The Social Experiences of High School Students with Visual Impairments Glenda Jessup Anita C Bundy Alex Broom and Nicola Hancock

Structured abstract Introduction This study explores the social experiences inhigh school of students with visual impairments Methods Experience samplingmethodology was used to examine (a) how socially included students with visualimpairments feel (b) the internal qualities of their activities and (c) the factorsthat influence a sense of inclusion Twelve students including three with addishytional disabilities completed the Psychological Sense of School Membership(PSSM) questionnaire as a measure of inclusion They were subsequently askedto complete an in-the-moment survey seven times daily for one week using aniOS device This survey asked about activities and ratings of internal variablesfitting in acceptance loneliness awareness and enjoyment Each student wasalso interviewed Z-scores were created for internal variables and correlationscalculated to examine relationships between experiences PSSM and demoshygraphic variables Results This group felt included as measured by the PSSM(m = 424 SD = 67) Studentsrsquo most frequent activity was classwork Doingnothing rated most negatively and was described as time wasting Out-of-classactivities were rated most positively In the three participants with additionaldisabilities it appeared that the presence of this additional disability negativelyinfluenced a sense of inclusion (rb = -67 p lt 05) fitting in (rb = -86 p lt05) enjoyment (rb = -65 p lt 05) and loneliness (rb = 88 p lt 05)Interviews revealed a lack of common ground between adolescents with bothvisual impairments and additional disabilities and their peers Discussion andimplications for practitioners These students worked hard to maintain paritywith peers and found school more enjoyable if they fit in It is important toprovide discreet and timely access to the curriculum Friendships require timecommon interests and reciprocity There may be potential to further exploreout-of-class clubs as a means of supporting friendship development In additionfindings suggest that students with additional disabilities are not likely to feelincluded Because this population comprises the majority of visually impairedstudents this result has serious implications for practitioners and should beexamined in future research

copy2017 AFB All Rights Reserved Journal of Visual Impairment amp Blindness January-February 2017 5

Time has been conceptualized as a deshyvelopmental variable a proxy variable forthe multitude of socialization experiencesthat develop the social and emotionalcompetencies influencing maturity menshytal health and well-being The more timespent in an activity context or ldquoexperienshytial nicherdquo the greater the chance to abshysorb the skills knowledge and experishyences related to that context (Larson ampVerma 1999)

Adolescents spend almost as muchwaking time at school as they do at homeSchool is their prime source of interactionwith peers A positive sense of inclusionin this context is important to mentalhealth (Shochet Dadds Ham amp Monshytague 2006 Thomas et al 2015) to moshytivation (Osterman 2000) and for goodacademic outcomes (Department of Scishyence 2007)

Studies have shown that adolescentswith visual impairments can find highschool socially challenging (Rosenblum2000 West Houghton Taylor amp KiaLing 2004) Adolescence is a period durshying which many young people differentishyate themselves from family and prioritizerelationships with peers (Sylwester 2007)Visual impairment has a low incidence inthis developmental period A lack of vishysually impaired peers and role modelspresents a major challenge to adolescentswith visual impairments as they differen-

The authors wish to acknowledge the finanshycial contributions of the Helga Pettitt FHSPostgraduate Study Award administered bythe University of Sydney and the AustralianPostgraduate Award administered by the Ausshytralian government Thank you also to theAdaptive Technology staff at Vision Austrashylia for their assistance with the development

of the PIEL Survey application

6 Journal of Visual Impairment amp Blindness January-February

tiate their identities These adolescents ofshyten have relatively small social networks(Kef 1997) have challenges keepingpace with the visual nuances of peer inshyteractions and have to work hard to esshytablish and maintain relationships withsighted peers (Sacks amp Wolffe 1998) Inorder to fit in at school some visuallyimpaired adolescents have weighed thesocial costs of adult- or device-assistedcurriculum access The perceived stigmaof this assistance has outweighed its pershyceived benefit and as a result it is oftendiscarded or underutilized (KhadkaRyan Margrain Woodhouse amp Davies2012 Soumlderstroumlm amp Ytterhus 2010 Utshytermohlen 1997 Whitburn amp OrsquoConnor2011)

Few studies have specifically exploredthe psychosocial aspects of high schoolfrom the perspectives of visually imshypaired students Whitburn and OrsquoConnor(2011) attributed much social exclusionto chaperoning by support staff BothRosenblum (2000) and West et al (2004)noted the importance of time and strategyin building friendships perhaps evenmore time than is required for sightedstudents Some students may never estabshylish strong peer relationships and theirschool experience may be lonely (Hadidiamp Al Khateeb 2013 Hatlen 2004 Huurre ampAro 1998)

The catalyst for this current study wasprior research with young visually imshypaired people (Jessup Cornell amp Bundy2010) during which some recounted soshycial isolation in high school Their storiesechoed the difficulties of students in preshyvious generations Social isolation in adshyolescence affects mental health and wellshybeing (Thomas et al 2015) With this

concern in mind we sought to explore

2017 copy2017 AFB All Rights Reserved

whether perceptions of social isolationwere widespread among students with vishysual impairments and to give students avoice Our research questions were (a)How socially included do visually imshypaired students feel at high school (b)What are the internal qualities of theirschool activities and interactions and (c)What are the different influences on soshycial inclusion in high school

Methods There are two aspects to social inclusionat high school participation in activitiesand relationships and a sense of acceptancebelonging or satisfaction (Bossaert Col-pin Pijl amp Petry 2013) Our challengewas to capture these dual aspects onschool grounds and in multiple classeswithout having a researcher shadowingstudents an approach adolescents mightnot have welcomed We therefore adshyopted a well-used approach to capturein-the-moment experiences The Experishyence Sampling Method (ESM) (HektnerSchmidt amp Csikszentmihalyi 2007) yieldsdata about both objective (participation)and subjective (perception) aspects of exshyperience in the moment by asking particshyipants the same short survey questions onmultiple occasions throughout a predetershymined period (several days or a week)ESM provides repeated measures in evshyeryday environments Previous ESM surshyveys have relied on vision (Bray BundyRyan amp North 2010) We developed andpiloted an accessible survey applicationor app the PIEL (Participation in Everyshyday Life) survey app (httpspielsurveyorg) as a data collection tool for ESM(Jessup Bundy Broom amp Hancock

2013)

copy2017 AFB All Rights Reserved Journal of V

Table 1 Studentsrsquo age grade and PSSM scores

Student Age Grade PSSM score

William 16 12 500 Ethan 17 11 494 Emma 16 10 489 Caraa 14 8 461 Drew 15 10 456 Bethany 13 8 450 Heidi 14 9 444 Zac 17 11 417 Simon 15 10 394 Jasminea 14 9 344 Anna 17 12 328 Olivera 13 8 306

a Student with a visual impairment and additional disability PSSM = Psychological Sense of School Memshybership questionnaire

THE PARTICIPANTS

This mixed-method study was approvedby the University of Sydney Human Reshysearch Ethics Committee In Australiahigh school begins in grade 7 To be elishygible for this study students were reshyquired to be in or above grade 8 so thatthey had spent at least one year in highschool Twelve visually impaired highschool students (aged 13ndash17 years) wererecruited from 12 high schools in threeAustralian states (see Table 1) These stushydents had varying degrees of vision lossranging from total blindness (four stushydents) to having some functional but verylow vision Informed consent was obshytained from all participants and their parshyents Pseudonyms were used to protectprivacy

DATA COLLECTION TOOLS

Everyday Inclusion Survey This purpose-built ESM survey comshyprised a core set of nine questions deshy

signed to elicit information about the

isual Impairment amp Blindness January-February 2017 7

Time has been conceptualized as a deshyvelopmental variable a proxy variable forthe multitude of socialization experiencesthat develop the social and emotionalcompetencies influencing maturity menshytal health and well-being The more timespent in an activity context or ldquoexperienshytial nicherdquo the greater the chance to abshysorb the skills knowledge and experishyences related to that context (Larson ampVerma 1999)

Adolescents spend almost as muchwaking time at school as they do at homeSchool is their prime source of interactionwith peers A positive sense of inclusionin this context is important to mentalhealth (Shochet Dadds Ham amp Monshytague 2006 Thomas et al 2015) to moshytivation (Osterman 2000) and for goodacademic outcomes (Department of Scishyence 2007)

Studies have shown that adolescentswith visual impairments can find highschool socially challenging (Rosenblum2000 West Houghton Taylor amp KiaLing 2004) Adolescence is a period durshying which many young people differentishyate themselves from family and prioritizerelationships with peers (Sylwester 2007)Visual impairment has a low incidence inthis developmental period A lack of vishysually impaired peers and role modelspresents a major challenge to adolescentswith visual impairments as they differen-

The authors wish to acknowledge the finanshycial contributions of the Helga Pettitt FHSPostgraduate Study Award administered bythe University of Sydney and the AustralianPostgraduate Award administered by the Ausshytralian government Thank you also to theAdaptive Technology staff at Vision Austrashylia for their assistance with the development

of the PIEL Survey application

6 Journal of Visual Impairment amp Blindness January-February

tiate their identities These adolescents ofshyten have relatively small social networks(Kef 1997) have challenges keepingpace with the visual nuances of peer inshyteractions and have to work hard to esshytablish and maintain relationships withsighted peers (Sacks amp Wolffe 1998) Inorder to fit in at school some visuallyimpaired adolescents have weighed thesocial costs of adult- or device-assistedcurriculum access The perceived stigmaof this assistance has outweighed its pershyceived benefit and as a result it is oftendiscarded or underutilized (KhadkaRyan Margrain Woodhouse amp Davies2012 Soumlderstroumlm amp Ytterhus 2010 Utshytermohlen 1997 Whitburn amp OrsquoConnor2011)

Few studies have specifically exploredthe psychosocial aspects of high schoolfrom the perspectives of visually imshypaired students Whitburn and OrsquoConnor(2011) attributed much social exclusionto chaperoning by support staff BothRosenblum (2000) and West et al (2004)noted the importance of time and strategyin building friendships perhaps evenmore time than is required for sightedstudents Some students may never estabshylish strong peer relationships and theirschool experience may be lonely (Hadidiamp Al Khateeb 2013 Hatlen 2004 Huurre ampAro 1998)

The catalyst for this current study wasprior research with young visually imshypaired people (Jessup Cornell amp Bundy2010) during which some recounted soshycial isolation in high school Their storiesechoed the difficulties of students in preshyvious generations Social isolation in adshyolescence affects mental health and wellshybeing (Thomas et al 2015) With this

concern in mind we sought to explore

2017 copy2017 AFB All Rights Reserved

whether perceptions of social isolationwere widespread among students with vishysual impairments and to give students avoice Our research questions were (a)How socially included do visually imshypaired students feel at high school (b)What are the internal qualities of theirschool activities and interactions and (c)What are the different influences on soshycial inclusion in high school

Methods There are two aspects to social inclusionat high school participation in activitiesand relationships and a sense of acceptancebelonging or satisfaction (Bossaert Col-pin Pijl amp Petry 2013) Our challengewas to capture these dual aspects onschool grounds and in multiple classeswithout having a researcher shadowingstudents an approach adolescents mightnot have welcomed We therefore adshyopted a well-used approach to capturein-the-moment experiences The Experishyence Sampling Method (ESM) (HektnerSchmidt amp Csikszentmihalyi 2007) yieldsdata about both objective (participation)and subjective (perception) aspects of exshyperience in the moment by asking particshyipants the same short survey questions onmultiple occasions throughout a predetershymined period (several days or a week)ESM provides repeated measures in evshyeryday environments Previous ESM surshyveys have relied on vision (Bray BundyRyan amp North 2010) We developed andpiloted an accessible survey applicationor app the PIEL (Participation in Everyshyday Life) survey app (httpspielsurveyorg) as a data collection tool for ESM(Jessup Bundy Broom amp Hancock

2013)

copy2017 AFB All Rights Reserved Journal of V

Table 1 Studentsrsquo age grade and PSSM scores

Student Age Grade PSSM score

William 16 12 500 Ethan 17 11 494 Emma 16 10 489 Caraa 14 8 461 Drew 15 10 456 Bethany 13 8 450 Heidi 14 9 444 Zac 17 11 417 Simon 15 10 394 Jasminea 14 9 344 Anna 17 12 328 Olivera 13 8 306

a Student with a visual impairment and additional disability PSSM = Psychological Sense of School Memshybership questionnaire

THE PARTICIPANTS

This mixed-method study was approvedby the University of Sydney Human Reshysearch Ethics Committee In Australiahigh school begins in grade 7 To be elishygible for this study students were reshyquired to be in or above grade 8 so thatthey had spent at least one year in highschool Twelve visually impaired highschool students (aged 13ndash17 years) wererecruited from 12 high schools in threeAustralian states (see Table 1) These stushydents had varying degrees of vision lossranging from total blindness (four stushydents) to having some functional but verylow vision Informed consent was obshytained from all participants and their parshyents Pseudonyms were used to protectprivacy

DATA COLLECTION TOOLS

Everyday Inclusion Survey This purpose-built ESM survey comshyprised a core set of nine questions deshy

signed to elicit information about the

isual Impairment amp Blindness January-February 2017 7

whether perceptions of social isolationwere widespread among students with vishysual impairments and to give students avoice Our research questions were (a)How socially included do visually imshypaired students feel at high school (b)What are the internal qualities of theirschool activities and interactions and (c)What are the different influences on soshycial inclusion in high school

Methods There are two aspects to social inclusionat high school participation in activitiesand relationships and a sense of acceptancebelonging or satisfaction (Bossaert Col-pin Pijl amp Petry 2013) Our challengewas to capture these dual aspects onschool grounds and in multiple classeswithout having a researcher shadowingstudents an approach adolescents mightnot have welcomed We therefore adshyopted a well-used approach to capturein-the-moment experiences The Experishyence Sampling Method (ESM) (HektnerSchmidt amp Csikszentmihalyi 2007) yieldsdata about both objective (participation)and subjective (perception) aspects of exshyperience in the moment by asking particshyipants the same short survey questions onmultiple occasions throughout a predetershymined period (several days or a week)ESM provides repeated measures in evshyeryday environments Previous ESM surshyveys have relied on vision (Bray BundyRyan amp North 2010) We developed andpiloted an accessible survey applicationor app the PIEL (Participation in Everyshyday Life) survey app (httpspielsurveyorg) as a data collection tool for ESM(Jessup Bundy Broom amp Hancock

2013)

copy2017 AFB All Rights Reserved Journal of V

Table 1 Studentsrsquo age grade and PSSM scores

Student Age Grade PSSM score

William 16 12 500 Ethan 17 11 494 Emma 16 10 489 Caraa 14 8 461 Drew 15 10 456 Bethany 13 8 450 Heidi 14 9 444 Zac 17 11 417 Simon 15 10 394 Jasminea 14 9 344 Anna 17 12 328 Olivera 13 8 306

a Student with a visual impairment and additional disability PSSM = Psychological Sense of School Memshybership questionnaire

THE PARTICIPANTS

This mixed-method study was approvedby the University of Sydney Human Reshysearch Ethics Committee In Australiahigh school begins in grade 7 To be elishygible for this study students were reshyquired to be in or above grade 8 so thatthey had spent at least one year in highschool Twelve visually impaired highschool students (aged 13ndash17 years) wererecruited from 12 high schools in threeAustralian states (see Table 1) These stushydents had varying degrees of vision lossranging from total blindness (four stushydents) to having some functional but verylow vision Informed consent was obshytained from all participants and their parshyents Pseudonyms were used to protectprivacy

