How ICT influence psychology of students with intellectual disabilities from an inclusive Education perspective

Abstract

Inclusive education is a key tool for promoting equity in educational opportunities, that is using ICT and accessible web and non-web content to support the learning of students with disabilities in inclusive settings within compulsory education. This thesis is focusing on disability including the challenges that disabled students faced in Greece. An elaborate description of the terms Special Education and Inclusive Education is made. Additionally, ways supporting Greek special education system are also stated. In this context, challenges concerning access to software application faced by disable users are mentioned, as well as the most regularly used Assistive Technologies. Guidelines are also ponted out explaining how application, content and web-content can be made accessible to people with all types of disabilities. The study aims to determine how such familiar are Educators using ICT tools during the learning process of students with disabilities both in special and mainstream school setting, in Greece. More specifically, to define views and feelings regarding the benefits of using ICT for students with vision, speech and auditory disabilities, intellectual and cognitive disabilities, as well as physical impairments. Lastly, to investigate how much Educators are familiar with accessibility issues, applying accessibility tests and how capable Educators are to create comprehensible and navigable web and non-web content accessible by the disable. The study reveals that age and years of teaching experience in regular but also in special education play a significant role, as for the type of employment little contribution to the results and only for full-time Educators with public or private contracts.