Research Proposal

A comparative study of Independent Living Skills of the Visually Impaired students studying in exclusive and inclusive schools.

Pubali Chatterjee

Introduction: Disability is a global phenomenon. India has the largest number of Persons with Disabilities (PWD). One of the fundamental rights of each Indian citizen is the right to education, which is again, a human right of every citizen of this world. Thousands of years ago, in ancient war-like societies, blind people were denied even the right to exist and were killed. There has been an evolutionary process of change as a result of which attitudinal changes of the society towards blindness came about. Lowenfeld (1973) has categorized these changes into 4 phases: 1. Separation phase (Denial of Right to Live). 2. Ward-status phase (Granted Right to Live but as dependant). 3. Self-emancipation phase (Become educated by their own efforts). 4. Integration phase. The Twentieth century witnessed a dramatic change in the attitude of the society from segregation, isolation, labeling, categorization and restrictive environment to emphasis on normalization, mainstreaming, integration and inclusion by ensuring accessibility and barrier free environment. Implications of Blindness: Eyes are the organ which coordinates other sense organs. Almost 83% stimulus comes through vision from the environment. Thus, vision plays a vital role in learning and exploring the environment. Loss of vision tends to restrict this process. Lowenfeld (1973) describes three basic limitations that blindness imposes on an individual: 1. In the range and variety of experiences; 2. In his/her ability to get about; 3. In his/her interaction with the environment and control over the environment in relation to ones self. The life of a visually handicapped person is greatly affected by these Basic Limitations. A child learns many life skills naturally by imitating others. A visually impaired child does not have this opportunity. Thus, can learn only through direct process. Blind children imitate role playing adult activities mainly on verbal level, unlike their sighted counterparts, who imitate on active physical level also. An ordinary person can use five sensory organs to have experiences in the environment, but a blind person has only 4 sense organs to explore the environment. The result is low sensorial input which leads to the low level of information. This loss can be compensated to a large extent, with the training of his/her remaining senses to the optimum level and with the use of modern appliances. But certain intangible concepts are exclusively visual, like, the concept of colour, sky, sunrise and sunset, design, pattern and beauty, cannot be explained through touch. Moreover, some objects and events are too large (mountains, buildings), too tiny (ant, amoeba), too far away (solar or lunar eclipse), too dangerous (burning, boiling) or too quick and unexpected (car accident). Such typical experiences are beyond the range of remaining senses of a blind person. Thus, his/her range and variety of experiences are restricted. Restricted mobility, further, affects his/her opportunity for experiences and his/her social relations. Blind persons receive a great deal of information from others. In most of the cases the result of this mediated learning is faulty knowledge and defective concept formation. In the social context of an individuals life, blindness does affect expressive movements, facial expressions or gesture behaviour because most of them are acquired by visual imitation. His/her communication is also restricted as non-verbal communication is not possible for him/her. Lack of sight is responsible for keeping him/her away from the physical

and to some extent, from the social environment. All these affected the development of a blind child at various stages and causes emotional and social difficulties in later life. Thus, a blind child should learn and acquire different independent living skills in different levels of educational environment to become confident, independent and socially adjusted and acceptable. Need and Rationale of the Study: The term Independent Living Skill is a broad label that encompasses every skill that and individual needs to have at some time in his or her life to be as independent as possible ( Hatlen, 1996). Thus, Independent Living Skill in the proposed study refers to those skills which are necessary for the visually impaired children to lead independent life. They are as follows: i. Personal Management Skills: grooming, orientation & mobility, health & safety, use of telephone & personal identification cards etc. ii. Social Development Skills: self-identity, interpersonal relations, conversation, sexual awareness, civic awareness, environmental awareness etc. iii. Household Management Skills: home maintenance, household repairs, shopping, meal planning, using appliances, money management, laundry, clothing maintenance etc. iv. Academic Skills: functional reading, writing and Mathematics. v. Leisure Time Activities: TV/Radio/Stereo, exercise, indoor games, pets etc. From the above discussion, it can be said that the successful habilitation/rehabilitation of a visually impaired person basically depends on acquiring different Independent Living Skills. Thus, one of the primary goal of the rehabilitation process is to develop these skills among him. Again, the process of rehabilitation is incomplete without the economic rehabilitation, i.e. employment. It has been noticed that the development of Independent Living Skills, like, social skills and communication skills facilitate the process of economic rehabilitation of the visually impaired persons. Thus, many feel that these skills should be included in the school curriculum from the very beginning.

