Mathematics and blindness: let's try to solve this problem ?
Pinho, T.M.M. 1 , Castro, H.C.1,2; Alves, L. 2 , Lima N.R.W. 1,
1CMPDI, Instituto de Biologia, UFF, RJ, Brazil
2PPBI, Instituto de Biologia, UFF, RJ, Brazil
According to World Health Organization, the number of people with blindness due to infectious diseases has reduced in the last 20 years whereas 80% of all visual impairment can be prevented or cured. Despite of that, 285 million people are estimated to be visually impaired worldwide as about 90% are from low-income society. Considering this scenario, it is still necessary to think about this public and know how to teach them disciplines such as Mathematics that are important to their lives as citizens. The Mathematics concepts
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The International Classification of Diseases refers to Moderate visual impairment together with severe visual impairment as “low vision” that together with blindness stand for all visual impairment worldwide (WHO, 2016).
Blindness is a severe or total change of one or more of the vision basic features that affects the ability to identify color, size, distance, shape, position or movement. It may occur from birth (congenital) or later due to organic or accidental causes. In some cases, blindness may be associated with loss of hearing (deaf-blindness) and/or other disabilities (Sá, 2007, WHO 2016).
According to the literature, 80% of the human relationships with the world is using sight. It is essential to have all the visual sensory apparatus (eyes, optic nerves, brain optic pathways and the occipital visual cortex) to live fully in our society, emotionally, socially and professionally (Brasil, 2008). The vision loss is partially offset by other senses such as hearing, touch, smell, and taste. Thus, the visually impaired people perceive the world around them through these remained senses (e.g., Braille reading) (Rangel,
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In addition, the current textbooks are extremely visual with almost no textbooks appropriately adapted for the visually impaired students. These books should use the Braille system, a writing system with raised dots created by Louis Braille, which enables these people to read by touch, also allowing the writing (anagliptography).
Currently, it is clear that the difficulty of teaching and learning Mathematics is not limited only to this public. However the blind student, also including the low vision student that also need adapted materials, have great difficulty to learn Math due to the complexity and abstraction of most topics of this discipline, such as geometry. In Brazil, for example, the visually impaired students have to know 63 signals formed by points from a matrix assembly formed by 6 points, standardized by spelling Braille for the Portuguese language, which form the Braille system (IBC,
There are all different types of medical and disable human beings out in this world. There are also different types of disabilities such as a physical or mental condition that limits a person 's movements, senses, or activities. I choose a sensory impairment, Diabetic Retinopathy which is one of the types of visual impairments that people may happen to get. You also have four other types of visual impairments, cataracts, glaucoma, retinitis pigmentosa, and retrolental fibroplasia that you can also get. Diabetic Retinopathy is a complication of diabetes that affect the eyes.
Throughout the novel there are several instances where characters, including the narrator, are physically blind or experience the loss of their sight. Such cases of physical blindness represent the unwillingness or incapability to see past the prejudices and falsities of an American society based on the superiority of Whites. An important example of this in the text is the boxing scene in which the narrator is fooled into fighting other fellow African Americans for the enjoyment of notable white folks in the community. The narrator is searching for truth behind the horror of this arranged fight, but his eyes are blindfolded by oppressive Caucasian hands:
Imagine a life in darkness, not being able to see anything, not knowing what something as simple as a picture looks like. That’s what blind people have to go through every day. Blind people don’t know what anything around them looks like, their mom, dad, nothing. How do they read? Braille, the blind use braille daily and without it they would need someone with them 24/7 to read everything such as bathroom signs. Let’s explore braille and how it came to be how it is today by answering questions like what was the need for braille, what was life like before braille, what was the impact of braille then, and what is the impact of braille today?
Color blindness is defined as “An inability to distinguish certain colors resulting from an inherited defect in the light receptor cells in the retina of the eye.”(Graetzer, Hans G. PhD, 2013). The causes are “Genetic defect resulting in photoreceptor deficiency.”(Graetzer, Hans G. PhD, 2013). This basically means that you have little parts in your eye that do not work right. The parts of yo...
Many people view blindness as a disability, but could these people be blind to their surroundings? Even though the narrator can perfectly see with his eyes, he lacks in understanding awareness. The narrator blindness isn 't physical, like many vision impaired people. His blindness is psychological, and his blindness causes him to become jealous. His blindness blocks his perception of viewing the world in a different way. This only causes him to see the physical attributes of humans, and thus shut off his mindfulness of viewing human personalities. As a result of a closed mind, the narrator doesn 't understand how Robert was able to live with the fact that he was never able to see his wife in the flesh, but the narrator fails to see that Robert vision of his wife was intimate. On the other hand, Robert blindness is physical. This causes Robert to experience the world in a unique manner. Without Robert eyesight, he is able to have a glimpse of a human personality. He uses his disability to paint pictures in his head to experience the world. By putting his psychological blindness aside, the narrator is able to bond with Robert, and he grasps the understanding of opening his eyes for the first time, and this forms a new beginning of a
Blindness is defined as the lack of visual perception. Blindness can also be defined as not being able to see things for what they really are. One may be able to see but may not be able to see the true meaning of something. Black communities often refuse to see the way that white people treat them. In Ralph Ellison’s novel Invisible Man many events contribute to the overall theme of sight vs. blindness.