DATA COLLECTION TOOLS

Everyday Inclusion Survey This purpose-built ESM survey comshyprised a core set of nine questions deshy

signed to elicit information about the

isual Impairment amp Blindness January-February 2017 7

quality of activities and additionalbranched questions about the quality ofany social interactions Questions werebased on literature relating to social exshyperiences of visually impaired adolesshycents (Cochrane Lamoureux amp Keeffe2008 Rosenblum 2000) school experishyences of students with disabilities (Dıez2010) and in consultation with serviceproviders for visually impaired adolesshycents This survey was administered usingthe PIEL survey app on iOS devices(iPhone iPod touch or iPad) To facilishytate smooth in-the-moment survey flowall questions were identically formattedrequiring students to select one reshysponse from a list For example to answerthe question ldquoWhat is the main thing youwere doingrdquo students could select eitherldquoWorkrdquo ldquoEatingrdquo ldquoExtracurricularrdquo ldquoLeishysurerdquo ldquoTalk or textingrdquo ldquoTravelrdquo ldquoWatchshying TVDVDrdquo ldquoThinkingrdquo ldquoNothingrdquo orldquoOtherrdquo Students accessed the survey usshying either (a) VoiceOver (the built-inscreen-reading application on iOS deshyvices) with standard gestures so quesshytions and responses were read out or (b)text enlargement features on the iOS deshyvice Students using VoiceOver couldalso use headphones and the iOS devicescreen curtain to ensure privacy Studentswere asked a series of core questionswhat they were doing with whom andwhere they also were asked to rate theextent to which they were aware of whatwas going on around them and the degreeto which they felt lonely and were enjoyshying themselves Responses to awareness(no partly yes) and loneliness and enjoyshyment (not at all a little quite a lot heaps)were scored on a 3- or 4-point rank-ordered scale If students reported they

were interacting with someone they reshy

8 Journal of Visual Impairment amp Blindness January-February

ceived a series of branching questionsWere they giving or receiving help Howdependent did they feel To what extentdid they feel they fit in and were acceptedin the context of the interaction Reshysponses to dependence were categorical(not at all comfortably too) Fitting inand acceptance were rated on a 4-pointscale

The Psychological Sense of School Membership (PSSM) This 18-item Likert-scale questionnairemeasured studentsrsquo subjective sense of schoolbelonging or membership the extent towhich students feel accepted respectedand valued in their academic context(Goodenow 1993) This scale was usedto obtain a global sense of inclusion incongruence with Prince and Hadwin(2013) that a sense of school belonging isintegral to inclusion The PSSM items arein the form of statements (for example ldquoIfeel like a real part of [name of school]rdquoldquoI am included in lots of activities at[name of school]rdquo or ldquoThere is a teacheror other adult at school to talk to if I havea problemrdquo) Students are asked to ratethe truth of each of these statements on a5-point Likert scale ranging from 1 (not atall true) to 5 (completely true) The PSSMhas evidence of satisfactory internal conshysistency (a =80) (Goodenow 1993) anda test-retest reliability index of 78 (4shyweek interval) (Hagborg 1998) and 56and 60 for males and females respecshytively (12-month interval) (Shochet et al2006) It has been used with Australianhigh school students (Shochet et al2006) and students with disabilities(Crouch Keys amp McMahon 2014 Hagshy

borg 1998)

2017 copy2017 AFB All Rights Reserved

Interviews All participants were interviewed at leastonce As well as clarifying and expandingon ESM responses interviews further exshyplored the social aspects of school Stushydents were asked about social inclusionand if they felt included at school Theywere also asked their favorite and leastfavorite subjects and what they would orwould not change at school Finally theywere asked to give advice to youngervisually impaired students Additional inshyformation was elicited by text e-mail oradditional interview

PROCEDURE

All documents were e-mailed to studentsin advance The first author negotiated asuitable week for the survey that was freeof exams or atypical events All studentswere provided with the PIEL survey appfor use on their own iOS device or on auniversity-owned iOS device The apprandomly signaled students to respond tothe Everyday Inclusion Survey seventimes daily between 730 am and 920pm on weekdays and 830 am and10 pm on weekends

A training session was conducted witheach student Most were familiar withiOS devices and needed only to practiceusing the app and clarify their undershystanding of survey questions During thissession students were administered thePSSM questionnaire Sociodemographicdata were also collected These includedthe level of vision impairment accordingto the classification system of BlindSports Australia and the Index ofCommunity Socio-Educational Advanshytage (ICSEA) created by the AustralianCurriculum Assessment and Reporting

Authority as indicating school socioecoshy

copy2017 AFB All Rights Reserved Journal of V

nomic status (DET 2010) At the end ofthis session the PIEL survey app wasactivated to begin collecting data Stushydents had to answer surveys within fiveminutes of hearing the alert sound afterwhich point the survey became unavailshyable During the week the first authorphoned the students to enquire as to theirsurvey progress At the end of the weekstudents e-mailed their responses to theauthors or they returned university-ownediOS devices An interview was conductedas soon as possible (within one to twoweeks) after responses had been scrutishynized Interviews were recorded and transhyscribed ESM responses were clarified byasking for example ldquoOn Thursday at 10am you were in class with a friend andenjoying yourself Can you tell me moreabout the class and that friendrdquo

Analysis

The emphasis of this analysis was to proshyvide a rich and deep description of a relshyatively small sample of students To anshyswer question 1 ldquoHow socially includeddo visually impaired students feel at highschoolrdquo we used PSSM scores The totalscore for all 18 items was averaged toproduce a single score out of a possible 5for each student (see Table 1) Hierarchishycal Cluster Analysis (Everitt LandauLeese amp Stahl 2011) based on each stushydentrsquos responses to individual items wasused to determine student groupings

To answer question 2 ldquoWhat are theinternal qualities of their in-school activshyities and interactionsrdquo we used schoolESM data and interview data We createda situational variable (not school orschool) in response to the question

ldquoWhere are yourdquo and used only the data

isual Impairment amp Blindness January-February 2017 9

gathered at school Categorical ESM varishyables were expressed as frequencies andpercentages In ESM studies since eachparticipant contributes multiple surveysthe use of a z-score for subjective reshysponses is recommended (Hektner et al2007) to allow for both intrapersonal andinterpersonal comparisons of these asshypects across differing contexts This metshyric offers the advantage of controlling forindividual differences in scale usageWithin ESM methodology z-scores arecommonly created from rank-ordered orLikert-type scales (Hektner et al 2007)To answer this particular research quesshytion individual z-scores were first createdfor the subjective dimensions of experishyence (awareness loneliness fitting in acshyceptance and enjoyment) at school sothat each studentrsquos mean school z-scorewas 0 These were used for the subseshyquent group calculations

To answer question 3 ldquoWhat influshyences perceptions of social inclusion inhigh schoolrdquo we used each studentrsquos dataacross the entire seven days We calcushylated each studentrsquos overall z-scores forloneliness acceptance fitting in enjoyshyment and awareness to allow for person-level comparisons the mean z-score foreach item for each individual was thus 0We then extracted the z-scores for schoolonly (Hektner et al 2007) and enteredthose into subsequent calculations Thesedata were not normally distributed Thuswe employed nonparametric tests Kendshyallrsquos tau-b and biserial correlations (Field2009) to examine relationships betweenESM and demographic variables (genderage grade presence of additional disabilshyity vision level and ICSEA) and PSSM

score

10 Journal of Visual Impairment amp Blindness January-Februa

Results All students completed their week of surshyveys Their mean response rate was 69There were 401 surveys returned Ofthese 106 were completed at school

HOW INCLUDED DO THE STUDENTS FEEL The mean PSSM score was 424 out of 5(SD = 67) (see Table 1) which indicatesthe students felt very included and had apositive sense of belonging The highest-scoring items were ldquoThere is a teacher orother adult at school to talk to if I have aproblemrdquo (M = 483 SD = 39) andldquoPeople know I can do good workrdquo (M =467 SD = 78) Hierarchical clusteranalysis (Everitt et al 2011) confirmedtwo groups of students a group of ninewith relatively high scores and a group ofthree with relatively lower scores Two ofthe three students with additional disabilshyities were in this lower group The scoresof the lower group indicated they feltdifferent from most other students werenot included in many activities and haddifficulty being accepted In interviewsthey also reported feeling a lack of inclushysion at school Oliver commented that hisgood work was not noticed because it wasin braille ldquoThey donrsquot know I do goodwork unless I tell themrdquo

WHAT ARE THE INTERNAL QUALITIES

OF THEIR ACTIVITIES AND INTERACTIONSTable 2 shows the ratings of internal dishymensions associated with school activishyties Students reported feeling ldquoa littlerdquo orldquoquiterdquo lonely almost one-third of thetime and enjoyed themselves ldquoquite alotrdquo or ldquoheapsrdquo just over half the timeThey felt accepted and fitted in ldquoquite a

lotrdquo or ldquoheapsrdquo over 80 of the time and

ry 2017 copy2017 AFB All Rights Reserved

onse

Table 2 Ratings of internal dimensions as a percentage o

Not atEveryday Inclusion Survey item (No)

Did you feel like you fit in (Q5) 13Did you feel accepted (Q7) 13Were you lonely (Q17) 712Were you enjoying yourself (Q18) 85Did you know what was going on

around you (Q4) 29

Numbers represent the percentages of group respvidual student averages

felt fully aware of what was going onaround them three-quarters of the time

The variations in the frequency and inshyternal dimensions of the studentsrsquo intershyactions and most common activities ispresented in Table 3 It shows that schoolshywork was the most frequent activity folshylowed by talking and then equally by doshying nothing and doing extracurricularactivities (noncompulsory additional acshytivities) Interestingly no student selectedldquothinkingrdquo as an activity The nature ofthe studentsrsquo extracurricular activities

Table 3 Comparison of internal variables by interaction

Number oself-repor

Variable (N = 106

Interaction Classmates 35 Staff members 19 No one 17 Group of friends 16 One friend 14 Student(s) in other classes 5

Activity Working 60 Talking or texting 12 Nothing 9 Engaging in extracurricular activities 9 Eating 8 Watching TV or DVDs 2

a Mean z-score

copy2017 AFB All Rights Reserved Journal of Vi

f-reports

A little Quite a lot (Partly) (Yes) Heaps

139 398 450 114 422 450 248 40 00 376 254 285

207 764 mdash

s These were calculated by first calculating indishy

was elicited during the interviews Theseincluded choir excursions sports (10-pinbowling) Student Leadership Councilmeetings and braille lessons

The majority of school interactions (seeTable 3) were with classmates and staffIn interviews the visually impaired stushydents described feeling different fromtheir sighted peers They had to work hardto keep up in class and as Simon exshyplained they ldquomight need to spend a littlemore time on thingsrdquo The studentsdifferentiated between classmates and

activity

Awarea Fit ina Accepteda Lonelya Enjoyinga

01 -01 -02 01 00 02 -02 01 -01 -03

-03 03 -01 -01 04 05 01 03 -01 -01 -03 -01 00

04 03 02 -08 05

01 -01 -01 00 -02 00 04 02 -05 07

-04 -07 -10 07 -07 02 02 06 -03 08

-02 04 03 04 01 00 04 03 -02 07

f sel

all

and

f ts )

sual Impairment amp Blindness January-February 2017 11

friends by whether or not they sharedinterests out of class Reported studentinteractions varied widely Oliver had nopeer interactions (with friends or classshymates) All his interactions were withstaff In his interview he revealed he hadno friends and felt his classmates did notwant to work with him In contrast Wilshyliam who was totally blind reported nostaff interactions He was in year 12 andhis staff support had tapered over timeldquoIrsquom pretty right with my stuff but iftherersquos stuff in math to go over like mapsand things they help merdquo

Extracurricular activities (see Table 3)were rated most positively in terms ofinternal qualities (awareness fitting inacceptance loneliness enjoyment) Incontrast with other activities students exshyperienced doing nothing as very negativewhen they indicated they were ldquodoingnothingrdquo students were least aware ofwhat was going on enjoyed themselvesleast were most lonely felt they fitted inleast and felt accepted least In intershyviews students elaborated on doing nothshying Jasmine and Drew described sittingon the sidelines throughout sport or physshyical education (PE) Jasmine felt ldquokindof lonelyrdquo and Drew felt frustratedldquoThey donrsquot understand that itrsquos reallyfrustrating when I have to sit there for anhour and a half and not do anythingrdquoCara felt bored and Drew described feelshying annoyed and frustrated doing nothingin class because the teacher was usinginaccessible pedagogies writing on aboard and talking too rapidly usingPowerPoint or showing movies Cara abraille user had trouble comprehendingher mathematics topic ldquolinear stuff canrsquot work out what the stupid textbook is

sayingrdquo and hence did nothing in and felt

12 Journal of Visual Impairment amp Blindness January-Februa

bored during mathematics William deshyscribed how he and a friend were doingnothing in their class while the ldquosmartkidsrdquo were taking exams He felt his timecould be better spent elsewhere Caracomplained about doing nothing in hercompulsory weekly assembly ldquoI wasnrsquotdoing anything I wasnrsquot enjoying myselfat all feeling very very lonelyrdquo Shewas with her friend who has Aspergerrsquossyndrome

Eating as an activity was reported ashaving an element of loneliness In hisinterview Oliver described eating byhimself every day because he had nofriends Anna described feeling lonelyeating with her group as she did not reshygard them as her real friends ldquoIrsquove gotfriends outside of school that I actuallyenjoy spending time with a lot more thanthe people that I do spend time with atschoolrdquo Zac also felt lonely eating withhis group He was relatively new to hisschool

There were not huge variations in inshyternal dimensions of the different comshypanions in activities In general the stushydents enjoyed interactions most that werewith students from other classes Theseinteractions involved schoolwork eatingor extracurricular activities Students fitshyted in most and felt most accepted doingactivities with a group of friends Havinga single friend as a companion in activishyties did not rate very positively Studentsenjoyed activities the least that they didwith staff

In terms of helping interactions anddependence if students were interactingwith someone they were asked to ratetheir dependence (not at all comfortablytoo dependent) and whether or not they

were helping or being helped In class

ry 2017 copy2017 AFB All Rights Reserved

) higstruc

Table 4 Relationships between demographic and interna

Variable 1 2 3 4 5

1 Gender mdash 2 Age -25 mdash 3 Grade -36 86 mdash 4 ADDIS 19 77 84 mdash 5 VISCLAS 10 25 14 -38 mdash6 ICSEA 03 21 11 00 07 PSSM -06 21 21 -67 08 Going on -11 02 03 46 -19 Fitting in -09 33 37 -86 1

10 Accepted 21 26 33 -45 -311 Lonely 06 05 -07 88 -012 Enjoying -14 16 36 -65 0

ADDIS = presence of an additional disability 0 = Educational Advantage PSSM = Psychological SeVISCLAS = Blind sports classification (B1 B2 B3sures higher scores are in the direction of the con

students received unreciprocated help in44 of their interactions the majorityof which (62) came from staff The restcame from peers (27) and friends(12) respectively Most of the time(90) students felt comfortable or not atall dependent with this help Students reshyciprocated by helping with other studentsin only 8 of their in-class interactionsHeidi elaborated on her reciprocity Shewas helping a group with French vocabshyulary There was only one self-report of astudent actually providing unreciprocatedhelp Jasmine was helping a classmatewith a disability with work Students reshyceived unreciprocated help in 20 oftheir out-of-class interactions

WHAT ARE THE INFLUENCES

ON PERCEPTIONS OF INCLUSION The PSSM was used as a global measureof inclusion Correlations (see Table 4)indicated strong relationships between thepresence of an additional disability and

PSSM fitting in and loneliness These

copy2017 AFB All Rights Reserved Journal of Vi

riables

6 7 8 9 10 11 12

mdash 24 mdash 20 -14 mdash 04 40 13 mdash 18 37 -17 28 mdash 14 -42 24 -46 -11 mdash 17 20 -19 57 24 -56 mdash

= yes ICSEA = Index of Community Socio-of School Membership questionnaire her score equates with better vision In all meashyt being measured p lt 05 p lt01

relationships indicated that visually imshypaired students who had additional disshyabilities were more likely to not feel inshycluded not enjoy school feel as if theydid not fit in and feel lonely In her inshyterview Jasmine one of these studentsreported being proud of not fitting in atschool She unlike her peers had surshyvived a life-threatening illness She feltshe had a better appreciation of life thanthey did However she also described havshying difficulty making friends at schoolCara and Jasmine both felt they did not fitin when their need for quiet to concentrateon schoolwork conflicted with others inthe class ldquotalking and not wanting to dotheir workrdquo