It is evident that integration, mainstreaming and normalization are for the over-all inclusion of a blind child in the mainstream society. It was noticed that blind children who were accepted, tended to be personally congenial, confident, free from annoying personality and behaviour problem, whereas those rejected showed the opposite pattern.(James, Lavine & Shell, 1972) Thus, from the very beginning, visually impaired child should try to become a productive part of the society. Here lies the importance of learning Independent Living Skills by the visually handicapped children. Inclusion, mainstreaming and normalization are not possible without acquiring these skills. With the help of Independent Living Skills, visually impaired children can participate entirely and independently in a variety of social and school related activities. Use of these skills in proper manner will decrease the effect of disability which in turn, increase their positive social interactions, self-esteem and motivation. Thus, a visually impaired child should learn

and acquire different Independent Living Skills in different levels of educational environment to become confident, independent, socially adjusted and acceptable. Most of the Independent Living Skills are learnt by an individual through the visual imitation of others. As mentioned earlier, lack of sight makes it extremely difficult, if not impossible, for a visually impaired child to acquire these skills without the structured support for learning the same in an educational programme. Thus, it is necessary to provide these children a conducive learning environment, so that they may acquire these skills up to the desired level. The proposed study aims at looking at the educational environment available to these children in the context of this important need. The educational environment influences the acquisition of Independent Living skills by a blind child and the educational environment depends upon the educational settings. A study of environmental effects on acquisition of Independent Living skills by a visually impaired child is of crucial importance for improvement on one hand and to design remedial measures on the other. There is a complete dearth of literature or studies on the subject. The proposed study will provide empirical evidence about the effectiveness of various settings of education for the visually impaired children. Visually impaired children get education in different settings, such as, schools meant exclusively for them and in regular schools along with their seeing counterparts. In special schools, trained and qualified teaching staffs are available to these children. They get desired training and support from the specialized teachers for learning various curricular and plus curricular areas. This support is not available to those children who are placed in regular schools. This is believed to have affected these children adversely in the acquisition of various Independent Living Skills but no empirical evidence is available in the literature as to which of the skills are poorly acquired in inclusive or exclusive setting. This is particularly true in the case of visually impaired children of this country. Many research studies conducted abroad which have reported positive correlation between the desired level of social adjustment and the level of Independent Living Skills of the visually impaired children. In view of the foregoing, it is essential to study the level of Independent Living Skills amongst the visually impaired children studying in different educational settings, so that, the gaps could be identified and appropriate strategies could be developed and used to bridge this gap. Moreover, to make the best use of limited resources it is important to investigate which is the best approach and promote it to the desired level. It is, therefore, proposed to compare the Independent Living skills of visually impaired students studying in various educational settings. The study will also compare the Independent Living skills of visually impaired boys with visually impaired girls in different educational settings. The comparative study of influence of educational settings on acquisition of Independent Living skills by visually impaired students has built in rationale and has direct bearing to understand policy formulation for the future. The proposed study will help to comprehend the affirmative roles that the existing settings can play to provide effective services to its beneficiaries. Further, the proposed study will help to understand which aspects of Independent Living skills need greater stress and improvement in different settings.

Objectives of the Study:1. To identify visually impaired students studying in inclusive and exclusive schools located in different states of Northern India. 2. To identify and classify various Independent Living skills necessary for social adjustment and acceptability. 3. To study the acquisition level of different Independent Living skills amongst the visually impaired children studying in exclusive schools. 4. To study the acquisition level of different Independent Living skills amongst the visually impaired children studying in inclusive schools. 5. To compare the acquisition of different Independent Living skills amongst the visually impaired children studying in exclusive and inclusive schools. 6. To compare the relationship with the educational achievement and the level of different Independent Living skills of visually impaired pupils studying in exclusive and inclusive schools. 7. To develop the Independent Living Skill Test for the use with the visually impaired students. 8. To study the sex difference in the acquisition level of different Independent Living skills amongst the visually impaired children studying in exclusive and inclusive schools. Statement of the problem: The problem of the present study is stated as below:A comparative study of Independent Living Skills of the Visually Impaired students studying in exclusive and inclusive schools. Definition of the Terminology:1.Visually Impaired Students-: Those students who use tactile and auditory mode of learning in educational environment are termed as visually impaired students. Since, their central vision acuity and/or field of vision are restricted to such an extent that they cannot make use of it in the learning environment. As per the Persons with Disabilities (Equal Opportunities, Protection of Rights and Full Participation) Act, 1995, blindness refers to a condition where a person suffers from any of the following conditions, namely-: i. total absence of sight; or ii. visual acuity not exceeding 6/60 or 20/200 (snellen) in the better eye with correcting lenses; or iii. limitation of the field of vision subtending an angle of 20 degree or worse. 2.Independent Living Skill: According to Oxford English Dictionary, Independent Living means not depending of another for livelihood or subsistence. Skill is special expertise in a task acquired by training. Thus, Independent Living Skill in the proposed study refers to those skills which are necessary for the visually impaired children to lead independent life. They are as follows: iv. Personal Management Skills: grooming, orientation & mobility, health & safety, use of telephone & personal identification cards. v. Social Development Skills: self-identity, interpersonal relations, conversation, sexual awareness, civic awareness, environmental awareness.

