ICT educational tools and visually impaired students: Different answers to different accessibility needs

Abstract

In order to guarantee equal opportunities to all students, the accessibility of ICT educational tools is worldwide considered a major issue. Nowadays, visually impaired students can take advantage of a large number of effective assistive technologies but, while using electronic material for learning purposes, they often encounter a number of different accessibility and usability problems. The variety of obstacles they may find on their way is quite large mainly because the term "visually impaired" encompasses a wide range of deficits, ranging from blindness to a number of other multifaceted, although less severe, visual impairments. The accessibility requirements for e-learning products established by the laws in force in the different European and nonEuropean countries can be considered an important step onwards; further measures, nevertheless, are still needed to foster the actual "usability" of such products by sight impaired people. © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2007.