Correlations (see Table 4) also indishycated moderate relationships betweenPSSM scores and in-the-moment fitting inand loneliness Students with higherPSSM scores were more likely to fit inand not feel lonely This global senseof inclusion was independent of inshy

l va

5 5 7 1 0 9 -

0 -

no 1nse

the-moment enjoyment acceptance or

sual Impairment amp Blindness January-February 2017 13

awareness There were also moderate reshylationships between fitting in enjoymentand loneliness Students who did not feellike they fitted in were more likely to feellonely and not enjoy themselves Therewere no significant correlations with genshyder age grade level of vision andICSEA and internal variables Significantcorrelations between age and additionaldisability (rb = 77) and grade and addishytional disability (rb = 84) reflected asampling issue

Discussion The results of this small-scale study sugshygest that the majority of students felt inshycluded in their respective schools andconcur with Grayrsquos (2009) survey of speshycial needs co-coordinators These educashytors felt that most visually impaired stushydents had good relationships with peersand teachers and were fully engaged inschool life The PSSM item that our parshyticipants rated highest related to havingan adult to talk to if problems arose andreinforces previous findings (Crouch etal 2014) on the importance of goodstudent-staff relationships to be includedfor high school students with disabilitiesldquoPeople know I can do good workrdquo wasanother PSSM item that participants ratedvery highly Perhaps for these studentspublic acknowledgement and recognitionof competence which counter stereotypshyical assumptions of disability are imporshytant parts of feeling included Oliverseemed to experience particular difficultyhere He perceived that his academiccompetence was not recognized or acshyknowledged because he used braille amedium foreign to his peers Althoughmost students felt included there was a

group of students primarily students with

14 Journal of Visual Impairment amp Blindness January-Februa

additional disabilities who struggled soshycially feeling lonely not included and asif they did not fit in

On the Everyday Inclusion Survey acshytivities that seemed to involve a greaterdegree of choice or freedom were deshyscribed more positively than routine orcompulsory activities Activities with asingle friend as a companion did not rateas positively as did those with a group offriends (with the exception of eating) orwith students in other classes Studentstogether with a single friend were doingschoolwork or doing nothing not situashytions with a high degree of choice Incontrast groups of friends congregatedoutside class times to talk and joke and doleisure activities over which they had relshyatively more choice and freedom Stushydents in other classes were companions inextracurricular activities also associatedwith more choice and freedom

Our results quantify the effect of doingnothing in relation to other activities atschool highlighting lack of participationlack of awareness loneliness not fittingin and lack of acceptance In many ofthese instances students were forced intodoing nothing because class activitieswere inaccessible Inaccessible pedagogyhas been identified previously (Whitburn2014) Math PE and sports were subshyject areas listed by our participants andwere also previously identified as probshylematic for visually impaired students(Gray 2009) The gaps our students deshyscribed were substantial In some casesthey encompassed an entire lesson It isclear from this study and other researchthat visually impaired students have towork hard to maintain parity with peersand the everyday activities of life often

take longer (Gale amp Cronin 1998 Sacks

ry 2017 copy2017 AFB All Rights Reserved

amp Wolffe 1998) Doing nothing wastedvaluable time This indicates that staffneed more awareness of the importance oftime to visually impaired students and theimperative to provide access to all aspectsof the curriculum

There was a mild but fairly frequentelement of loneliness at school Studentsreported loneliness about one-third of thetime although they never reported beingldquoheapsrdquo lonely Historically the prevashylence of loneliness has been higher invisually impaired students than for peerswho are sighted (Hadidi amp Al Khateeb2013) girls in particular (Huurre amp Aro1998) We found no relationship betweengender and loneliness but identified doingnothing and eating as activities in whichstudents felt most lonely

The reason eating seemed to be a timewhen students felt lonely is unclear Regshyularly eating alone reinforced perceptionsof isolation for Oliver Eating with agroup of friends was also lonely for someThis may reflect the quality of the grouprelationships Anna who felt lonely eatshying in a group did not regard her group offriends at school as real friends Eatingwith them however might have beenpreferred to eating alone Alternativelyfeeling lonely when eating in a groupcould reflect challenges in keeping pacewith subtle group interactions Unliketheir sighted peers it may not be easyto attend to the details of eating (suchas locating unwrapping and steadyingfood) while keeping up with the banterand spontaneity of group conversation

Almost half (44) of all class interacshytions involved students receiving unrecipshyrocated help This degree of frequencyseems higher than that given to sighted

peers yet for the most part students felt

copy2017 AFB All Rights Reserved Journal of Vi

comfortable being helped Staff providedthe majority of help and although theseinteractions were not enjoyable theywere not particularly disliked either Ourparticipants did not seem to experiencethe degree of tension reflected in otherstudies that have noted dilemmas betweenthe need for adult assistance and a dislikeof the social perceptions this assistance orchaperoning creates (West et al 2004Whitburn amp OrsquoConnor 2011) Tensionmay still exist however since doingnothing as an alternative is even less enshyjoyable (see Table 3) Help may be thelesser of two evils or alternatively pershyhaps our results simply speak well to thediscretion and sensitivity of these staff

The presence of an additional disabilitynegatively influenced perceptions of inshyclusion The proportion of students in ourgroup who had additional disabilities was25 whereas these students now comshyprise 65 of visually impaired students(Hatton Ivy amp Boyer 2013) Further reshysearch may be needed into this lack ofinclusion Perhaps the energy and timerequired to attend to health-related needsas well as academic tasks leaves littletime and energy to focus on developingor maintaining social connections Orperhaps as Jasmine articulated some ofthese students may have a perspective onlife that does not resonate with the morecommonly appreciated experiences ofteenagers These students may find it difshyficult to negotiate the balance betweentheir personal and social identities stayshying true to themselves and also connectshying with the more popular interests andvalues of peers These students wereamong the youngest in this sample ofadolescents Although no relationships

were found (see Table 4) between grade

sual Impairment amp Blindness January-February 2017 15

or age and the internal variables perhapsstudents with additional disabilities needmore time alone than other visually imshypaired peers do to find common groundwith sighted peers

The more these students perceived theyfit (see Table 4) the more enjoyable andless lonely was their experience of schoolThis suggests as has been found in otherstudies (Khadka et al 2012) that stushydents will gravitate towards practices thatemphasize similarity with sighted peersThis may at times create tension betweenstudents and the adults who seek from along-term perspective to guide them toshywards particular educational or vocationaloutcomes Social pursuits may take preshycedence over academic tasks and equipshyment deemed ldquoclunkyrdquo may not be utishylized Some students may be reluctant touse braille in class if they perceive itcreates a social barrier as alluded to byOliver in this current study

There may be the potential for schoolsto utilize clubs and extracurricular activshyities as developmental resources for visushyally impaired students Experiences in acshytivities that provided relative choice andfreedom were rated most positively bystudents Judiciously facilitated interestgroups could provide time and opportushynities for visually impaired students todevelop their personal and social identishyties share interests and reciprocate withpeers (Jessup et al 2010 Rosenblum2000) Douros (2015) who is visuallyimpaired and has additional disabilitiesvalued clubs as a way of developingfriendships They provided opportunitiesfor reciprocity and consequent respect forher within her school These opportunitiesmay be particularly important if there are

few opportunities for students to share

16 Journal of Visual Impairment amp Blindness January-Februa

interests display competence or reciproshycate elsewhere

LIMITATIONS

As the data obtained are from a relativelysmall sample care needs to be exercisedwhen extrapolating beyond this group ofstudents This study should be regarded asexploratory providing evidence for conshysideration and direction for further reshysearch As previously noted this group ofparticipants had a lower proportion of vishysually impaired students with additionaldisabilities than is representative of thispopulation of adolescents As participantswere self-selected there may be a higherdegree of students struggling at schoolthan is represented here

Conclusion This study has both provided encourageshyment and highlighted concerns in regardto the inclusion of visually impaired highschool students Most students whoseonly disability is visual impairment reshyported feeling included It would be inshystructive to understand how these stushydentsrsquo social experiences in high schoolcompare with those experiences out ofschool

The school experience is more enjoyshyable if visually impaired students pershyceive they fit in with their peers Practishytioners can facilitate fitting in by ensuringboth discreet and timely access to all asshypects of the curriculum Gaps still exist incurriculum access many of which seempreventable The value of time to thesestudents needs to be respected as essentialto both academic parity and friendshipdevelopment There may also be potentialfor schools to utilize extracurricular clubs

for some of these students so they can

ry 2017 copy2017 AFB All Rights Reserved

develop common ground with peers Thesocial challenges that still exist for somestudents including those students withadditional disabilities are concerning beshycause of the now-well-established linksbetween social experience and mentalhealth Future research may need to focusmore closely on the school social experishyences of these students

References Bossaert G Colpin H Pijl S J amp Petry

K (2013) Truly included A literaturestudy focusing on the social dimension ofinclusion in education International Jourshynal of Inclusive Education 17(1) 60ndash79doi 101080136031162011580464

Bray P Bundy A C Ryan M M ampNorth K N (2010) Feasibility of a comshyputerized method to measure quality ofldquoeverydayrdquo life in children with neuromusshycular disorders Physical amp OccupationalTherapy in Pediatrics 30(1) 43ndash53 doi10310901942630903294687

Cochrane G Lamoureux E amp Keeffe J(2008) Defining the content for a newquality of life questionnaire for studentswith low vision (The Impact of Vision Imshypairment on Children IVI_C) OphthalmicEpidemiology 15(2) 114 ndash120 doi 10108009286580701772029

Crouch R Keys C B amp McMahon S D(2014) Studentndashteacher relationships matterfor school inclusion School belongingdisability and school transitions Journalof Prevention amp Intervention in theCommunity 42(1) 20 ndash30 doi 101080108523522014855054

Department of Science (2007) Improve thelearning outcomes of students with disabilshyities in the early middle and post compulshysory years of schooling Department of Scishyence Education and Training AustralianGovernment Canberra

DET (2010) Explaining ICSEA New SouthWales Department of Education and Trainshying Retrieved from httpwwwschools

nsweduaumediadownloadsschoolsweb

copy2017 AFB All Rights Reserved Journal of Vi

newsannouncementsyr2010janwhat_is_icseapdf

Dıez A M (2010) School memories ofyoung people with disabilities An analysisof barriers and aids to inclusion Disabilityamp Society 25(2) 163ndash175 doi 10108009687590903534346

Douros A (2015) Surviving secondary schoolas a blind student Paper presented at theBiennial Conference of the South Pacific Edshyucators in Vision Impairment Melbourne

Everitt B S Landau S Leese M amp StahlD (2011) Cluster analysis (5th ed) WestSussex John Wiley amp Sons

Field A (2009) Discovering statistics usingSPSS (3rd ed) London SAGE

Gale G M amp Cronin P (1998) The schoolyears In P Kelly amp G M Gale (Eds)Towards excellence Effective educationfor students with vision impairments (pp118 ndash136) North Rocks Australia NorthRocks Press

Goodenow C (1993) The PsychologicalSense of School Membership among adolesshycents Scale development and educationalcorrelates Psychology in the Schools 30(1)79ndash90

Gray C (2009) A qualitatively different exshyperience Mainstreaming pupils with avisual impairment in Northern IrelandEuropean Journal of Special Needs Edushycation 24(2) 169ndash182 doi 10108008856250902793644

Hadidi M S amp Al Khateeb J M (2013)Loneliness among students with blindnessand sighted students in Jordan A briefreport International Journal of DisabilityDevelopment and Education 60(2) 167ndash172 doi 1010801034912x2012723949

Hagborg W J (1998) School membershipamong students with learning disabilitiesand nondisabled students in a semiruralhigh school Psychology in the Schools35(2) 183ndash188

Hatlen P (2004) Is social isolation a predictshyable outcome of inclusive education Jourshynal of Visual Impairment amp Blindness98(11) 676 ndash678

Hatton D D Ivy S E amp Boyer C (2013)

Severe visual impairments in infants and

sual Impairment amp Blindness January-February 2017 17

Interviews All participants were interviewed at leastonce As well as clarifying and expandingon ESM responses interviews further exshyplored the social aspects of school Stushydents were asked about social inclusionand if they felt included at school Theywere also asked their favorite and leastfavorite subjects and what they would orwould not change at school Finally theywere asked to give advice to youngervisually impaired students Additional inshyformation was elicited by text e-mail oradditional interview

PROCEDURE

All documents were e-mailed to studentsin advance The first author negotiated asuitable week for the survey that was freeof exams or atypical events All studentswere provided with the PIEL survey appfor use on their own iOS device or on auniversity-owned iOS device The apprandomly signaled students to respond tothe Everyday Inclusion Survey seventimes daily between 730 am and 920pm on weekdays and 830 am and10 pm on weekends

A training session was conducted witheach student Most were familiar withiOS devices and needed only to practiceusing the app and clarify their undershystanding of survey questions During thissession students were administered thePSSM questionnaire Sociodemographicdata were also collected These includedthe level of vision impairment accordingto the classification system of BlindSports Australia and the Index ofCommunity Socio-Educational Advanshytage (ICSEA) created by the AustralianCurriculum Assessment and Reporting

Authority as indicating school socioecoshy

copy2017 AFB All Rights Reserved Journal of V

nomic status (DET 2010) At the end ofthis session the PIEL survey app wasactivated to begin collecting data Stushydents had to answer surveys within fiveminutes of hearing the alert sound afterwhich point the survey became unavailshyable During the week the first authorphoned the students to enquire as to theirsurvey progress At the end of the weekstudents e-mailed their responses to theauthors or they returned university-ownediOS devices An interview was conductedas soon as possible (within one to twoweeks) after responses had been scrutishynized Interviews were recorded and transhyscribed ESM responses were clarified byasking for example ldquoOn Thursday at 10am you were in class with a friend andenjoying yourself Can you tell me moreabout the class and that friendrdquo

Analysis

The emphasis of this analysis was to proshyvide a rich and deep description of a relshyatively small sample of students To anshyswer question 1 ldquoHow socially includeddo visually impaired students feel at highschoolrdquo we used PSSM scores The totalscore for all 18 items was averaged toproduce a single score out of a possible 5for each student (see Table 1) Hierarchishycal Cluster Analysis (Everitt LandauLeese amp Stahl 2011) based on each stushydentrsquos responses to individual items wasused to determine student groupings

To answer question 2 ldquoWhat are theinternal qualities of their in-school activshyities and interactionsrdquo we used schoolESM data and interview data We createda situational variable (not school orschool) in response to the question

ldquoWhere are yourdquo and used only the data

isual Impairment amp Blindness January-February 2017 9

gathered at school Categorical ESM varishyables were expressed as frequencies andpercentages In ESM studies since eachparticipant contributes multiple surveysthe use of a z-score for subjective reshysponses is recommended (Hektner et al2007) to allow for both intrapersonal andinterpersonal comparisons of these asshypects across differing contexts This metshyric offers the advantage of controlling forindividual differences in scale usageWithin ESM methodology z-scores arecommonly created from rank-ordered orLikert-type scales (Hektner et al 2007)To answer this particular research quesshytion individual z-scores were first createdfor the subjective dimensions of experishyence (awareness loneliness fitting in acshyceptance and enjoyment) at school sothat each studentrsquos mean school z-scorewas 0 These were used for the subseshyquent group calculations

To answer question 3 ldquoWhat influshyences perceptions of social inclusion inhigh schoolrdquo we used each studentrsquos dataacross the entire seven days We calcushylated each studentrsquos overall z-scores forloneliness acceptance fitting in enjoyshyment and awareness to allow for person-level comparisons the mean z-score foreach item for each individual was thus 0We then extracted the z-scores for schoolonly (Hektner et al 2007) and enteredthose into subsequent calculations Thesedata were not normally distributed Thuswe employed nonparametric tests Kendshyallrsquos tau-b and biserial correlations (Field2009) to examine relationships betweenESM and demographic variables (genderage grade presence of additional disabilshyity vision level and ICSEA) and PSSM

score

10 Journal of Visual Impairment amp Blindness January-Februa

Results All students completed their week of surshyveys Their mean response rate was 69There were 401 surveys returned Ofthese 106 were completed at school

