Experiences of Students who are Visually Impaired Receiving Services by Disabilities Support Services (DSS) Offices in Higher Education Institutions

Correa-Torres, Silvia M.; Conroy, Paula Wenner; Rundle-Kahn, Amber; Brown-Ogilvie, Tara

doi:10.5241/8-160

Cited by 7 publications

(4 citation statements)

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“…As stated by Participant 6 "it was pretty scary, I was all on my own". Disability Services could place a greater emphasis on the development of self-advocacy skills that would allow disabled students to confidently negotiate accommodations, including accommodations in the workplace after graduation [44,57]. Though the present study focused on the experiences of university students, it is important to emphasize that interventions focused on improving self-advocacy may be introduced at an earlier age [58,59], better preparing students for the Higher Education environment.…”

Section: The Importance Of Self-advocacymentioning

confidence: 98%

“Giving the People Who Use the Service a Voice”: Student Experiences of University Disability Services

Witham,

Brewer

2023

Disabilities

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Disabled students are systematically disadvantaged compared to their non-disabled peers and Disability Services can provide important access to accommodations and support. Such services are not, however, without issues. The present study investigates student experiences with University Disability Services in order to identify shared barriers to inclusion and recommendations for practice. Individual semi-structured online interviews were conducted with twelve female students. Each student discussed their engagement with Disability Services as an undergraduate or postgraduate student, and each student disclosed a long-term, nonvisible condition. A thematic analysis was used to identify three themes. These were (1) Identity and Legitimacy (Identification as Disabled, Perceived Legitimacy, The Importance of Evidence), (2) Knowledge and Understanding (Knowledge of Specific Conditions, Knowledge of Disability Services, Disability Services Staff Knowledge and Understanding, Peer Knowledge and Understanding), and (3) Independence and Support (Desire for Autonomy, The Importance of Self-Advocacy, Additional Support). The findings highlight shared barriers to support experienced by students with different diagnoses who engage with University Disability Services. A range of recommendations are provided to improve Disability Services provision (e.g., universities are advised to review the language used to advertise Disability Services).

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Section: The Importance Of Self-advocacymentioning

confidence: 98%

“Giving the People Who Use the Service a Voice”: Student Experiences of University Disability Services

Witham,

Brewer

2023

Disabilities

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“…In addition to our scientific goal of extending SAILnet to include such a model of the early processing pathway, one of the motivations for encoding sound waveforms directly is pedagogical: the learned receptive fields can be played directly as sounds (Supplementary files 1-5), facilitating teaching of sensory coding concepts to blind or low vision students (BLV). There are 3.8 million BLV adults in the United States working on a post-secondary degree [15,16]; while data on BLV student success in higher education is limited [17,18], some studies have found that BLV students tend to favor majors in humanities subjects over STEM fields [19,20].…”

Section: Pedagogical Motivations For This Studymentioning

confidence: 99%

Spiking network model of A1 learns temporal filters with frequency preferences

Roedel,

Brinkman

2023

Preprint

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The sparse coding hypothesis has successfully predicted neural response properties of several sensory brain areas. For example, sparse basis representations of natural images match edge-detecting receptive fields observed in simple cells of primary visual cortex (V1), and sparse representations of natural sounds mimic auditory nerve waveforms. SAILnet, a leaky integrate-and-fire network model ("Sparse and Independently Local network") has previously been shown to learn simple V1 receptive fields when trained on natural images. Experimental work rewiring visual input to auditory cortex found that auditory neurons developed visual response properties, suggesting that developmental rules may be shared across sensory cortices. In this work we adapt SAILnet to train it on waveforms of auditory sounds and learn temporal receptive fields (filters), in contrast with previous work that trained SAILnet or other network models on spectrograms. In our model network of primary auditory cortex (A1) neurons receive synaptic current from input neurons who temporally filter the direct sound waveforms. To show the network learns frequency-dependent filters naturally, we do not parametrize the temporal filters, and only restrict the total number of time points in the filters. To make training feasible, we simplify the model to a single input neuron and 768 A1 neurons, and we train the network on "lo-fi" music, whose spectral power is limited to frequencies of ~10,000 Hz or less, giving a manageable temporal resolution of the stimulus and filters. The learned filters develop distinct frequency preferences, and reconstruction of novel stimuli captures the low-frequency content of signals in reasonable detail, with audio playback capturing clear aspects of the original stimulus. Lastly, our work also has a pedagogical benefit: the learned stimulus features can be played as sounds, which aids in teaching sensory coding to learners with visual impairments who cannot perceive stimulus features learned by V1 models.

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“…When involving learners with disabilities, Dela Fuente (2021) conducted a study about Filipino college students with hearing impairments . Still, to date, there are very few to no empirical studies that specifically involve college students with visual impairment (Correa-Torres et al, 2018). Hence, the present study attempts to address the lack of studies among mainstream college students with visual impairments by looking into their lived experience with flexible learning and studentteacher relationships.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Flexible Learning and Student-Teacher Relationship Experience of College Students with Visual Impairment

Ocampo,

Salvador,

Luen

et al. 2023

TNL

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In the absence of guidelines and policies on flexible learning delivery to students with special needs from the Commission on Higher Education, this study aimed to describe the lived experiences of flexible learning and the student-teacher relationship of four college students with visual impairments who were mainstreamed in a Philippine higher education institution during the COVID-19 pandemic. The researchers utilized the Husserlian descriptive phenomenological approach and performed a thematic analysis of the data gathered from the interview. As a result, the themes that emerged for flexible learning were (1) environmental and (2) personal factors. On the other hand, the themes that emerged for student-teacher relationships were (1) instructional and (2) motivational interactions. During flexible learning, the students encountered factors beyond their control, making them feel ambivalent and experience adverse health consequences. Despite the challenging circumstances, they coped by upskilling and through social support. The students received accommodation, care, and encouragement from their teachers but asserted that their unique needs must be considered when their teachers design academic tasks and instructional materials. The insights gained from the study imply that education leaders and university administrators may improve the flexible learning experience of students by crafting inclusive quality education policies and capacitating teachers on disability awareness, appropriate teaching strategies, and the use of assistive technology for students with visual impairment.

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Experiences of Students who are Visually Impaired Receiving Services by Disabilities Support Services (DSS) Offices in Higher Education Institutions

Cited by 7 publications

References 0 publications

“Giving the People Who Use the Service a Voice”: Student Experiences of University Disability Services

“Giving the People Who Use the Service a Voice”: Student Experiences of University Disability Services

Spiking network model of A1 learns temporal filters with frequency preferences

Flexible Learning and Student-Teacher Relationship Experience of College Students with Visual Impairment

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