Difficulties Faced by Students with Visual Impairment Registered in Open and Distance Learning Programs of AIOU, Islamabad, Pakistan

The major purpose of this survey study was to explore difficulties and barriers faced by students with visual impairment who were enrolled in different programmes of Allama Iqbal Open University (AIOU) Islamabad. A self-developed and validated questionnaire (Cronbach alpha: 0.897) was employed for data collection from a sample of forty (40) students with visual impairment (males=32, females=08 selected through snow ball sampling technique) belonging to different cities of the Punjab, Khyber Pukhtoon Khah (KPK) and Azad Jammu & Kashmir (AJK), Pakistan. The participants were required to respond on three point criteria (yes, no, to some extent). Data were analyzed by using SPSS. Frequencies were run to have an overall picture of barriers encountered by students with visual impairment in Open and Distance learning (ODL).Major findings revealed that students with visual impairment were encountering problems in orientation, transportation, academics, provision of reading material in Braille, soft and audio form, taking examination through different modes and in use of information technology etc. The study recommended that Distance Education Teachers should provide material to students with visual impairment both in Braille and soft form. Permission should be granted to take examination in four modes. Disability friendly library should be established. Audio recorded books and note taking assistance in the classroom should be provided to students with visual impairment.