HOW INCLUDED DO THE STUDENTS FEEL The mean PSSM score was 424 out of 5(SD = 67) (see Table 1) which indicatesthe students felt very included and had apositive sense of belonging The highest-scoring items were ldquoThere is a teacher orother adult at school to talk to if I have aproblemrdquo (M = 483 SD = 39) andldquoPeople know I can do good workrdquo (M =467 SD = 78) Hierarchical clusteranalysis (Everitt et al 2011) confirmedtwo groups of students a group of ninewith relatively high scores and a group ofthree with relatively lower scores Two ofthe three students with additional disabilshyities were in this lower group The scoresof the lower group indicated they feltdifferent from most other students werenot included in many activities and haddifficulty being accepted In interviewsthey also reported feeling a lack of inclushysion at school Oliver commented that hisgood work was not noticed because it wasin braille ldquoThey donrsquot know I do goodwork unless I tell themrdquo

WHAT ARE THE INTERNAL QUALITIES

OF THEIR ACTIVITIES AND INTERACTIONSTable 2 shows the ratings of internal dishymensions associated with school activishyties Students reported feeling ldquoa littlerdquo orldquoquiterdquo lonely almost one-third of thetime and enjoyed themselves ldquoquite alotrdquo or ldquoheapsrdquo just over half the timeThey felt accepted and fitted in ldquoquite a

lotrdquo or ldquoheapsrdquo over 80 of the time and

ry 2017 copy2017 AFB All Rights Reserved

onse

Table 2 Ratings of internal dimensions as a percentage o

Not atEveryday Inclusion Survey item (No)

Did you feel like you fit in (Q5) 13Did you feel accepted (Q7) 13Were you lonely (Q17) 712Were you enjoying yourself (Q18) 85Did you know what was going on

around you (Q4) 29

Numbers represent the percentages of group respvidual student averages

felt fully aware of what was going onaround them three-quarters of the time

The variations in the frequency and inshyternal dimensions of the studentsrsquo intershyactions and most common activities ispresented in Table 3 It shows that schoolshywork was the most frequent activity folshylowed by talking and then equally by doshying nothing and doing extracurricularactivities (noncompulsory additional acshytivities) Interestingly no student selectedldquothinkingrdquo as an activity The nature ofthe studentsrsquo extracurricular activities

Table 3 Comparison of internal variables by interaction

Number oself-repor

Variable (N = 106

Interaction Classmates 35 Staff members 19 No one 17 Group of friends 16 One friend 14 Student(s) in other classes 5

Activity Working 60 Talking or texting 12 Nothing 9 Engaging in extracurricular activities 9 Eating 8 Watching TV or DVDs 2

a Mean z-score

copy2017 AFB All Rights Reserved Journal of Vi

f-reports

A little Quite a lot (Partly) (Yes) Heaps

139 398 450 114 422 450 248 40 00 376 254 285

207 764 mdash

s These were calculated by first calculating indishy

was elicited during the interviews Theseincluded choir excursions sports (10-pinbowling) Student Leadership Councilmeetings and braille lessons

The majority of school interactions (seeTable 3) were with classmates and staffIn interviews the visually impaired stushydents described feeling different fromtheir sighted peers They had to work hardto keep up in class and as Simon exshyplained they ldquomight need to spend a littlemore time on thingsrdquo The studentsdifferentiated between classmates and

activity

Awarea Fit ina Accepteda Lonelya Enjoyinga

01 -01 -02 01 00 02 -02 01 -01 -03

-03 03 -01 -01 04 05 01 03 -01 -01 -03 -01 00

04 03 02 -08 05

01 -01 -01 00 -02 00 04 02 -05 07

-04 -07 -10 07 -07 02 02 06 -03 08

-02 04 03 04 01 00 04 03 -02 07

f sel

all

and

f ts )

sual Impairment amp Blindness January-February 2017 11

friends by whether or not they sharedinterests out of class Reported studentinteractions varied widely Oliver had nopeer interactions (with friends or classshymates) All his interactions were withstaff In his interview he revealed he hadno friends and felt his classmates did notwant to work with him In contrast Wilshyliam who was totally blind reported nostaff interactions He was in year 12 andhis staff support had tapered over timeldquoIrsquom pretty right with my stuff but iftherersquos stuff in math to go over like mapsand things they help merdquo

Extracurricular activities (see Table 3)were rated most positively in terms ofinternal qualities (awareness fitting inacceptance loneliness enjoyment) Incontrast with other activities students exshyperienced doing nothing as very negativewhen they indicated they were ldquodoingnothingrdquo students were least aware ofwhat was going on enjoyed themselvesleast were most lonely felt they fitted inleast and felt accepted least In intershyviews students elaborated on doing nothshying Jasmine and Drew described sittingon the sidelines throughout sport or physshyical education (PE) Jasmine felt ldquokindof lonelyrdquo and Drew felt frustratedldquoThey donrsquot understand that itrsquos reallyfrustrating when I have to sit there for anhour and a half and not do anythingrdquoCara felt bored and Drew described feelshying annoyed and frustrated doing nothingin class because the teacher was usinginaccessible pedagogies writing on aboard and talking too rapidly usingPowerPoint or showing movies Cara abraille user had trouble comprehendingher mathematics topic ldquolinear stuff canrsquot work out what the stupid textbook is

sayingrdquo and hence did nothing in and felt

12 Journal of Visual Impairment amp Blindness January-Februa

bored during mathematics William deshyscribed how he and a friend were doingnothing in their class while the ldquosmartkidsrdquo were taking exams He felt his timecould be better spent elsewhere Caracomplained about doing nothing in hercompulsory weekly assembly ldquoI wasnrsquotdoing anything I wasnrsquot enjoying myselfat all feeling very very lonelyrdquo Shewas with her friend who has Aspergerrsquossyndrome

Eating as an activity was reported ashaving an element of loneliness In hisinterview Oliver described eating byhimself every day because he had nofriends Anna described feeling lonelyeating with her group as she did not reshygard them as her real friends ldquoIrsquove gotfriends outside of school that I actuallyenjoy spending time with a lot more thanthe people that I do spend time with atschoolrdquo Zac also felt lonely eating withhis group He was relatively new to hisschool

There were not huge variations in inshyternal dimensions of the different comshypanions in activities In general the stushydents enjoyed interactions most that werewith students from other classes Theseinteractions involved schoolwork eatingor extracurricular activities Students fitshyted in most and felt most accepted doingactivities with a group of friends Havinga single friend as a companion in activishyties did not rate very positively Studentsenjoyed activities the least that they didwith staff

In terms of helping interactions anddependence if students were interactingwith someone they were asked to ratetheir dependence (not at all comfortablytoo dependent) and whether or not they

were helping or being helped In class

ry 2017 copy2017 AFB All Rights Reserved

) higstruc

Table 4 Relationships between demographic and interna

Variable 1 2 3 4 5

1 Gender mdash 2 Age -25 mdash 3 Grade -36 86 mdash 4 ADDIS 19 77 84 mdash 5 VISCLAS 10 25 14 -38 mdash6 ICSEA 03 21 11 00 07 PSSM -06 21 21 -67 08 Going on -11 02 03 46 -19 Fitting in -09 33 37 -86 1

10 Accepted 21 26 33 -45 -311 Lonely 06 05 -07 88 -012 Enjoying -14 16 36 -65 0

ADDIS = presence of an additional disability 0 = Educational Advantage PSSM = Psychological SeVISCLAS = Blind sports classification (B1 B2 B3sures higher scores are in the direction of the con

students received unreciprocated help in44 of their interactions the majorityof which (62) came from staff The restcame from peers (27) and friends(12) respectively Most of the time(90) students felt comfortable or not atall dependent with this help Students reshyciprocated by helping with other studentsin only 8 of their in-class interactionsHeidi elaborated on her reciprocity Shewas helping a group with French vocabshyulary There was only one self-report of astudent actually providing unreciprocatedhelp Jasmine was helping a classmatewith a disability with work Students reshyceived unreciprocated help in 20 oftheir out-of-class interactions

WHAT ARE THE INFLUENCES

ON PERCEPTIONS OF INCLUSION The PSSM was used as a global measureof inclusion Correlations (see Table 4)indicated strong relationships between thepresence of an additional disability and

PSSM fitting in and loneliness These

copy2017 AFB All Rights Reserved Journal of Vi

riables

6 7 8 9 10 11 12

mdash 24 mdash 20 -14 mdash 04 40 13 mdash 18 37 -17 28 mdash 14 -42 24 -46 -11 mdash 17 20 -19 57 24 -56 mdash

= yes ICSEA = Index of Community Socio-of School Membership questionnaire her score equates with better vision In all meashyt being measured p lt 05 p lt01

relationships indicated that visually imshypaired students who had additional disshyabilities were more likely to not feel inshycluded not enjoy school feel as if theydid not fit in and feel lonely In her inshyterview Jasmine one of these studentsreported being proud of not fitting in atschool She unlike her peers had surshyvived a life-threatening illness She feltshe had a better appreciation of life thanthey did However she also described havshying difficulty making friends at schoolCara and Jasmine both felt they did not fitin when their need for quiet to concentrateon schoolwork conflicted with others inthe class ldquotalking and not wanting to dotheir workrdquo

Correlations (see Table 4) also indishycated moderate relationships betweenPSSM scores and in-the-moment fitting inand loneliness Students with higherPSSM scores were more likely to fit inand not feel lonely This global senseof inclusion was independent of inshy

l va

5 5 7 1 0 9 -

0 -

no 1nse

the-moment enjoyment acceptance or

sual Impairment amp Blindness January-February 2017 13

awareness There were also moderate reshylationships between fitting in enjoymentand loneliness Students who did not feellike they fitted in were more likely to feellonely and not enjoy themselves Therewere no significant correlations with genshyder age grade level of vision andICSEA and internal variables Significantcorrelations between age and additionaldisability (rb = 77) and grade and addishytional disability (rb = 84) reflected asampling issue

Discussion The results of this small-scale study sugshygest that the majority of students felt inshycluded in their respective schools andconcur with Grayrsquos (2009) survey of speshycial needs co-coordinators These educashytors felt that most visually impaired stushydents had good relationships with peersand teachers and were fully engaged inschool life The PSSM item that our parshyticipants rated highest related to havingan adult to talk to if problems arose andreinforces previous findings (Crouch etal 2014) on the importance of goodstudent-staff relationships to be includedfor high school students with disabilitiesldquoPeople know I can do good workrdquo wasanother PSSM item that participants ratedvery highly Perhaps for these studentspublic acknowledgement and recognitionof competence which counter stereotypshyical assumptions of disability are imporshytant parts of feeling included Oliverseemed to experience particular difficultyhere He perceived that his academiccompetence was not recognized or acshyknowledged because he used braille amedium foreign to his peers Althoughmost students felt included there was a

group of students primarily students with

14 Journal of Visual Impairment amp Blindness January-Februa

additional disabilities who struggled soshycially feeling lonely not included and asif they did not fit in

On the Everyday Inclusion Survey acshytivities that seemed to involve a greaterdegree of choice or freedom were deshyscribed more positively than routine orcompulsory activities Activities with asingle friend as a companion did not rateas positively as did those with a group offriends (with the exception of eating) orwith students in other classes Studentstogether with a single friend were doingschoolwork or doing nothing not situashytions with a high degree of choice Incontrast groups of friends congregatedoutside class times to talk and joke and doleisure activities over which they had relshyatively more choice and freedom Stushydents in other classes were companions inextracurricular activities also associatedwith more choice and freedom

Our results quantify the effect of doingnothing in relation to other activities atschool highlighting lack of participationlack of awareness loneliness not fittingin and lack of acceptance In many ofthese instances students were forced intodoing nothing because class activitieswere inaccessible Inaccessible pedagogyhas been identified previously (Whitburn2014) Math PE and sports were subshyject areas listed by our participants andwere also previously identified as probshylematic for visually impaired students(Gray 2009) The gaps our students deshyscribed were substantial In some casesthey encompassed an entire lesson It isclear from this study and other researchthat visually impaired students have towork hard to maintain parity with peersand the everyday activities of life often

take longer (Gale amp Cronin 1998 Sacks

ry 2017 copy2017 AFB All Rights Reserved

amp Wolffe 1998) Doing nothing wastedvaluable time This indicates that staffneed more awareness of the importance oftime to visually impaired students and theimperative to provide access to all aspectsof the curriculum

There was a mild but fairly frequentelement of loneliness at school Studentsreported loneliness about one-third of thetime although they never reported beingldquoheapsrdquo lonely Historically the prevashylence of loneliness has been higher invisually impaired students than for peerswho are sighted (Hadidi amp Al Khateeb2013) girls in particular (Huurre amp Aro1998) We found no relationship betweengender and loneliness but identified doingnothing and eating as activities in whichstudents felt most lonely

The reason eating seemed to be a timewhen students felt lonely is unclear Regshyularly eating alone reinforced perceptionsof isolation for Oliver Eating with agroup of friends was also lonely for someThis may reflect the quality of the grouprelationships Anna who felt lonely eatshying in a group did not regard her group offriends at school as real friends Eatingwith them however might have beenpreferred to eating alone Alternativelyfeeling lonely when eating in a groupcould reflect challenges in keeping pacewith subtle group interactions Unliketheir sighted peers it may not be easyto attend to the details of eating (suchas locating unwrapping and steadyingfood) while keeping up with the banterand spontaneity of group conversation

Almost half (44) of all class interacshytions involved students receiving unrecipshyrocated help This degree of frequencyseems higher than that given to sighted

peers yet for the most part students felt

copy2017 AFB All Rights Reserved Journal of Vi

comfortable being helped Staff providedthe majority of help and although theseinteractions were not enjoyable theywere not particularly disliked either Ourparticipants did not seem to experiencethe degree of tension reflected in otherstudies that have noted dilemmas betweenthe need for adult assistance and a dislikeof the social perceptions this assistance orchaperoning creates (West et al 2004Whitburn amp OrsquoConnor 2011) Tensionmay still exist however since doingnothing as an alternative is even less enshyjoyable (see Table 3) Help may be thelesser of two evils or alternatively pershyhaps our results simply speak well to thediscretion and sensitivity of these staff

The presence of an additional disabilitynegatively influenced perceptions of inshyclusion The proportion of students in ourgroup who had additional disabilities was25 whereas these students now comshyprise 65 of visually impaired students(Hatton Ivy amp Boyer 2013) Further reshysearch may be needed into this lack ofinclusion Perhaps the energy and timerequired to attend to health-related needsas well as academic tasks leaves littletime and energy to focus on developingor maintaining social connections Orperhaps as Jasmine articulated some ofthese students may have a perspective onlife that does not resonate with the morecommonly appreciated experiences ofteenagers These students may find it difshyficult to negotiate the balance betweentheir personal and social identities stayshying true to themselves and also connectshying with the more popular interests andvalues of peers These students wereamong the youngest in this sample ofadolescents Although no relationships

were found (see Table 4) between grade

sual Impairment amp Blindness January-February 2017 15

or age and the internal variables perhapsstudents with additional disabilities needmore time alone than other visually imshypaired peers do to find common groundwith sighted peers

The more these students perceived theyfit (see Table 4) the more enjoyable andless lonely was their experience of schoolThis suggests as has been found in otherstudies (Khadka et al 2012) that stushydents will gravitate towards practices thatemphasize similarity with sighted peersThis may at times create tension betweenstudents and the adults who seek from along-term perspective to guide them toshywards particular educational or vocationaloutcomes Social pursuits may take preshycedence over academic tasks and equipshyment deemed ldquoclunkyrdquo may not be utishylized Some students may be reluctant touse braille in class if they perceive itcreates a social barrier as alluded to byOliver in this current study

There may be the potential for schoolsto utilize clubs and extracurricular activshyities as developmental resources for visushyally impaired students Experiences in acshytivities that provided relative choice andfreedom were rated most positively bystudents Judiciously facilitated interestgroups could provide time and opportushynities for visually impaired students todevelop their personal and social identishyties share interests and reciprocate withpeers (Jessup et al 2010 Rosenblum2000) Douros (2015) who is visuallyimpaired and has additional disabilitiesvalued clubs as a way of developingfriendships They provided opportunitiesfor reciprocity and consequent respect forher within her school These opportunitiesmay be particularly important if there are

few opportunities for students to share

16 Journal of Visual Impairment amp Blindness January-Februa

interests display competence or reciproshycate elsewhere

LIMITATIONS

As the data obtained are from a relativelysmall sample care needs to be exercisedwhen extrapolating beyond this group ofstudents This study should be regarded asexploratory providing evidence for conshysideration and direction for further reshysearch As previously noted this group ofparticipants had a lower proportion of vishysually impaired students with additionaldisabilities than is representative of thispopulation of adolescents As participantswere self-selected there may be a higherdegree of students struggling at schoolthan is represented here

