For na Inclusive Geography: use of digital resources to create a website accessible to people with visual impairments

Abstract

This article presents the procedures carried out for the creation and structuring of the webpage of the extension project “Geografia às Cegas: Adaptação dos conceitos geográficos aos alunos com deficiência visual do Ensino Fundamental”, developed at the Institute of Geography of Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro and registered in DEPEXT/PR-3. The webpage was structured into five tabs: (1) About; (2) Institutions; (3) Bibliography; (4) Outreach; and (5) News, where information about the project, short courses and workshops, texts derived from experiences and readings are made available. There is information about educational institutions - specialized in teaching and therapeutic support for people with visual impairments - as well as cultural institutions with inclusive spaces and tactile collections aimed at blind and visually impaired people. Links to institutional videos, live streams, articles, dissertations, theses, event proceedings and journals addressing topics relevant to teaching for visually impaired students were included. The font types, colors and sizes, as well as the background colors were tested by volunteers with low vision resulting from different pathologies. The audio feature was used in texts and photo captions to facilitate access for blind individuals to the content. There is space for the dissemination of news, films, and series with audio description, events, and courses for ongoing teacher training in Inclusive Education. The website sought to systematize and make available the different content researched and created during the development of the project to contribute to the training of teaching degree students and the updating of teachers.