Ergonomic Considerations for the Inclusive Communication of Low Vision People in Academic Spaces

Abstract

Educational institutions must embrace public policies that guarantee the social inclusion of all people without discrimination of any kind. To achieve this objective, the diversity of needs and abilities of the people must be considered, favoring them full access and effective interaction with the spaces. In response to these challenges of inclusion, and particularly considering people with low vision (Clasificación Internacional del Funcionamiento CIF de la OMS), this project was proposed to explore from three Latin American universities (Universidad Pedagógica y Tecnológica de Colombia; Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León, México; Universidad de Bueno Aires, Argentina), the communication needs of this population group, from the three indispensable categories to achieve autonomy within the university space: Informative, guiding and directional signage. This is due to the fact that from some previous studies, important differences in behavior and response have been found during the interaction with open spaces and closed spaces between people with low vision and people with total blindness. From this perspective, the research proposal seeks to establish through an exploratory study and an experiential process, the conceptual elements that from the ergonomic perspective are required to develop efficient alternatives of signage and signaling that use new technologies and facilitate orientation, information, and displacement of people with low vision inside the academic spaces.