Conclusion This study has both provided encourageshyment and highlighted concerns in regardto the inclusion of visually impaired highschool students Most students whoseonly disability is visual impairment reshyported feeling included It would be inshystructive to understand how these stushydentsrsquo social experiences in high schoolcompare with those experiences out ofschool

The school experience is more enjoyshyable if visually impaired students pershyceive they fit in with their peers Practishytioners can facilitate fitting in by ensuringboth discreet and timely access to all asshypects of the curriculum Gaps still exist incurriculum access many of which seempreventable The value of time to thesestudents needs to be respected as essentialto both academic parity and friendshipdevelopment There may also be potentialfor schools to utilize extracurricular clubs

for some of these students so they can

ry 2017 copy2017 AFB All Rights Reserved

develop common ground with peers Thesocial challenges that still exist for somestudents including those students withadditional disabilities are concerning beshycause of the now-well-established linksbetween social experience and mentalhealth Future research may need to focusmore closely on the school social experishyences of these students

References Bossaert G Colpin H Pijl S J amp Petry

K (2013) Truly included A literaturestudy focusing on the social dimension ofinclusion in education International Jourshynal of Inclusive Education 17(1) 60ndash79doi 101080136031162011580464

Bray P Bundy A C Ryan M M ampNorth K N (2010) Feasibility of a comshyputerized method to measure quality ofldquoeverydayrdquo life in children with neuromusshycular disorders Physical amp OccupationalTherapy in Pediatrics 30(1) 43ndash53 doi10310901942630903294687

Cochrane G Lamoureux E amp Keeffe J(2008) Defining the content for a newquality of life questionnaire for studentswith low vision (The Impact of Vision Imshypairment on Children IVI_C) OphthalmicEpidemiology 15(2) 114 ndash120 doi 10108009286580701772029

Crouch R Keys C B amp McMahon S D(2014) Studentndashteacher relationships matterfor school inclusion School belongingdisability and school transitions Journalof Prevention amp Intervention in theCommunity 42(1) 20 ndash30 doi 101080108523522014855054

Department of Science (2007) Improve thelearning outcomes of students with disabilshyities in the early middle and post compulshysory years of schooling Department of Scishyence Education and Training AustralianGovernment Canberra

DET (2010) Explaining ICSEA New SouthWales Department of Education and Trainshying Retrieved from httpwwwschools

nsweduaumediadownloadsschoolsweb

copy2017 AFB All Rights Reserved Journal of Vi

newsannouncementsyr2010janwhat_is_icseapdf

Dıez A M (2010) School memories ofyoung people with disabilities An analysisof barriers and aids to inclusion Disabilityamp Society 25(2) 163ndash175 doi 10108009687590903534346

Douros A (2015) Surviving secondary schoolas a blind student Paper presented at theBiennial Conference of the South Pacific Edshyucators in Vision Impairment Melbourne

Everitt B S Landau S Leese M amp StahlD (2011) Cluster analysis (5th ed) WestSussex John Wiley amp Sons

Field A (2009) Discovering statistics usingSPSS (3rd ed) London SAGE

Gale G M amp Cronin P (1998) The schoolyears In P Kelly amp G M Gale (Eds)Towards excellence Effective educationfor students with vision impairments (pp118 ndash136) North Rocks Australia NorthRocks Press

Goodenow C (1993) The PsychologicalSense of School Membership among adolesshycents Scale development and educationalcorrelates Psychology in the Schools 30(1)79ndash90

Gray C (2009) A qualitatively different exshyperience Mainstreaming pupils with avisual impairment in Northern IrelandEuropean Journal of Special Needs Edushycation 24(2) 169ndash182 doi 10108008856250902793644

Hadidi M S amp Al Khateeb J M (2013)Loneliness among students with blindnessand sighted students in Jordan A briefreport International Journal of DisabilityDevelopment and Education 60(2) 167ndash172 doi 1010801034912x2012723949

Hagborg W J (1998) School membershipamong students with learning disabilitiesand nondisabled students in a semiruralhigh school Psychology in the Schools35(2) 183ndash188

Hatlen P (2004) Is social isolation a predictshyable outcome of inclusive education Jourshynal of Visual Impairment amp Blindness98(11) 676 ndash678

Hatton D D Ivy S E amp Boyer C (2013)

Severe visual impairments in infants and

sual Impairment amp Blindness January-February 2017 17

gathered at school Categorical ESM varishyables were expressed as frequencies andpercentages In ESM studies since eachparticipant contributes multiple surveysthe use of a z-score for subjective reshysponses is recommended (Hektner et al2007) to allow for both intrapersonal andinterpersonal comparisons of these asshypects across differing contexts This metshyric offers the advantage of controlling forindividual differences in scale usageWithin ESM methodology z-scores arecommonly created from rank-ordered orLikert-type scales (Hektner et al 2007)To answer this particular research quesshytion individual z-scores were first createdfor the subjective dimensions of experishyence (awareness loneliness fitting in acshyceptance and enjoyment) at school sothat each studentrsquos mean school z-scorewas 0 These were used for the subseshyquent group calculations

To answer question 3 ldquoWhat influshyences perceptions of social inclusion inhigh schoolrdquo we used each studentrsquos dataacross the entire seven days We calcushylated each studentrsquos overall z-scores forloneliness acceptance fitting in enjoyshyment and awareness to allow for person-level comparisons the mean z-score foreach item for each individual was thus 0We then extracted the z-scores for schoolonly (Hektner et al 2007) and enteredthose into subsequent calculations Thesedata were not normally distributed Thuswe employed nonparametric tests Kendshyallrsquos tau-b and biserial correlations (Field2009) to examine relationships betweenESM and demographic variables (genderage grade presence of additional disabilshyity vision level and ICSEA) and PSSM

score

10 Journal of Visual Impairment amp Blindness January-Februa

Results All students completed their week of surshyveys Their mean response rate was 69There were 401 surveys returned Ofthese 106 were completed at school

HOW INCLUDED DO THE STUDENTS FEEL The mean PSSM score was 424 out of 5(SD = 67) (see Table 1) which indicatesthe students felt very included and had apositive sense of belonging The highest-scoring items were ldquoThere is a teacher orother adult at school to talk to if I have aproblemrdquo (M = 483 SD = 39) andldquoPeople know I can do good workrdquo (M =467 SD = 78) Hierarchical clusteranalysis (Everitt et al 2011) confirmedtwo groups of students a group of ninewith relatively high scores and a group ofthree with relatively lower scores Two ofthe three students with additional disabilshyities were in this lower group The scoresof the lower group indicated they feltdifferent from most other students werenot included in many activities and haddifficulty being accepted In interviewsthey also reported feeling a lack of inclushysion at school Oliver commented that hisgood work was not noticed because it wasin braille ldquoThey donrsquot know I do goodwork unless I tell themrdquo

WHAT ARE THE INTERNAL QUALITIES

OF THEIR ACTIVITIES AND INTERACTIONSTable 2 shows the ratings of internal dishymensions associated with school activishyties Students reported feeling ldquoa littlerdquo orldquoquiterdquo lonely almost one-third of thetime and enjoyed themselves ldquoquite alotrdquo or ldquoheapsrdquo just over half the timeThey felt accepted and fitted in ldquoquite a

lotrdquo or ldquoheapsrdquo over 80 of the time and

ry 2017 copy2017 AFB All Rights Reserved

onse

Table 2 Ratings of internal dimensions as a percentage o

Not atEveryday Inclusion Survey item (No)

Did you feel like you fit in (Q5) 13Did you feel accepted (Q7) 13Were you lonely (Q17) 712Were you enjoying yourself (Q18) 85Did you know what was going on

around you (Q4) 29

Numbers represent the percentages of group respvidual student averages

felt fully aware of what was going onaround them three-quarters of the time

The variations in the frequency and inshyternal dimensions of the studentsrsquo intershyactions and most common activities ispresented in Table 3 It shows that schoolshywork was the most frequent activity folshylowed by talking and then equally by doshying nothing and doing extracurricularactivities (noncompulsory additional acshytivities) Interestingly no student selectedldquothinkingrdquo as an activity The nature ofthe studentsrsquo extracurricular activities

Table 3 Comparison of internal variables by interaction

Number oself-repor

Variable (N = 106

Interaction Classmates 35 Staff members 19 No one 17 Group of friends 16 One friend 14 Student(s) in other classes 5

Activity Working 60 Talking or texting 12 Nothing 9 Engaging in extracurricular activities 9 Eating 8 Watching TV or DVDs 2

a Mean z-score

copy2017 AFB All Rights Reserved Journal of Vi

f-reports

A little Quite a lot (Partly) (Yes) Heaps

139 398 450 114 422 450 248 40 00 376 254 285

207 764 mdash

s These were calculated by first calculating indishy

was elicited during the interviews Theseincluded choir excursions sports (10-pinbowling) Student Leadership Councilmeetings and braille lessons

The majority of school interactions (seeTable 3) were with classmates and staffIn interviews the visually impaired stushydents described feeling different fromtheir sighted peers They had to work hardto keep up in class and as Simon exshyplained they ldquomight need to spend a littlemore time on thingsrdquo The studentsdifferentiated between classmates and

activity

Awarea Fit ina Accepteda Lonelya Enjoyinga

01 -01 -02 01 00 02 -02 01 -01 -03

-03 03 -01 -01 04 05 01 03 -01 -01 -03 -01 00

04 03 02 -08 05

01 -01 -01 00 -02 00 04 02 -05 07

-04 -07 -10 07 -07 02 02 06 -03 08

-02 04 03 04 01 00 04 03 -02 07

f sel

all

and

f ts )

sual Impairment amp Blindness January-February 2017 11

friends by whether or not they sharedinterests out of class Reported studentinteractions varied widely Oliver had nopeer interactions (with friends or classshymates) All his interactions were withstaff In his interview he revealed he hadno friends and felt his classmates did notwant to work with him In contrast Wilshyliam who was totally blind reported nostaff interactions He was in year 12 andhis staff support had tapered over timeldquoIrsquom pretty right with my stuff but iftherersquos stuff in math to go over like mapsand things they help merdquo

Extracurricular activities (see Table 3)were rated most positively in terms ofinternal qualities (awareness fitting inacceptance loneliness enjoyment) Incontrast with other activities students exshyperienced doing nothing as very negativewhen they indicated they were ldquodoingnothingrdquo students were least aware ofwhat was going on enjoyed themselvesleast were most lonely felt they fitted inleast and felt accepted least In intershyviews students elaborated on doing nothshying Jasmine and Drew described sittingon the sidelines throughout sport or physshyical education (PE) Jasmine felt ldquokindof lonelyrdquo and Drew felt frustratedldquoThey donrsquot understand that itrsquos reallyfrustrating when I have to sit there for anhour and a half and not do anythingrdquoCara felt bored and Drew described feelshying annoyed and frustrated doing nothingin class because the teacher was usinginaccessible pedagogies writing on aboard and talking too rapidly usingPowerPoint or showing movies Cara abraille user had trouble comprehendingher mathematics topic ldquolinear stuff canrsquot work out what the stupid textbook is

sayingrdquo and hence did nothing in and felt

12 Journal of Visual Impairment amp Blindness January-Februa

bored during mathematics William deshyscribed how he and a friend were doingnothing in their class while the ldquosmartkidsrdquo were taking exams He felt his timecould be better spent elsewhere Caracomplained about doing nothing in hercompulsory weekly assembly ldquoI wasnrsquotdoing anything I wasnrsquot enjoying myselfat all feeling very very lonelyrdquo Shewas with her friend who has Aspergerrsquossyndrome

Eating as an activity was reported ashaving an element of loneliness In hisinterview Oliver described eating byhimself every day because he had nofriends Anna described feeling lonelyeating with her group as she did not reshygard them as her real friends ldquoIrsquove gotfriends outside of school that I actuallyenjoy spending time with a lot more thanthe people that I do spend time with atschoolrdquo Zac also felt lonely eating withhis group He was relatively new to hisschool

There were not huge variations in inshyternal dimensions of the different comshypanions in activities In general the stushydents enjoyed interactions most that werewith students from other classes Theseinteractions involved schoolwork eatingor extracurricular activities Students fitshyted in most and felt most accepted doingactivities with a group of friends Havinga single friend as a companion in activishyties did not rate very positively Studentsenjoyed activities the least that they didwith staff

In terms of helping interactions anddependence if students were interactingwith someone they were asked to ratetheir dependence (not at all comfortablytoo dependent) and whether or not they

were helping or being helped In class

ry 2017 copy2017 AFB All Rights Reserved

) higstruc

Table 4 Relationships between demographic and interna

Variable 1 2 3 4 5

1 Gender mdash 2 Age -25 mdash 3 Grade -36 86 mdash 4 ADDIS 19 77 84 mdash 5 VISCLAS 10 25 14 -38 mdash6 ICSEA 03 21 11 00 07 PSSM -06 21 21 -67 08 Going on -11 02 03 46 -19 Fitting in -09 33 37 -86 1

10 Accepted 21 26 33 -45 -311 Lonely 06 05 -07 88 -012 Enjoying -14 16 36 -65 0

ADDIS = presence of an additional disability 0 = Educational Advantage PSSM = Psychological SeVISCLAS = Blind sports classification (B1 B2 B3sures higher scores are in the direction of the con

students received unreciprocated help in44 of their interactions the majorityof which (62) came from staff The restcame from peers (27) and friends(12) respectively Most of the time(90) students felt comfortable or not atall dependent with this help Students reshyciprocated by helping with other studentsin only 8 of their in-class interactionsHeidi elaborated on her reciprocity Shewas helping a group with French vocabshyulary There was only one self-report of astudent actually providing unreciprocatedhelp Jasmine was helping a classmatewith a disability with work Students reshyceived unreciprocated help in 20 oftheir out-of-class interactions

WHAT ARE THE INFLUENCES

ON PERCEPTIONS OF INCLUSION The PSSM was used as a global measureof inclusion Correlations (see Table 4)indicated strong relationships between thepresence of an additional disability and

PSSM fitting in and loneliness These

copy2017 AFB All Rights Reserved Journal of Vi

riables

6 7 8 9 10 11 12

mdash 24 mdash 20 -14 mdash 04 40 13 mdash 18 37 -17 28 mdash 14 -42 24 -46 -11 mdash 17 20 -19 57 24 -56 mdash

= yes ICSEA = Index of Community Socio-of School Membership questionnaire her score equates with better vision In all meashyt being measured p lt 05 p lt01

relationships indicated that visually imshypaired students who had additional disshyabilities were more likely to not feel inshycluded not enjoy school feel as if theydid not fit in and feel lonely In her inshyterview Jasmine one of these studentsreported being proud of not fitting in atschool She unlike her peers had surshyvived a life-threatening illness She feltshe had a better appreciation of life thanthey did However she also described havshying difficulty making friends at schoolCara and Jasmine both felt they did not fitin when their need for quiet to concentrateon schoolwork conflicted with others inthe class ldquotalking and not wanting to dotheir workrdquo

Correlations (see Table 4) also indishycated moderate relationships betweenPSSM scores and in-the-moment fitting inand loneliness Students with higherPSSM scores were more likely to fit inand not feel lonely This global senseof inclusion was independent of inshy

l va

5 5 7 1 0 9 -

0 -

no 1nse

the-moment enjoyment acceptance or

sual Impairment amp Blindness January-February 2017 13

awareness There were also moderate reshylationships between fitting in enjoymentand loneliness Students who did not feellike they fitted in were more likely to feellonely and not enjoy themselves Therewere no significant correlations with genshyder age grade level of vision andICSEA and internal variables Significantcorrelations between age and additionaldisability (rb = 77) and grade and addishytional disability (rb = 84) reflected asampling issue