Braille Institute: Empowering visually impaired people to live fulfilling lives. Braille Institute. 2010. Web. 22 Nov. 2010
When most people think of blind people, they tend to picture a person with dark sunglasses, a seeing eye dog, and a walking stick. These are stereotypes and obviously do not remain true in the case of all blind people. In Raymond Carver’s short story “Cathedral," the main character is jealous and judgmental of his wife’s friend who happens to be a blind man. It is the combination of these attitudes that leads to his own unique “blindness." It is through this initial blindness, that the character gains his greatest vision.
Blindsight is often understood as supporting certain claims concerning the function and the status of the phenomenal qualities of visual perceptions. In this talk I am going to present a short argument to show that blindsight could not be understood as evidence for these claims. The reason is that blindsight cannot be adequately described as a special case of seeing. Consequently, it is not possible to draw inferences from it concerning the role of the phenomenal qualities for seeing.
In literature, blindness serves a general significant meaning of the absence of knowledge and insight. In life, physical blindness usually represents an inability or handicap, and those people afflicted with it are pitied. The act of being blind can set limitations on the human mind, thus causing their perception of reality to dramatically change in ways that can cause fear, personal insecurities, and eternal isolation. However, “Cathedral” utilizes blindness as an opportunity to expand outside those limits and exceed boundaries that can produce a compelling, internal change within an individual’s life. Those who have the ability of sight are able to examine and interpret their surroundings differently than those who are physically unable to see. Carver suggests an idea that sight and blindness offer two different perceptions of reality that can challenge and ultimately teach an individual to appreciate the powerful significance of truly seeing without seeing. Therefore, Raymond Carver passionately emphasizes a message that introduces blindness as not a setback, but a valuable gift that can offer a lesson of appreciation and acceptance toward viewing the world in a more open-minded perspective.
Color Blindness means that you have trouble seeing the colors green, blue, or red or a mix of these colors. It is an abnormal condition characterized by the inability to clearly distinguish different colors of the spectrum. It is very rare that a person doesn’t see any color at all. Color Blindness is also called color vision problem. The difficulties can range from mild to severe. Color blindness is a misleading term because people that have it aren’t really totally blind. They tend to see colors in a limited range of hue. The scientific name for total color blindness is Monochromasy. Having color blindness would change a normal person’s life. It makes it harder to read and learn, and you may not be able to have certain careers. Although having color vision problems can affect your life greatly, you can still learn to make up for your problems seeing color. There are many other types of color vision problem. Deuteranomaly is a type that is considered green weak. Dichromasy is another type, which can be divided into Protanopia and Deuteranopia. People with this see no difference between red, orange, yellow, and green. Protanopia has much reduced color vision of the colors red, orange, and yellow. Deuteranopia is the same thing as Protanopia except without the abnormal dimming which makes it different. Last would be Tritanopia and Tritanomoly. Both of these types of color blindness are blue-green –color blindness with not many differences between them. In Tritanopia the s-cones are completely missing from the eye, and in Tritanomoly the s- cones have some kind of mutation.
Blindness can be so much more than the state of being unable to see (Dictionary.com). Both the 2008 movie Blindness, directed by Fernando Meirelles and based on a novel by José Saramago, and the short story The Country of the Blind written by H. G. Wells in 1904, put blindness at the center of the plot. What can blindness mean in our society? And what can blindness mean regarding my future profession in design? In the movie Blindness, to be blind leads to losing all that’s civilized; in H. G. Wells’ The Country of the Blind, blindness can be interpreted as a symbol for ignorance; finally, in graphic design, blindness could be to only focus on the aesthetic part of designing and forgetting the practical aspect of the design.
Children from low socio-economic backgrounds might not be sufficiently exposed to the necessary resources and experiences for learning mathematics concepts. It could be due to the fact that the
Devlin believes that mathematics has four faces 1) Mathematics is a way to improve thinking as problem solving. 2) Mathematics is a way of knowing. 3) Mathematics is a way to improve creative medium. 4) Mathematics is applications. (Mann, 2005). Because mathematics has very important role in our life, teaching math in basic education is as important as any other subjects. Students should study math to help them how to solve problems and meet the practical needs such as collect, count, and process the data. Mathematics, moreover, is required students to be capable of following and understanding the future. It also helps students to be able to think creativity, logically, and critically (Happy & Listyani, 2011,
Blindness does not mean that the child is totally without usable vision. Most of blind children have varying amounts of vision, which can be quite helpful. “Legal blindness” is a term you may hear. It means that a child has 10% or less of normal vision. Teachers need to know that many factors affect what, and how much, a child may see at any particular time. Type of eye condition, fatigue, lighting, excitement, etc. all affect a partially sighted child’s vision.