Albinism is a rare disease that affects one in 20000 young people in Europe, but which has a serious impact on the chances of success and inclusion of those who suffer from it. This is because this genetic disease causes the absence or reduction of pigmentation in the skin, eyes, and hair, that leads to light hypersensitivity, serious skin problems, serious visual impairment, and, above all, social exclusion. So, people with albinism do not only suffer from total or partial blindness and find it difficult to participate in outdoor activities, but they also have a distinctive pale appearance that sadly causes unrest to some people, so, according to studies by renowned researchers, they suffer from the same racial segregation as other excluded groups. If this is hard for adults, it is even worse for secondary school students; being able to socialize in spaces (during the recess, in gym class...) and to be treated as an equal in the classroom becomes a utopia. Despite these serious barriers, young people with albinism strive every day to achieve their objectives... but they cannot do it alone. One of the main objectives of the European entities of persons with albinism that promote this project is to achieve the full inclusion of students with albinism in the environment of secondary education. This is a crucial period for young people with albinism, not only for the development of educational skills, but also for their growth as an individual and their ability to overcome the barriers imposed by their rare disease, which will decisively mark their labor, social, and personal future. More and more schools are aware that the future of education goes through the digitalization of education, and the entities of people with albinism don’t want to miss this opportunity, so when schools apply this digitalization process they must make it inclusive: we want digitalization to be a new opportunity and not an obstacle for students with albinism. This is why we propose the creation of the CLASSROOM WITHOUT BARRIERS OF THE FUTURE, the culmination of an innovative and integral process of digitalization of the classroom focused on the inclusion of people with visual impairment. It is a global approach that not only includes the digital equipment of the classroom, but also generates new pedagogical and training processes through ICTs, to achieve the equal participation of students with albinism or visual impairment. It generates learning processes whose adaptation include the whole classroom and not just the student with albinism, providing the use of new equipment for every student. We propose an innovative educational experience that includes methodologies of equal learning through technological equipment, an innovative pedagogical system that improves the learning experience of every student in the classroom while promoting the inclusion of students with albinism and visual impairment through ICTs and adapted equipment based on new technologies. To enable any educational center can create its own CLASSROOM WITHOUT BARRIERS OF THE FUTURE, we will create two high-quality and impactful Intellectual Outputs: - The METHODOLOGICAL GUIDE TO TRANSFROM YOUR CLASSROOM INTO THE CLASSROOM WITHOUT BARRIERS OF THE FUTURE (O1), a teacher training guide to enable them to implement pedagogical strategies that favor the equal inclusion of students with albinism through new technologies. - The “CONNECT TO INCLUSION” SOFTWARE (O2), a software for students’ tablet devices that will allow them to take full advantage of the opportunities of the new INNOVATIVE TECHNOLOGICAL DEVICE, if used with it, but that can also be used independently, offering the student materials for inclusion, adapted tools, the ability to communicate with other students to share their experiences, evaluate the degree of implementation of the CLASSROOM WITHOUT BARRIERS OF THE FUTURE, etc. As well as an INNOVATIVE TECHNOLOGICAL DEVICE, a tangible result for the adapted visualization in the tablet devices of the classes via streaming through autonomous Wi-Fi spaces, allowing the students to simultaneously see the adapted materials, the image the projector or screen, and the image of the teachers themselves. This material will enable the creation of the CLASSROOM WITHOUT BARRIERS OF THE FUTURE model through simultaneous work on the teacher, the students, and their equipment. To this end, the 5 european associations of persons with albinism will work during 24 months and hold 4 Transnational Meetings, multiple national activities for the creation of results, a large Multiplier Event in Valencia, a learning activity in Spain to test the results, and pilot tests in educational centers across Europe. It is expected that this project makes a great impact on the entire educational community that will greatly influence the whole classroom and improve the quality of teaching methodologies and the inclusion in it of people with albinism and/or visual impairment.
Through the project “CLASSROOM WITHOUT BARRIERS OF THE FUTURE”, five social entities of people with low vision (most of them people with albinism) wanted to contribute, from our experience and knowledge, to promote digitalization processes capable of creating inclusive classrooms where our sons and daughters are able to overcome all educational and social challenges to achieve a successful future. To do this, we designed the “CLASSROOM WITHOUT BARRIERS OF THE FUTURE”, the culmination of an innovative and comprehensive process of digitalization of the classroom aimed towards the inclusion of people with visual impairments, which connects with the objectives of the Digital Education Action Plan, the Europe 2020 Strategy (mainly on education), the European Disability Strategy 2010-2020, and the Erasmus+ Programme itself; especially by: ‒ Promoting the full inclusion of students with low vision (LV) in secondary classrooms. ‒ Promoting an effective digitalization to achieve the inclusion of students with LV. ‒ Fighting against school leaving and social exclusion of youth with albinism and LV. ‒ Improving teacher training in inclusion, LV, and innovative working methods by improving their teaching practices.
In 2019, the processes of digitalization of teaching activity were scarce. This lack of a firm commitment to the use, not only of new technologies, but of pedagogical methodologies to implement them, made it impossible for students with low vision to achieve the expected educational results. Every day they found barriers that neither they nor their teachers (without specific training for inclusion, support from specialists, or access to adapted tools) could break down. Despite their strenuous effort, studies show that the educational achievements of students with low vision were lower than the average, there was a higher level of school leaving, and more mental illnesses derived from frustration, depression, and discouragement. In recent years, due to the terrible COVID-19 pandemic, a much greater effort is being made for the development and implementation of digital tools and methods for distance learning. However, we identify that these are still poorly coordinated efforts that do not focus directly on achieving inclusive classrooms, so the levels of inclusion in the classroom are not significantly higher than those back then.