Discussion The results of this small-scale study sugshygest that the majority of students felt inshycluded in their respective schools andconcur with Grayrsquos (2009) survey of speshycial needs co-coordinators These educashytors felt that most visually impaired stushydents had good relationships with peersand teachers and were fully engaged inschool life The PSSM item that our parshyticipants rated highest related to havingan adult to talk to if problems arose andreinforces previous findings (Crouch etal 2014) on the importance of goodstudent-staff relationships to be includedfor high school students with disabilitiesldquoPeople know I can do good workrdquo wasanother PSSM item that participants ratedvery highly Perhaps for these studentspublic acknowledgement and recognitionof competence which counter stereotypshyical assumptions of disability are imporshytant parts of feeling included Oliverseemed to experience particular difficultyhere He perceived that his academiccompetence was not recognized or acshyknowledged because he used braille amedium foreign to his peers Althoughmost students felt included there was a

group of students primarily students with

14 Journal of Visual Impairment amp Blindness January-Februa

additional disabilities who struggled soshycially feeling lonely not included and asif they did not fit in

On the Everyday Inclusion Survey acshytivities that seemed to involve a greaterdegree of choice or freedom were deshyscribed more positively than routine orcompulsory activities Activities with asingle friend as a companion did not rateas positively as did those with a group offriends (with the exception of eating) orwith students in other classes Studentstogether with a single friend were doingschoolwork or doing nothing not situashytions with a high degree of choice Incontrast groups of friends congregatedoutside class times to talk and joke and doleisure activities over which they had relshyatively more choice and freedom Stushydents in other classes were companions inextracurricular activities also associatedwith more choice and freedom

Our results quantify the effect of doingnothing in relation to other activities atschool highlighting lack of participationlack of awareness loneliness not fittingin and lack of acceptance In many ofthese instances students were forced intodoing nothing because class activitieswere inaccessible Inaccessible pedagogyhas been identified previously (Whitburn2014) Math PE and sports were subshyject areas listed by our participants andwere also previously identified as probshylematic for visually impaired students(Gray 2009) The gaps our students deshyscribed were substantial In some casesthey encompassed an entire lesson It isclear from this study and other researchthat visually impaired students have towork hard to maintain parity with peersand the everyday activities of life often

take longer (Gale amp Cronin 1998 Sacks

ry 2017 copy2017 AFB All Rights Reserved

amp Wolffe 1998) Doing nothing wastedvaluable time This indicates that staffneed more awareness of the importance oftime to visually impaired students and theimperative to provide access to all aspectsof the curriculum

There was a mild but fairly frequentelement of loneliness at school Studentsreported loneliness about one-third of thetime although they never reported beingldquoheapsrdquo lonely Historically the prevashylence of loneliness has been higher invisually impaired students than for peerswho are sighted (Hadidi amp Al Khateeb2013) girls in particular (Huurre amp Aro1998) We found no relationship betweengender and loneliness but identified doingnothing and eating as activities in whichstudents felt most lonely

The reason eating seemed to be a timewhen students felt lonely is unclear Regshyularly eating alone reinforced perceptionsof isolation for Oliver Eating with agroup of friends was also lonely for someThis may reflect the quality of the grouprelationships Anna who felt lonely eatshying in a group did not regard her group offriends at school as real friends Eatingwith them however might have beenpreferred to eating alone Alternativelyfeeling lonely when eating in a groupcould reflect challenges in keeping pacewith subtle group interactions Unliketheir sighted peers it may not be easyto attend to the details of eating (suchas locating unwrapping and steadyingfood) while keeping up with the banterand spontaneity of group conversation

Almost half (44) of all class interacshytions involved students receiving unrecipshyrocated help This degree of frequencyseems higher than that given to sighted

peers yet for the most part students felt

copy2017 AFB All Rights Reserved Journal of Vi

comfortable being helped Staff providedthe majority of help and although theseinteractions were not enjoyable theywere not particularly disliked either Ourparticipants did not seem to experiencethe degree of tension reflected in otherstudies that have noted dilemmas betweenthe need for adult assistance and a dislikeof the social perceptions this assistance orchaperoning creates (West et al 2004Whitburn amp OrsquoConnor 2011) Tensionmay still exist however since doingnothing as an alternative is even less enshyjoyable (see Table 3) Help may be thelesser of two evils or alternatively pershyhaps our results simply speak well to thediscretion and sensitivity of these staff

The presence of an additional disabilitynegatively influenced perceptions of inshyclusion The proportion of students in ourgroup who had additional disabilities was25 whereas these students now comshyprise 65 of visually impaired students(Hatton Ivy amp Boyer 2013) Further reshysearch may be needed into this lack ofinclusion Perhaps the energy and timerequired to attend to health-related needsas well as academic tasks leaves littletime and energy to focus on developingor maintaining social connections Orperhaps as Jasmine articulated some ofthese students may have a perspective onlife that does not resonate with the morecommonly appreciated experiences ofteenagers These students may find it difshyficult to negotiate the balance betweentheir personal and social identities stayshying true to themselves and also connectshying with the more popular interests andvalues of peers These students wereamong the youngest in this sample ofadolescents Although no relationships

were found (see Table 4) between grade

sual Impairment amp Blindness January-February 2017 15

or age and the internal variables perhapsstudents with additional disabilities needmore time alone than other visually imshypaired peers do to find common groundwith sighted peers

The more these students perceived theyfit (see Table 4) the more enjoyable andless lonely was their experience of schoolThis suggests as has been found in otherstudies (Khadka et al 2012) that stushydents will gravitate towards practices thatemphasize similarity with sighted peersThis may at times create tension betweenstudents and the adults who seek from along-term perspective to guide them toshywards particular educational or vocationaloutcomes Social pursuits may take preshycedence over academic tasks and equipshyment deemed ldquoclunkyrdquo may not be utishylized Some students may be reluctant touse braille in class if they perceive itcreates a social barrier as alluded to byOliver in this current study

There may be the potential for schoolsto utilize clubs and extracurricular activshyities as developmental resources for visushyally impaired students Experiences in acshytivities that provided relative choice andfreedom were rated most positively bystudents Judiciously facilitated interestgroups could provide time and opportushynities for visually impaired students todevelop their personal and social identishyties share interests and reciprocate withpeers (Jessup et al 2010 Rosenblum2000) Douros (2015) who is visuallyimpaired and has additional disabilitiesvalued clubs as a way of developingfriendships They provided opportunitiesfor reciprocity and consequent respect forher within her school These opportunitiesmay be particularly important if there are

few opportunities for students to share

16 Journal of Visual Impairment amp Blindness January-Februa

interests display competence or reciproshycate elsewhere

LIMITATIONS

As the data obtained are from a relativelysmall sample care needs to be exercisedwhen extrapolating beyond this group ofstudents This study should be regarded asexploratory providing evidence for conshysideration and direction for further reshysearch As previously noted this group ofparticipants had a lower proportion of vishysually impaired students with additionaldisabilities than is representative of thispopulation of adolescents As participantswere self-selected there may be a higherdegree of students struggling at schoolthan is represented here

Conclusion This study has both provided encourageshyment and highlighted concerns in regardto the inclusion of visually impaired highschool students Most students whoseonly disability is visual impairment reshyported feeling included It would be inshystructive to understand how these stushydentsrsquo social experiences in high schoolcompare with those experiences out ofschool

The school experience is more enjoyshyable if visually impaired students pershyceive they fit in with their peers Practishytioners can facilitate fitting in by ensuringboth discreet and timely access to all asshypects of the curriculum Gaps still exist incurriculum access many of which seempreventable The value of time to thesestudents needs to be respected as essentialto both academic parity and friendshipdevelopment There may also be potentialfor schools to utilize extracurricular clubs

for some of these students so they can

ry 2017 copy2017 AFB All Rights Reserved

develop common ground with peers Thesocial challenges that still exist for somestudents including those students withadditional disabilities are concerning beshycause of the now-well-established linksbetween social experience and mentalhealth Future research may need to focusmore closely on the school social experishyences of these students

References Bossaert G Colpin H Pijl S J amp Petry

K (2013) Truly included A literaturestudy focusing on the social dimension ofinclusion in education International Jourshynal of Inclusive Education 17(1) 60ndash79doi 101080136031162011580464

Bray P Bundy A C Ryan M M ampNorth K N (2010) Feasibility of a comshyputerized method to measure quality ofldquoeverydayrdquo life in children with neuromusshycular disorders Physical amp OccupationalTherapy in Pediatrics 30(1) 43ndash53 doi10310901942630903294687

Cochrane G Lamoureux E amp Keeffe J(2008) Defining the content for a newquality of life questionnaire for studentswith low vision (The Impact of Vision Imshypairment on Children IVI_C) OphthalmicEpidemiology 15(2) 114 ndash120 doi 10108009286580701772029

Crouch R Keys C B amp McMahon S D(2014) Studentndashteacher relationships matterfor school inclusion School belongingdisability and school transitions Journalof Prevention amp Intervention in theCommunity 42(1) 20 ndash30 doi 101080108523522014855054

Department of Science (2007) Improve thelearning outcomes of students with disabilshyities in the early middle and post compulshysory years of schooling Department of Scishyence Education and Training AustralianGovernment Canberra

DET (2010) Explaining ICSEA New SouthWales Department of Education and Trainshying Retrieved from httpwwwschools

nsweduaumediadownloadsschoolsweb

copy2017 AFB All Rights Reserved Journal of Vi

newsannouncementsyr2010janwhat_is_icseapdf

Dıez A M (2010) School memories ofyoung people with disabilities An analysisof barriers and aids to inclusion Disabilityamp Society 25(2) 163ndash175 doi 10108009687590903534346

Douros A (2015) Surviving secondary schoolas a blind student Paper presented at theBiennial Conference of the South Pacific Edshyucators in Vision Impairment Melbourne

Everitt B S Landau S Leese M amp StahlD (2011) Cluster analysis (5th ed) WestSussex John Wiley amp Sons

Field A (2009) Discovering statistics usingSPSS (3rd ed) London SAGE

Gale G M amp Cronin P (1998) The schoolyears In P Kelly amp G M Gale (Eds)Towards excellence Effective educationfor students with vision impairments (pp118 ndash136) North Rocks Australia NorthRocks Press

Goodenow C (1993) The PsychologicalSense of School Membership among adolesshycents Scale development and educationalcorrelates Psychology in the Schools 30(1)79ndash90

Gray C (2009) A qualitatively different exshyperience Mainstreaming pupils with avisual impairment in Northern IrelandEuropean Journal of Special Needs Edushycation 24(2) 169ndash182 doi 10108008856250902793644

Hadidi M S amp Al Khateeb J M (2013)Loneliness among students with blindnessand sighted students in Jordan A briefreport International Journal of DisabilityDevelopment and Education 60(2) 167ndash172 doi 1010801034912x2012723949

Hagborg W J (1998) School membershipamong students with learning disabilitiesand nondisabled students in a semiruralhigh school Psychology in the Schools35(2) 183ndash188

Hatlen P (2004) Is social isolation a predictshyable outcome of inclusive education Jourshynal of Visual Impairment amp Blindness98(11) 676 ndash678

Hatton D D Ivy S E amp Boyer C (2013)

Severe visual impairments in infants and

sual Impairment amp Blindness January-February 2017 17

onse

Table 2 Ratings of internal dimensions as a percentage o

Not atEveryday Inclusion Survey item (No)

Did you feel like you fit in (Q5) 13Did you feel accepted (Q7) 13Were you lonely (Q17) 712Were you enjoying yourself (Q18) 85Did you know what was going on

around you (Q4) 29

Numbers represent the percentages of group respvidual student averages

felt fully aware of what was going onaround them three-quarters of the time

The variations in the frequency and inshyternal dimensions of the studentsrsquo intershyactions and most common activities ispresented in Table 3 It shows that schoolshywork was the most frequent activity folshylowed by talking and then equally by doshying nothing and doing extracurricularactivities (noncompulsory additional acshytivities) Interestingly no student selectedldquothinkingrdquo as an activity The nature ofthe studentsrsquo extracurricular activities

Table 3 Comparison of internal variables by interaction

Number oself-repor

Variable (N = 106

Interaction Classmates 35 Staff members 19 No one 17 Group of friends 16 One friend 14 Student(s) in other classes 5

Activity Working 60 Talking or texting 12 Nothing 9 Engaging in extracurricular activities 9 Eating 8 Watching TV or DVDs 2

a Mean z-score

copy2017 AFB All Rights Reserved Journal of Vi

f-reports

A little Quite a lot (Partly) (Yes) Heaps

139 398 450 114 422 450 248 40 00 376 254 285

207 764 mdash

s These were calculated by first calculating indishy

was elicited during the interviews Theseincluded choir excursions sports (10-pinbowling) Student Leadership Councilmeetings and braille lessons

The majority of school interactions (seeTable 3) were with classmates and staffIn interviews the visually impaired stushydents described feeling different fromtheir sighted peers They had to work hardto keep up in class and as Simon exshyplained they ldquomight need to spend a littlemore time on thingsrdquo The studentsdifferentiated between classmates and

activity

Awarea Fit ina Accepteda Lonelya Enjoyinga

01 -01 -02 01 00 02 -02 01 -01 -03

-03 03 -01 -01 04 05 01 03 -01 -01 -03 -01 00

04 03 02 -08 05

01 -01 -01 00 -02 00 04 02 -05 07

-04 -07 -10 07 -07 02 02 06 -03 08

-02 04 03 04 01 00 04 03 -02 07

f sel

all

and

f ts )

sual Impairment amp Blindness January-February 2017 11

friends by whether or not they sharedinterests out of class Reported studentinteractions varied widely Oliver had nopeer interactions (with friends or classshymates) All his interactions were withstaff In his interview he revealed he hadno friends and felt his classmates did notwant to work with him In contrast Wilshyliam who was totally blind reported nostaff interactions He was in year 12 andhis staff support had tapered over timeldquoIrsquom pretty right with my stuff but iftherersquos stuff in math to go over like mapsand things they help merdquo

Extracurricular activities (see Table 3)were rated most positively in terms ofinternal qualities (awareness fitting inacceptance loneliness enjoyment) Incontrast with other activities students exshyperienced doing nothing as very negativewhen they indicated they were ldquodoingnothingrdquo students were least aware ofwhat was going on enjoyed themselvesleast were most lonely felt they fitted inleast and felt accepted least In intershyviews students elaborated on doing nothshying Jasmine and Drew described sittingon the sidelines throughout sport or physshyical education (PE) Jasmine felt ldquokindof lonelyrdquo and Drew felt frustratedldquoThey donrsquot understand that itrsquos reallyfrustrating when I have to sit there for anhour and a half and not do anythingrdquoCara felt bored and Drew described feelshying annoyed and frustrated doing nothingin class because the teacher was usinginaccessible pedagogies writing on aboard and talking too rapidly usingPowerPoint or showing movies Cara abraille user had trouble comprehendingher mathematics topic ldquolinear stuff canrsquot work out what the stupid textbook is

sayingrdquo and hence did nothing in and felt

12 Journal of Visual Impairment amp Blindness January-Februa

bored during mathematics William deshyscribed how he and a friend were doingnothing in their class while the ldquosmartkidsrdquo were taking exams He felt his timecould be better spent elsewhere Caracomplained about doing nothing in hercompulsory weekly assembly ldquoI wasnrsquotdoing anything I wasnrsquot enjoying myselfat all feeling very very lonelyrdquo Shewas with her friend who has Aspergerrsquossyndrome

Eating as an activity was reported ashaving an element of loneliness In hisinterview Oliver described eating byhimself every day because he had nofriends Anna described feeling lonelyeating with her group as she did not reshygard them as her real friends ldquoIrsquove gotfriends outside of school that I actuallyenjoy spending time with a lot more thanthe people that I do spend time with atschoolrdquo Zac also felt lonely eating withhis group He was relatively new to hisschool

There were not huge variations in inshyternal dimensions of the different comshypanions in activities In general the stushydents enjoyed interactions most that werewith students from other classes Theseinteractions involved schoolwork eatingor extracurricular activities Students fitshyted in most and felt most accepted doingactivities with a group of friends Havinga single friend as a companion in activishyties did not rate very positively Studentsenjoyed activities the least that they didwith staff

