The Inclusion of Students with Visual Impairment at Addis Ababa University, Ethiopia: Challenges and Prospects

Abstract

Following the introduction of Special Needs Education Program Strategy that Ethiopian government developed in 2006, all public HEIs have been required to implement inclusive education as a mandatory approach when educating students with impairment, including those who are visually impaired. However, the actual implementation of an inclusive approach is being challenged by the social, political and physical circumstances of higher education institutions. Therefore, this study aimed at examining the existing challenges and prospects towards the inclusion of students with Visual Impairment (VI) in the particular context of Addis Ababa University (AAU). The study adopted an interpretive paradigm for deeper understanding of the inclusion of students with VI at AAU and informing the detailed judgments made by experts of a suggested action plan to progressively provide support for students with VI at AAU. The study also applied the critical disability paradigm as a complementary philosophical base in order to examine critically the challenges that students with VI face and to suggest ways to transform the inclusive policies and practices of AAU in favor of the students. The researcher undertook the qualitative case study and a Delphi design to address the main aim of this research (i.e., to determine how best to implement an action plan that progressively increases support for students with VI at AAU over a period of time). The action plan that comprises various support measures and the necessary resources was developed using the empirical results of this study as well as the existing findings and best practices found in the literature study. It was scrutinized and approved by a number of experts to be implemented over the next five years at AAU in order to improve the support provided to students with VI.