vi.

vii. viii.

Household Management Skills: home maintenance, household repairs, shopping, meal planning, using appliances, money management, laundry, clothing maintenance. Academic Skills: functional reading, writing and Mathamatics. Leisure Time Activities: TV/Radio/Stereo, exercise, indoor games, pets.

3. Exclusive Schools-: With respect to the proposed study, exclusive schools refer to educational setting where only visually impaired students are admitted and imparted education by the special educators. These schools are designed to suit the exclusive needs of visually impaired students and have residential facility. The family has limited role in the education of their visually impaired child. 4. Inclusive Schools-: With respect to the proposed study, inclusive schools refer to the educational setting where visually impaired students study along with their sighted counterparts in regular schools and stay with their families. Here, the family is actively involved in the education of the child. Limitations of the study:1. Due to paucity of time and resources, the present study will be limited to the study of Independent Living skills of visually impaired students studying in elementary schools only. 2. The study will be limited to the visually impaired students studying in exclusive and inclusive schools located in the Northern states of India. 3. The study will be limited to the investigation of the level of acquisition of different Independent Living skills of 100 visually impaired students only. Methodology: - The present study will employ the Descriptive Method of research as it aims at studying the relationship between the level of acquisition of different Independent Living skills and educational setting. Sample: - The sample of the study would consist of 100 visually impaired students studying in elementary classes. The sample will be further divided into two segmentsvisually impaired girls and visually impaired boys, 50 each. Matching: - The visually impaired students studying in exclusive and inclusive schools will be matched on 1-to-1 basis on the following variables:1. Class. 2. Sex. 3. Educational achievement of preceding annual examination. 4. Intelligence Quotient (IQ). 5. Socio Economic Status (SES). Variables: - Variables are the conditions or characteristics that the experimenters manipulate, controls or observes. Variables can be independent or dependent. In the proposed study, visual impairment, educational achievement, socio-economic status, class, sex etc. are the independent variables. Different Independent Living skills are the dependent variables.

Hypothesis: - To seek the aforesaid objectives of the present investigation, the following hypothesis will be formulated and tested:1. There is no significant difference in the level of acquisition of Independent Living skills amongst the visually impaired students studying in exclusive and inclusive schools. 2. There is no significant difference in the level of acquisition of Independent Living skills amongst the visually impaired boys and girls studying in exclusive schools. 3. There is no significant difference in the level of acquisition of Independent Living skills amongst the visually impaired boys and girls studying in inclusive schools. 4. There is no significant relationship between the educational achievement and Independent Living Skills. 5. There is no significant relationship between the Social Skills and Academic Skills. Tools-: The investigator will search tools on the internet and tools libraries of NCERT, Jamia Millia Islamia University and Delhi University (CIE) to find out the availability of Independent Living Skill Test for the use with the visually impaired students. She will review these tools to determine their usability with the visually impaired students. In case no such useful tools could be located, she will develop her own Independent Living Skill test for the use with visually impaired students for the purpose of the present study. She will also establish its reliability and validity before the final use of these tools. Kuppuswamys revised version of SES tool will be used to study the socioeconomic status of the parents of the visually impaired students studying in different settings. Data Collection-: After the identification of the subjects and finalization of the tools, the data collection work will begin by administering Independent Living Skill tests. Statistical Analysis-: The data will be analysed by employing appropriate statistical techniques, such as, Measures of Central Tendency, t-test and product movement coefficient of correlation.

Expected Outcome-: This study will shade light on the level of acquisition of Independent Living skills of visually impaired students studying in different environment. This will facilitate the planning and implementation of educational programmes for visually challenged pupils. It will also help to identify the needs of these children which will in turn ensure the availability of appropriate guidance and Teaching Learning Materials to meet the identified needs of the visually impaired students.

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