and analyzed. They were informed about the special considerations in the communication, orientation and mobility of the people with visual impairment, and about special technical equipment they use. The effect of the workshop on the knowledge about visual impairment was measured on the sample of 172 third-, fourth- and fifth-grade primary school pupils. For this purpose, a short knowledge test was prepared and was taken three times; before the workshop, shortly after the workshop and two months after the workshop. The data obtained have been processed with the statistical program SPSS and have been qualitatively and quantitatively analyzed. The results confirm the effectiveness of the experiential workshop and indicate a need for eduation sighted peers about visual impairment.
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