Nigeria is starting to put into practice recommendations for blind children from the Oxford Conference of 1949. Recommendations include general and vocational education in schools adequately equipped and with qualified teachers, and education according to interest and aptitudes equal to what they would have received had they not been blind.…

Introduces five articles in a special journal issue devoted to research about, design of, and use of multimodal interfaces. Article highlights include: algebra instruction; presentation of data summaries; interaction with complex spatial displays (maps); access to computing for the visually impaired; and design for portable devices for use in…

Describes a study at the National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped of the Library of Congress that will focus on the provision of educational reading services to people with print disabilities, including elementary, secondary, and college-level students. Agencies and individuals who currently provide services will be…

This article describes the Miniguide, a new electronic travel device that assists people in moving about in a range of environments. The Miniguide is held in the palm and is used to scan left to right when walking. It provides vibratory feedback to the hand when it detects an obstacle. (Contains 5 references.) (CR)

This article discusses the structure of a committee that evaluates assessments for students with visual impairments and the process by which the committee arrives at its recommendations to test developers and administrators. Concerns and preferred practices that have been revealed by the committee's two years of experience are discussed. (CR)

This article describes a collaborative process that parents, teachers, consumers, and advocacy groups in North Carolina used to successfully establish a permanently funded university training program specializing in visual impairments, the Visual Impairment Training Program. Within this process several factors were identified that contributed to…

The article describes methods used to bring a seven-year-old boy with severe auditory and visual impairments and no communication skills to a level of oral communication within one year. The manual, graphic, and oral-aural strategies used are described. (Author/DB)

Ninety-nine adolescents with blindness or visual impairments were interviewed about their vocational aims, marriage plans, and recreational activities. Career ambitions included the helping professions, commercial/industrial work, support services, and self-employment; over 50 percent were looking forward to marriage; and favorite hobbies were…

This article describes a three-month orientation and mobility (O&M) program conducted for four potential teachers of individuals with blindness in Taipei (Taiwan). Challenges in residential areas, business areas, buildings, and use of mass transit are illustrated. Although the travel environments were more complex than those in the United…

Seven visually impaired men in India were interviewed regarding their attitudes toward integration and the problems they were facing. Their Intelligence Quotients and levels of anxiety were also assessed. It was found that, for successful mainstreaming, the characteristics of individuals are as important as the social environments in which they…

This report examines the impact that the Iranian environment has on blind and visually impaired persons as well as the mobility systems frequently used by blind Iranians, including the long cane, the sighted guide, guide dogs, and electronic travel devices. (DB)

A note-taking aid for individuals with blindness or handwriting difficulties is proposed, in which students record the important ideas from a speech using a delayed recording system. The system stores a portion of the speech on an endless loop of tape as a buffer until the decision to record is made. Prototype test results are discussed. (JDD)

This article discusses educational services and programs provided by the New Mexico School for the Visually Handicapped. The school provides free appropriate education for children with visual impairments within an array of service models and environments, protects the rights of students with handicaps and their parents, and makes technical aids,…

The article reports on two 1989 visits to the Soviet Union to observe rehabilitation services for the blind. Described are the demographics, the profit-making factory system in which many visually impaired persons work, rehabilitation centers, technology, and services to older blind persons. (DB)

A pilot telecommunications program for mainstreamed blind and visually impaired students, developed by Nassau Board of Cooperative Educational Services (Wantagh, New York), is described. Program components include online databases and electronic mail, a central support site, home sites for itinerant teachers, and district sites for students. (JDD)