Create A Minimally Restrictive Environment To Promote Integrated Art Education For The Blind

Integrated education refers to the education of children with disabilities in ordinary schools,which is called “attending classes” in China.The special group of severely visually impaired people cannot learn in the same way as ordinary students and is difficult to participate in integrated education,which leads to blind people studying only in special schools.Social isolation of blind people is not conducive to their integration into society.Since the end of 2016,the art accessibility team of Hangzhou Normal University has explored an effective path of integrated education for the blind through art education by creating a minimal restrictive environment.The least restrictive environment refers to the exploration of all aspects of learning in order to meet the individualized educational rehabilitation needs of students with different types of disabilities,with the aim of maximizing the potential of special groups and achieving educational equity.By recording and analyzing the two practical activities of art integration education for the blind in Zhejiang Province,“Exploring the Great Wormhole” and “Canal Tour for the Blind”,this thesis aims to summarize the methods of creating the least restrictive environment in the integrated education of art for the blind by analyzing how the least restrictive environment is achieved in the activities.This thesis conducts a case study of three “Great Wormhole Exploration”art projects from 2018 to 2022,and collects data on the action research method and fieldwork method of the “Art Canal Walk for the Blind” integrated education that I personally participated in in in 2021.The results show that in the “Great Wormhole Exploration”,treating differences as teaching resources and setting restrictions can empower blind students and create an equal environment.Through reasonable grouping,blind people and ordinary people learn from each other to achieve complementary advantages and common progress.This thesis summarizes the method of creating the least restrictive environment as follows: setting up a blind-friendly environment and creating conditions for cooperative learning,so that the blind and ordinary people can "reverse integration" and break through the dilemma of blind integrated education.Promoting the integration of art education for the blind by creating a minimal restrictive environment not only realizes the educational equity of the disabled group,but also is a form of public art education that attracts all sectors of society to participate in it,and is an effective way to improve the level of social civilization in the process of social aesthetic education.