In terms of helping interactions anddependence if students were interactingwith someone they were asked to ratetheir dependence (not at all comfortablytoo dependent) and whether or not they

were helping or being helped In class

ry 2017 copy2017 AFB All Rights Reserved

) higstruc

Table 4 Relationships between demographic and interna

Variable 1 2 3 4 5

1 Gender mdash 2 Age -25 mdash 3 Grade -36 86 mdash 4 ADDIS 19 77 84 mdash 5 VISCLAS 10 25 14 -38 mdash6 ICSEA 03 21 11 00 07 PSSM -06 21 21 -67 08 Going on -11 02 03 46 -19 Fitting in -09 33 37 -86 1

10 Accepted 21 26 33 -45 -311 Lonely 06 05 -07 88 -012 Enjoying -14 16 36 -65 0

ADDIS = presence of an additional disability 0 = Educational Advantage PSSM = Psychological SeVISCLAS = Blind sports classification (B1 B2 B3sures higher scores are in the direction of the con

students received unreciprocated help in44 of their interactions the majorityof which (62) came from staff The restcame from peers (27) and friends(12) respectively Most of the time(90) students felt comfortable or not atall dependent with this help Students reshyciprocated by helping with other studentsin only 8 of their in-class interactionsHeidi elaborated on her reciprocity Shewas helping a group with French vocabshyulary There was only one self-report of astudent actually providing unreciprocatedhelp Jasmine was helping a classmatewith a disability with work Students reshyceived unreciprocated help in 20 oftheir out-of-class interactions

WHAT ARE THE INFLUENCES

ON PERCEPTIONS OF INCLUSION The PSSM was used as a global measureof inclusion Correlations (see Table 4)indicated strong relationships between thepresence of an additional disability and

PSSM fitting in and loneliness These

copy2017 AFB All Rights Reserved Journal of Vi

riables

6 7 8 9 10 11 12

mdash 24 mdash 20 -14 mdash 04 40 13 mdash 18 37 -17 28 mdash 14 -42 24 -46 -11 mdash 17 20 -19 57 24 -56 mdash

= yes ICSEA = Index of Community Socio-of School Membership questionnaire her score equates with better vision In all meashyt being measured p lt 05 p lt01

relationships indicated that visually imshypaired students who had additional disshyabilities were more likely to not feel inshycluded not enjoy school feel as if theydid not fit in and feel lonely In her inshyterview Jasmine one of these studentsreported being proud of not fitting in atschool She unlike her peers had surshyvived a life-threatening illness She feltshe had a better appreciation of life thanthey did However she also described havshying difficulty making friends at schoolCara and Jasmine both felt they did not fitin when their need for quiet to concentrateon schoolwork conflicted with others inthe class ldquotalking and not wanting to dotheir workrdquo

Correlations (see Table 4) also indishycated moderate relationships betweenPSSM scores and in-the-moment fitting inand loneliness Students with higherPSSM scores were more likely to fit inand not feel lonely This global senseof inclusion was independent of inshy

l va

5 5 7 1 0 9 -

0 -

no 1nse

the-moment enjoyment acceptance or

sual Impairment amp Blindness January-February 2017 13

awareness There were also moderate reshylationships between fitting in enjoymentand loneliness Students who did not feellike they fitted in were more likely to feellonely and not enjoy themselves Therewere no significant correlations with genshyder age grade level of vision andICSEA and internal variables Significantcorrelations between age and additionaldisability (rb = 77) and grade and addishytional disability (rb = 84) reflected asampling issue

Discussion The results of this small-scale study sugshygest that the majority of students felt inshycluded in their respective schools andconcur with Grayrsquos (2009) survey of speshycial needs co-coordinators These educashytors felt that most visually impaired stushydents had good relationships with peersand teachers and were fully engaged inschool life The PSSM item that our parshyticipants rated highest related to havingan adult to talk to if problems arose andreinforces previous findings (Crouch etal 2014) on the importance of goodstudent-staff relationships to be includedfor high school students with disabilitiesldquoPeople know I can do good workrdquo wasanother PSSM item that participants ratedvery highly Perhaps for these studentspublic acknowledgement and recognitionof competence which counter stereotypshyical assumptions of disability are imporshytant parts of feeling included Oliverseemed to experience particular difficultyhere He perceived that his academiccompetence was not recognized or acshyknowledged because he used braille amedium foreign to his peers Althoughmost students felt included there was a

group of students primarily students with

14 Journal of Visual Impairment amp Blindness January-Februa

additional disabilities who struggled soshycially feeling lonely not included and asif they did not fit in

On the Everyday Inclusion Survey acshytivities that seemed to involve a greaterdegree of choice or freedom were deshyscribed more positively than routine orcompulsory activities Activities with asingle friend as a companion did not rateas positively as did those with a group offriends (with the exception of eating) orwith students in other classes Studentstogether with a single friend were doingschoolwork or doing nothing not situashytions with a high degree of choice Incontrast groups of friends congregatedoutside class times to talk and joke and doleisure activities over which they had relshyatively more choice and freedom Stushydents in other classes were companions inextracurricular activities also associatedwith more choice and freedom

Our results quantify the effect of doingnothing in relation to other activities atschool highlighting lack of participationlack of awareness loneliness not fittingin and lack of acceptance In many ofthese instances students were forced intodoing nothing because class activitieswere inaccessible Inaccessible pedagogyhas been identified previously (Whitburn2014) Math PE and sports were subshyject areas listed by our participants andwere also previously identified as probshylematic for visually impaired students(Gray 2009) The gaps our students deshyscribed were substantial In some casesthey encompassed an entire lesson It isclear from this study and other researchthat visually impaired students have towork hard to maintain parity with peersand the everyday activities of life often

take longer (Gale amp Cronin 1998 Sacks

ry 2017 copy2017 AFB All Rights Reserved

amp Wolffe 1998) Doing nothing wastedvaluable time This indicates that staffneed more awareness of the importance oftime to visually impaired students and theimperative to provide access to all aspectsof the curriculum

There was a mild but fairly frequentelement of loneliness at school Studentsreported loneliness about one-third of thetime although they never reported beingldquoheapsrdquo lonely Historically the prevashylence of loneliness has been higher invisually impaired students than for peerswho are sighted (Hadidi amp Al Khateeb2013) girls in particular (Huurre amp Aro1998) We found no relationship betweengender and loneliness but identified doingnothing and eating as activities in whichstudents felt most lonely

The reason eating seemed to be a timewhen students felt lonely is unclear Regshyularly eating alone reinforced perceptionsof isolation for Oliver Eating with agroup of friends was also lonely for someThis may reflect the quality of the grouprelationships Anna who felt lonely eatshying in a group did not regard her group offriends at school as real friends Eatingwith them however might have beenpreferred to eating alone Alternativelyfeeling lonely when eating in a groupcould reflect challenges in keeping pacewith subtle group interactions Unliketheir sighted peers it may not be easyto attend to the details of eating (suchas locating unwrapping and steadyingfood) while keeping up with the banterand spontaneity of group conversation

Almost half (44) of all class interacshytions involved students receiving unrecipshyrocated help This degree of frequencyseems higher than that given to sighted

peers yet for the most part students felt

copy2017 AFB All Rights Reserved Journal of Vi

comfortable being helped Staff providedthe majority of help and although theseinteractions were not enjoyable theywere not particularly disliked either Ourparticipants did not seem to experiencethe degree of tension reflected in otherstudies that have noted dilemmas betweenthe need for adult assistance and a dislikeof the social perceptions this assistance orchaperoning creates (West et al 2004Whitburn amp OrsquoConnor 2011) Tensionmay still exist however since doingnothing as an alternative is even less enshyjoyable (see Table 3) Help may be thelesser of two evils or alternatively pershyhaps our results simply speak well to thediscretion and sensitivity of these staff

The presence of an additional disabilitynegatively influenced perceptions of inshyclusion The proportion of students in ourgroup who had additional disabilities was25 whereas these students now comshyprise 65 of visually impaired students(Hatton Ivy amp Boyer 2013) Further reshysearch may be needed into this lack ofinclusion Perhaps the energy and timerequired to attend to health-related needsas well as academic tasks leaves littletime and energy to focus on developingor maintaining social connections Orperhaps as Jasmine articulated some ofthese students may have a perspective onlife that does not resonate with the morecommonly appreciated experiences ofteenagers These students may find it difshyficult to negotiate the balance betweentheir personal and social identities stayshying true to themselves and also connectshying with the more popular interests andvalues of peers These students wereamong the youngest in this sample ofadolescents Although no relationships

were found (see Table 4) between grade

sual Impairment amp Blindness January-February 2017 15

or age and the internal variables perhapsstudents with additional disabilities needmore time alone than other visually imshypaired peers do to find common groundwith sighted peers

The more these students perceived theyfit (see Table 4) the more enjoyable andless lonely was their experience of schoolThis suggests as has been found in otherstudies (Khadka et al 2012) that stushydents will gravitate towards practices thatemphasize similarity with sighted peersThis may at times create tension betweenstudents and the adults who seek from along-term perspective to guide them toshywards particular educational or vocationaloutcomes Social pursuits may take preshycedence over academic tasks and equipshyment deemed ldquoclunkyrdquo may not be utishylized Some students may be reluctant touse braille in class if they perceive itcreates a social barrier as alluded to byOliver in this current study

There may be the potential for schoolsto utilize clubs and extracurricular activshyities as developmental resources for visushyally impaired students Experiences in acshytivities that provided relative choice andfreedom were rated most positively bystudents Judiciously facilitated interestgroups could provide time and opportushynities for visually impaired students todevelop their personal and social identishyties share interests and reciprocate withpeers (Jessup et al 2010 Rosenblum2000) Douros (2015) who is visuallyimpaired and has additional disabilitiesvalued clubs as a way of developingfriendships They provided opportunitiesfor reciprocity and consequent respect forher within her school These opportunitiesmay be particularly important if there are

few opportunities for students to share

16 Journal of Visual Impairment amp Blindness January-Februa

interests display competence or reciproshycate elsewhere

LIMITATIONS

As the data obtained are from a relativelysmall sample care needs to be exercisedwhen extrapolating beyond this group ofstudents This study should be regarded asexploratory providing evidence for conshysideration and direction for further reshysearch As previously noted this group ofparticipants had a lower proportion of vishysually impaired students with additionaldisabilities than is representative of thispopulation of adolescents As participantswere self-selected there may be a higherdegree of students struggling at schoolthan is represented here

Conclusion This study has both provided encourageshyment and highlighted concerns in regardto the inclusion of visually impaired highschool students Most students whoseonly disability is visual impairment reshyported feeling included It would be inshystructive to understand how these stushydentsrsquo social experiences in high schoolcompare with those experiences out ofschool

The school experience is more enjoyshyable if visually impaired students pershyceive they fit in with their peers Practishytioners can facilitate fitting in by ensuringboth discreet and timely access to all asshypects of the curriculum Gaps still exist incurriculum access many of which seempreventable The value of time to thesestudents needs to be respected as essentialto both academic parity and friendshipdevelopment There may also be potentialfor schools to utilize extracurricular clubs

for some of these students so they can

ry 2017 copy2017 AFB All Rights Reserved

develop common ground with peers Thesocial challenges that still exist for somestudents including those students withadditional disabilities are concerning beshycause of the now-well-established linksbetween social experience and mentalhealth Future research may need to focusmore closely on the school social experishyences of these students

References Bossaert G Colpin H Pijl S J amp Petry

K (2013) Truly included A literaturestudy focusing on the social dimension ofinclusion in education International Jourshynal of Inclusive Education 17(1) 60ndash79doi 101080136031162011580464

Bray P Bundy A C Ryan M M ampNorth K N (2010) Feasibility of a comshyputerized method to measure quality ofldquoeverydayrdquo life in children with neuromusshycular disorders Physical amp OccupationalTherapy in Pediatrics 30(1) 43ndash53 doi10310901942630903294687

Cochrane G Lamoureux E amp Keeffe J(2008) Defining the content for a newquality of life questionnaire for studentswith low vision (The Impact of Vision Imshypairment on Children IVI_C) OphthalmicEpidemiology 15(2) 114 ndash120 doi 10108009286580701772029

Crouch R Keys C B amp McMahon S D(2014) Studentndashteacher relationships matterfor school inclusion School belongingdisability and school transitions Journalof Prevention amp Intervention in theCommunity 42(1) 20 ndash30 doi 101080108523522014855054

Department of Science (2007) Improve thelearning outcomes of students with disabilshyities in the early middle and post compulshysory years of schooling Department of Scishyence Education and Training AustralianGovernment Canberra

DET (2010) Explaining ICSEA New SouthWales Department of Education and Trainshying Retrieved from httpwwwschools

nsweduaumediadownloadsschoolsweb

copy2017 AFB All Rights Reserved Journal of Vi

newsannouncementsyr2010janwhat_is_icseapdf

Dıez A M (2010) School memories ofyoung people with disabilities An analysisof barriers and aids to inclusion Disabilityamp Society 25(2) 163ndash175 doi 10108009687590903534346

Douros A (2015) Surviving secondary schoolas a blind student Paper presented at theBiennial Conference of the South Pacific Edshyucators in Vision Impairment Melbourne

Everitt B S Landau S Leese M amp StahlD (2011) Cluster analysis (5th ed) WestSussex John Wiley amp Sons

Field A (2009) Discovering statistics usingSPSS (3rd ed) London SAGE

Gale G M amp Cronin P (1998) The schoolyears In P Kelly amp G M Gale (Eds)Towards excellence Effective educationfor students with vision impairments (pp118 ndash136) North Rocks Australia NorthRocks Press

Goodenow C (1993) The PsychologicalSense of School Membership among adolesshycents Scale development and educationalcorrelates Psychology in the Schools 30(1)79ndash90

Gray C (2009) A qualitatively different exshyperience Mainstreaming pupils with avisual impairment in Northern IrelandEuropean Journal of Special Needs Edushycation 24(2) 169ndash182 doi 10108008856250902793644

Hadidi M S amp Al Khateeb J M (2013)Loneliness among students with blindnessand sighted students in Jordan A briefreport International Journal of DisabilityDevelopment and Education 60(2) 167ndash172 doi 1010801034912x2012723949

Hagborg W J (1998) School membershipamong students with learning disabilitiesand nondisabled students in a semiruralhigh school Psychology in the Schools35(2) 183ndash188

Hatlen P (2004) Is social isolation a predictshyable outcome of inclusive education Jourshynal of Visual Impairment amp Blindness98(11) 676 ndash678

Hatton D D Ivy S E amp Boyer C (2013)

Severe visual impairments in infants and

sual Impairment amp Blindness January-February 2017 17

friends by whether or not they sharedinterests out of class Reported studentinteractions varied widely Oliver had nopeer interactions (with friends or classshymates) All his interactions were withstaff In his interview he revealed he hadno friends and felt his classmates did notwant to work with him In contrast Wilshyliam who was totally blind reported nostaff interactions He was in year 12 andhis staff support had tapered over timeldquoIrsquom pretty right with my stuff but iftherersquos stuff in math to go over like mapsand things they help merdquo

Extracurricular activities (see Table 3)were rated most positively in terms ofinternal qualities (awareness fitting inacceptance loneliness enjoyment) Incontrast with other activities students exshyperienced doing nothing as very negativewhen they indicated they were ldquodoingnothingrdquo students were least aware ofwhat was going on enjoyed themselvesleast were most lonely felt they fitted inleast and felt accepted least In intershyviews students elaborated on doing nothshying Jasmine and Drew described sittingon the sidelines throughout sport or physshyical education (PE) Jasmine felt ldquokindof lonelyrdquo and Drew felt frustratedldquoThey donrsquot understand that itrsquos reallyfrustrating when I have to sit there for anhour and a half and not do anythingrdquoCara felt bored and Drew described feelshying annoyed and frustrated doing nothingin class because the teacher was usinginaccessible pedagogies writing on aboard and talking too rapidly usingPowerPoint or showing movies Cara abraille user had trouble comprehendingher mathematics topic ldquolinear stuff canrsquot work out what the stupid textbook is

sayingrdquo and hence did nothing in and felt

12 Journal of Visual Impairment amp Blindness January-Februa

bored during mathematics William deshyscribed how he and a friend were doingnothing in their class while the ldquosmartkidsrdquo were taking exams He felt his timecould be better spent elsewhere Caracomplained about doing nothing in hercompulsory weekly assembly ldquoI wasnrsquotdoing anything I wasnrsquot enjoying myselfat all feeling very very lonelyrdquo Shewas with her friend who has Aspergerrsquossyndrome

