Introduction: Social skills are acquired primarily through imitation using the visual system. As a result, people with visual impairments may experience difficulties in this area at any age, which can have a major effect on their social participation and on their quality of life. The objective of this study was to systematically review the effects…

This paper investigates how specialist teachers of learners with vision impairment (i.e. teachers who have had specific and/or additional teacher training in the area of vision impairment education) in Turkey and England conceptualise their roles in supporting learners with vision impairment (VI) using Bronfenbrenner's ecological systems theory as…

Large-scale social surveys of visually impaired people often explore participants' mobility and travel behaviour. What is methodologically more challenging is gathering participant-centred data in relation to their own interpretation of the barriers they face. Findings from a national survey of visually impaired people are presented in this…

Researchers from different disciplines have attempted to investigate the way in which people who are blind conceptualize and perceive elements of the spatial environment. Most of the studies that are reported in the literature use an experimental approach based on measurements of the performance in test situations of people who are blind or people…

The article compares the guide dog movements in the United States and England, noting that in England there is one school with 7 centers while in the U.S. there are 10 competing schools. In England, twice as high a proportion of blind people use guide dogs. (Author/DB)

In earlier "humanitarian" accounts, Britain's voluntary blind institutions exemplified successful nineteenth-century philanthropy and later became effective partners of the state. From the 1970s, Victorian charity came increasingly under criticism and subsequent studies on disability condemn the exclusion and utilitarian training of a…

Outlines some problems in using a linear model of information processing for studying learning difficulties in the subnormal and severely subnormal and suggests new paradigms to compensate for these difficulties. (MP)

In nineteenth century England much charitable activity was directed towards the relief of poverty, but such provision developed significantly to support a variety of requirements. Although from the eighteenth century onwards there were instances of co-operation between voluntary charitable effort and the state, governments in the early and mid…

This paper presents the results of a postal questionnaire survey carried out in the south-west of England into the teaching of braille to school-age children. It reports upon the qualifications and experiences of the school teachers and learning support assistants (LSAs) involved in this work. It also enquires into materials and resources…

This survey explored the numbers and proportion of partially sighted, blind braille reading and blind non-braille reading students in Higher Education (HE) in 2003-4. As part of a HEFCE/DELNI funded project, all 134 disability offices in Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) in England and Northern Ireland were contacted by telephone and email, to…

The memorandum gives guidance to the provision and organization of library services at hospitals both for staff and for patients. It also draws attention to the assistance available from outside sources towards the development and maintenance of these services so hospital authorities may make the most effective use of the available facilities.…

The authors describe how the University of Leeds has successfully met the challenge of providing a summer school for blind students by offering subjects (art, history, and human biology) normally considered inappropriate for blind students. (Author/BP)

Queen Alexandra College of Further Education for Blind and Partially Sighted in Birmingham, England, is one of six rehabilitation centers to be involved in an initiative aimed at improving the training of disabled people as part of the HELIOS (Handicapped People in the European Community Living Independently in an Open Society) program.…

Information sheets on resources, assistance, software, and hardware for visually handicapped (VH) students in England are collected in this document. The first information sheet, "Getting Help--What, Where, and Who," lists general sources of assistance, equipment, and books. The second information sheet, "Computer Hardware Used in…

This study investigated variables that might be associated with outcome differences in language development of 10 children (ages 10-20 months) with blindness or severe visual impairments, attending a developmental vision clinic in southern England. Subjects' early patterns of expressive language development were examined and related to observed…