A Study of Needs and Requirements of Visually Impaired Students of University of Delhi

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to find out the needs and requirements of visually impaired students and the facilities provided to them by their respective learning organisations. This study was conducted on visually impaired students of University of Delhi. Various students with visual disability were interviewed with the help of a questionnaire prepared by the investigator by going through deep literature review available on the topic related to the current research study. This research topic was selected with the aim to identify various services provided by their respective institutions, assistive technologies available in their libraries, and to find problems faced by the visually challenged students in retrieving information by the available resources. Findings of this study reveal that visually impaired students are provided with Braille books, big screen computers with assistive technologies, recorded audiobooks in the form of CDs or cassettes and other infrastructure facilities by their respective libraries. Other facilities such as the provision of helpers, writers for making assignment and for writing exam are also available in the libraries for the students. The study further reveals that students face problems such as internet connectivity, inadequate number of assistive devices and lack of adequate helpers, etc. while accessing the library for their needs.