Access to Basic Skills for People who are Blind or Visually Impaired 43. There are approximately 1,670,000 people in the UK with a visual impairment. There are three important sub groups of learners: those with early onset of a visual impairment where initial learning will involve alternative literacy forms; literate adults who have lost sight and need to learn alternative formats; and those with additional disabilities, such as learning difficulties and/or hearing impairment. The implications for basic skills will be different for each learner and reflect their individual circumstances. Communication skills involve both familiarity with alternative formats and, increasingly, use of technology to access those formats. 44. The main barriers for visually impaired people include inadequate access to information about what is available and inadequate physical access. In some areas of the country, specialist provision and support are poor or not available. This is especially problematic in relation to deaf/blindness. In some areas there is inadequate or inappropriate assessment of needs, lack of adequate follow up and/or poor access to technology. 45. The quality of current provision. Inspections show that there is much good provision in colleges of further education but that a number of colleges fail to address the needs of visually impaired people. The situation in community education is less clear. Surveys indicate that there are some colleges and other teaching bases in which the physical environment is not adapted to make it safe and helpful for the visually impaired. Sometimes there is a lack of appropriately trained and qualified teaching and support staff who can recognise the implications of visual impairment, and the complexity of its impact for basic skills. There is also a lack of information in appropriate formats about what is available, inadequate provision of access technology, and an acute shortage of opportunities to learn tactile methods of reading and writing, such as Braille and Moon. Focus groups organised by RNIB have provided evidence of what it is that learners think is helpful: accredited training of specialist support staff appropriate initial assessment arrangements with social services or other support services to provide mobility training advance notice of reading lists, etc. to allow for timely production of alternative format material notes and handouts in accessible formats introduction of appropriate access technology additional support for work experience specialist careers guidance in planning progression 46. The views of learners, trainers and teachers. Feedback from focus groups of learners indicates the wish to be included and actively involved in the planning and assessment process. Learners thought that more materials and support was needed and that arrangements for attending classes should be more flexible. Teaching and support staff believed that there ought to be a greater general awareness of the implications of disability, but they also thought they needed to raise their own levels of specific knowledge, understanding and skills to enable them to respond more effectively to the needs of visually impaired students. Teachers and support staff also wanted better access to specialist support and more specially adapted teaching materials. 47. What should the ideal basic skills arrangements look like? Ideally there should be a specialist contact person in each learning centre or learning partnership responsible for learners with visual impairments who has information available in accessible formats to distribute to potential students, their parents and carers. Smaller centres in the community should link to larger partners such as colleges to form a learning partnership. There should be better links to mainstream provision which facilitate basic skills support within the wider mainstream curriculum, and an assessment process that accurately identifies learning and support needs. Students should have individual learning programmes which specify appropriate options for progression. Access technology should be available to meet individual needs. Learners also need better access to specialist support staff, including mobility trainers and IT trainers. Recommendations specific to this group. Accredited training in disability issues should be introduced. There should be further specialist, accredited training for teaching and support staff working with visually impaired students, supported by organisations concerned with this client group. As part of their initial training, teachers should learn some of the basic communication techniques required to work effectively with deaf/blind people. Further development of information and resources is required so that these are available in a variety of formats. Library support services need to be co-ordinated more effectively. Information technology training for the teachers and technical staff involved in continuing education should include information about, and instruction in the use of, the main types of specialist hardware and software that learners require for access. There should be an initiative to re-establish Moon as a tactile method of reading and writing. Moon is much simpler than braille and therefore particularly appropriate for visually impaired people with learning difficulties.

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