Social Inclusion of Students with Visual Impairment: a Review of Literature

Abstract

Social inclusion is a complex and often misunderstood concept. At the international level, social inclusion is considered a key issue in the inclusion debate. Today, most students with visual impairments (VI), meaning students who are blind or have low vision, in the Western world attend inclusive education settings (Foreman, 2011). And yet, relatively few studies have considered the academic outcomes of students with VI in the inclusive context, and even more limited is research reporting the views of those students on the social inclusion in the regular school. The aim of this paper was to syntheses previous research about the social inclusion of students with visually impaired in regular school. A literature review was conducted to explore the peer-reviewed evidence relating social inclusion of students with visual impairments. In total 8 papers were included in the review from the Finland, Israel, Poland, USA, and Holland. The literature of the school social inclusion of students with visual impairments is limited and this paper provides a basis for further exploration of this area.