Technology and Visual Impairment: A review of current options in music education

The term ‘visually impaired’ is applied generally to include those who have relatively good functional eyesight as well as those with little or no perception of images or light. Its use is preferable to the more emotive and frightening word ‘blind’, but nevertheless ‘visually impaired’ still contains a substantial degree of mystery and unknown for those teachers who rarely or never come into contact with children and/or students who have poor vision. This is due mainly to the difficulty of conceiving and appreciating what can and cannot be seen by someone who is visually impaired, and this itself then confuses the reaction to the needs of that person. These requirements are often a subtle mix of practical support, and understandably, most teachers would expect these to be the concern of established support systems. This is, however, not always the case, particularly as more and more visually impaired children are studying within mainstream education rather than at special schools, and as visually impaired students take up opportunities in further and higher education. It is, of course, no reflection on procedures and organizations that are concerned with the visually impaired in education to stress the need for increased awareness amongst teachers in mainstream education. This is particularly important because the most significant developments in technology have occurred within the last 10—15 years, and the cost has reduced so that it has become more widely accessible.