Eating as an activity was reported ashaving an element of loneliness In hisinterview Oliver described eating byhimself every day because he had nofriends Anna described feeling lonelyeating with her group as she did not reshygard them as her real friends ldquoIrsquove gotfriends outside of school that I actuallyenjoy spending time with a lot more thanthe people that I do spend time with atschoolrdquo Zac also felt lonely eating withhis group He was relatively new to hisschool

There were not huge variations in inshyternal dimensions of the different comshypanions in activities In general the stushydents enjoyed interactions most that werewith students from other classes Theseinteractions involved schoolwork eatingor extracurricular activities Students fitshyted in most and felt most accepted doingactivities with a group of friends Havinga single friend as a companion in activishyties did not rate very positively Studentsenjoyed activities the least that they didwith staff

In terms of helping interactions anddependence if students were interactingwith someone they were asked to ratetheir dependence (not at all comfortablytoo dependent) and whether or not they

were helping or being helped In class

ry 2017 copy2017 AFB All Rights Reserved

) higstruc

Table 4 Relationships between demographic and interna

Variable 1 2 3 4 5

1 Gender mdash 2 Age -25 mdash 3 Grade -36 86 mdash 4 ADDIS 19 77 84 mdash 5 VISCLAS 10 25 14 -38 mdash6 ICSEA 03 21 11 00 07 PSSM -06 21 21 -67 08 Going on -11 02 03 46 -19 Fitting in -09 33 37 -86 1

10 Accepted 21 26 33 -45 -311 Lonely 06 05 -07 88 -012 Enjoying -14 16 36 -65 0

ADDIS = presence of an additional disability 0 = Educational Advantage PSSM = Psychological SeVISCLAS = Blind sports classification (B1 B2 B3sures higher scores are in the direction of the con

students received unreciprocated help in44 of their interactions the majorityof which (62) came from staff The restcame from peers (27) and friends(12) respectively Most of the time(90) students felt comfortable or not atall dependent with this help Students reshyciprocated by helping with other studentsin only 8 of their in-class interactionsHeidi elaborated on her reciprocity Shewas helping a group with French vocabshyulary There was only one self-report of astudent actually providing unreciprocatedhelp Jasmine was helping a classmatewith a disability with work Students reshyceived unreciprocated help in 20 oftheir out-of-class interactions

WHAT ARE THE INFLUENCES

ON PERCEPTIONS OF INCLUSION The PSSM was used as a global measureof inclusion Correlations (see Table 4)indicated strong relationships between thepresence of an additional disability and

PSSM fitting in and loneliness These

copy2017 AFB All Rights Reserved Journal of Vi

riables

6 7 8 9 10 11 12

mdash 24 mdash 20 -14 mdash 04 40 13 mdash 18 37 -17 28 mdash 14 -42 24 -46 -11 mdash 17 20 -19 57 24 -56 mdash

= yes ICSEA = Index of Community Socio-of School Membership questionnaire her score equates with better vision In all meashyt being measured p lt 05 p lt01

relationships indicated that visually imshypaired students who had additional disshyabilities were more likely to not feel inshycluded not enjoy school feel as if theydid not fit in and feel lonely In her inshyterview Jasmine one of these studentsreported being proud of not fitting in atschool She unlike her peers had surshyvived a life-threatening illness She feltshe had a better appreciation of life thanthey did However she also described havshying difficulty making friends at schoolCara and Jasmine both felt they did not fitin when their need for quiet to concentrateon schoolwork conflicted with others inthe class ldquotalking and not wanting to dotheir workrdquo

Correlations (see Table 4) also indishycated moderate relationships betweenPSSM scores and in-the-moment fitting inand loneliness Students with higherPSSM scores were more likely to fit inand not feel lonely This global senseof inclusion was independent of inshy

l va

5 5 7 1 0 9 -

0 -

no 1nse

the-moment enjoyment acceptance or

sual Impairment amp Blindness January-February 2017 13

awareness There were also moderate reshylationships between fitting in enjoymentand loneliness Students who did not feellike they fitted in were more likely to feellonely and not enjoy themselves Therewere no significant correlations with genshyder age grade level of vision andICSEA and internal variables Significantcorrelations between age and additionaldisability (rb = 77) and grade and addishytional disability (rb = 84) reflected asampling issue

Discussion The results of this small-scale study sugshygest that the majority of students felt inshycluded in their respective schools andconcur with Grayrsquos (2009) survey of speshycial needs co-coordinators These educashytors felt that most visually impaired stushydents had good relationships with peersand teachers and were fully engaged inschool life The PSSM item that our parshyticipants rated highest related to havingan adult to talk to if problems arose andreinforces previous findings (Crouch etal 2014) on the importance of goodstudent-staff relationships to be includedfor high school students with disabilitiesldquoPeople know I can do good workrdquo wasanother PSSM item that participants ratedvery highly Perhaps for these studentspublic acknowledgement and recognitionof competence which counter stereotypshyical assumptions of disability are imporshytant parts of feeling included Oliverseemed to experience particular difficultyhere He perceived that his academiccompetence was not recognized or acshyknowledged because he used braille amedium foreign to his peers Althoughmost students felt included there was a

group of students primarily students with

14 Journal of Visual Impairment amp Blindness January-Februa

additional disabilities who struggled soshycially feeling lonely not included and asif they did not fit in

On the Everyday Inclusion Survey acshytivities that seemed to involve a greaterdegree of choice or freedom were deshyscribed more positively than routine orcompulsory activities Activities with asingle friend as a companion did not rateas positively as did those with a group offriends (with the exception of eating) orwith students in other classes Studentstogether with a single friend were doingschoolwork or doing nothing not situashytions with a high degree of choice Incontrast groups of friends congregatedoutside class times to talk and joke and doleisure activities over which they had relshyatively more choice and freedom Stushydents in other classes were companions inextracurricular activities also associatedwith more choice and freedom

Our results quantify the effect of doingnothing in relation to other activities atschool highlighting lack of participationlack of awareness loneliness not fittingin and lack of acceptance In many ofthese instances students were forced intodoing nothing because class activitieswere inaccessible Inaccessible pedagogyhas been identified previously (Whitburn2014) Math PE and sports were subshyject areas listed by our participants andwere also previously identified as probshylematic for visually impaired students(Gray 2009) The gaps our students deshyscribed were substantial In some casesthey encompassed an entire lesson It isclear from this study and other researchthat visually impaired students have towork hard to maintain parity with peersand the everyday activities of life often

take longer (Gale amp Cronin 1998 Sacks

ry 2017 copy2017 AFB All Rights Reserved

amp Wolffe 1998) Doing nothing wastedvaluable time This indicates that staffneed more awareness of the importance oftime to visually impaired students and theimperative to provide access to all aspectsof the curriculum

There was a mild but fairly frequentelement of loneliness at school Studentsreported loneliness about one-third of thetime although they never reported beingldquoheapsrdquo lonely Historically the prevashylence of loneliness has been higher invisually impaired students than for peerswho are sighted (Hadidi amp Al Khateeb2013) girls in particular (Huurre amp Aro1998) We found no relationship betweengender and loneliness but identified doingnothing and eating as activities in whichstudents felt most lonely

The reason eating seemed to be a timewhen students felt lonely is unclear Regshyularly eating alone reinforced perceptionsof isolation for Oliver Eating with agroup of friends was also lonely for someThis may reflect the quality of the grouprelationships Anna who felt lonely eatshying in a group did not regard her group offriends at school as real friends Eatingwith them however might have beenpreferred to eating alone Alternativelyfeeling lonely when eating in a groupcould reflect challenges in keeping pacewith subtle group interactions Unliketheir sighted peers it may not be easyto attend to the details of eating (suchas locating unwrapping and steadyingfood) while keeping up with the banterand spontaneity of group conversation

Almost half (44) of all class interacshytions involved students receiving unrecipshyrocated help This degree of frequencyseems higher than that given to sighted

peers yet for the most part students felt

copy2017 AFB All Rights Reserved Journal of Vi

comfortable being helped Staff providedthe majority of help and although theseinteractions were not enjoyable theywere not particularly disliked either Ourparticipants did not seem to experiencethe degree of tension reflected in otherstudies that have noted dilemmas betweenthe need for adult assistance and a dislikeof the social perceptions this assistance orchaperoning creates (West et al 2004Whitburn amp OrsquoConnor 2011) Tensionmay still exist however since doingnothing as an alternative is even less enshyjoyable (see Table 3) Help may be thelesser of two evils or alternatively pershyhaps our results simply speak well to thediscretion and sensitivity of these staff

The presence of an additional disabilitynegatively influenced perceptions of inshyclusion The proportion of students in ourgroup who had additional disabilities was25 whereas these students now comshyprise 65 of visually impaired students(Hatton Ivy amp Boyer 2013) Further reshysearch may be needed into this lack ofinclusion Perhaps the energy and timerequired to attend to health-related needsas well as academic tasks leaves littletime and energy to focus on developingor maintaining social connections Orperhaps as Jasmine articulated some ofthese students may have a perspective onlife that does not resonate with the morecommonly appreciated experiences ofteenagers These students may find it difshyficult to negotiate the balance betweentheir personal and social identities stayshying true to themselves and also connectshying with the more popular interests andvalues of peers These students wereamong the youngest in this sample ofadolescents Although no relationships

were found (see Table 4) between grade

sual Impairment amp Blindness January-February 2017 15

or age and the internal variables perhapsstudents with additional disabilities needmore time alone than other visually imshypaired peers do to find common groundwith sighted peers

The more these students perceived theyfit (see Table 4) the more enjoyable andless lonely was their experience of schoolThis suggests as has been found in otherstudies (Khadka et al 2012) that stushydents will gravitate towards practices thatemphasize similarity with sighted peersThis may at times create tension betweenstudents and the adults who seek from along-term perspective to guide them toshywards particular educational or vocationaloutcomes Social pursuits may take preshycedence over academic tasks and equipshyment deemed ldquoclunkyrdquo may not be utishylized Some students may be reluctant touse braille in class if they perceive itcreates a social barrier as alluded to byOliver in this current study

There may be the potential for schoolsto utilize clubs and extracurricular activshyities as developmental resources for visushyally impaired students Experiences in acshytivities that provided relative choice andfreedom were rated most positively bystudents Judiciously facilitated interestgroups could provide time and opportushynities for visually impaired students todevelop their personal and social identishyties share interests and reciprocate withpeers (Jessup et al 2010 Rosenblum2000) Douros (2015) who is visuallyimpaired and has additional disabilitiesvalued clubs as a way of developingfriendships They provided opportunitiesfor reciprocity and consequent respect forher within her school These opportunitiesmay be particularly important if there are

few opportunities for students to share

16 Journal of Visual Impairment amp Blindness January-Februa

interests display competence or reciproshycate elsewhere

LIMITATIONS

As the data obtained are from a relativelysmall sample care needs to be exercisedwhen extrapolating beyond this group ofstudents This study should be regarded asexploratory providing evidence for conshysideration and direction for further reshysearch As previously noted this group ofparticipants had a lower proportion of vishysually impaired students with additionaldisabilities than is representative of thispopulation of adolescents As participantswere self-selected there may be a higherdegree of students struggling at schoolthan is represented here

Conclusion This study has both provided encourageshyment and highlighted concerns in regardto the inclusion of visually impaired highschool students Most students whoseonly disability is visual impairment reshyported feeling included It would be inshystructive to understand how these stushydentsrsquo social experiences in high schoolcompare with those experiences out ofschool

The school experience is more enjoyshyable if visually impaired students pershyceive they fit in with their peers Practishytioners can facilitate fitting in by ensuringboth discreet and timely access to all asshypects of the curriculum Gaps still exist incurriculum access many of which seempreventable The value of time to thesestudents needs to be respected as essentialto both academic parity and friendshipdevelopment There may also be potentialfor schools to utilize extracurricular clubs

for some of these students so they can

ry 2017 copy2017 AFB All Rights Reserved

develop common ground with peers Thesocial challenges that still exist for somestudents including those students withadditional disabilities are concerning beshycause of the now-well-established linksbetween social experience and mentalhealth Future research may need to focusmore closely on the school social experishyences of these students

References Bossaert G Colpin H Pijl S J amp Petry

K (2013) Truly included A literaturestudy focusing on the social dimension ofinclusion in education International Jourshynal of Inclusive Education 17(1) 60ndash79doi 101080136031162011580464

Bray P Bundy A C Ryan M M ampNorth K N (2010) Feasibility of a comshyputerized method to measure quality ofldquoeverydayrdquo life in children with neuromusshycular disorders Physical amp OccupationalTherapy in Pediatrics 30(1) 43ndash53 doi10310901942630903294687

Cochrane G Lamoureux E amp Keeffe J(2008) Defining the content for a newquality of life questionnaire for studentswith low vision (The Impact of Vision Imshypairment on Children IVI_C) OphthalmicEpidemiology 15(2) 114 ndash120 doi 10108009286580701772029

Crouch R Keys C B amp McMahon S D(2014) Studentndashteacher relationships matterfor school inclusion School belongingdisability and school transitions Journalof Prevention amp Intervention in theCommunity 42(1) 20 ndash30 doi 101080108523522014855054

Department of Science (2007) Improve thelearning outcomes of students with disabilshyities in the early middle and post compulshysory years of schooling Department of Scishyence Education and Training AustralianGovernment Canberra

DET (2010) Explaining ICSEA New SouthWales Department of Education and Trainshying Retrieved from httpwwwschools

nsweduaumediadownloadsschoolsweb

copy2017 AFB All Rights Reserved Journal of Vi

newsannouncementsyr2010janwhat_is_icseapdf

Dıez A M (2010) School memories ofyoung people with disabilities An analysisof barriers and aids to inclusion Disabilityamp Society 25(2) 163ndash175 doi 10108009687590903534346

Douros A (2015) Surviving secondary schoolas a blind student Paper presented at theBiennial Conference of the South Pacific Edshyucators in Vision Impairment Melbourne

Everitt B S Landau S Leese M amp StahlD (2011) Cluster analysis (5th ed) WestSussex John Wiley amp Sons

Field A (2009) Discovering statistics usingSPSS (3rd ed) London SAGE

Gale G M amp Cronin P (1998) The schoolyears In P Kelly amp G M Gale (Eds)Towards excellence Effective educationfor students with vision impairments (pp118 ndash136) North Rocks Australia NorthRocks Press

Goodenow C (1993) The PsychologicalSense of School Membership among adolesshycents Scale development and educationalcorrelates Psychology in the Schools 30(1)79ndash90

Gray C (2009) A qualitatively different exshyperience Mainstreaming pupils with avisual impairment in Northern IrelandEuropean Journal of Special Needs Edushycation 24(2) 169ndash182 doi 10108008856250902793644

Hadidi M S amp Al Khateeb J M (2013)Loneliness among students with blindnessand sighted students in Jordan A briefreport International Journal of DisabilityDevelopment and Education 60(2) 167ndash172 doi 1010801034912x2012723949

Hagborg W J (1998) School membershipamong students with learning disabilitiesand nondisabled students in a semiruralhigh school Psychology in the Schools35(2) 183ndash188

Hatlen P (2004) Is social isolation a predictshyable outcome of inclusive education Jourshynal of Visual Impairment amp Blindness98(11) 676 ndash678

Hatton D D Ivy S E amp Boyer C (2013)

Severe visual impairments in infants and

sual Impairment amp Blindness January-February 2017 17

) higstruc

Table 4 Relationships between demographic and interna

Variable 1 2 3 4 5

1 Gender mdash 2 Age -25 mdash 3 Grade -36 86 mdash 4 ADDIS 19 77 84 mdash 5 VISCLAS 10 25 14 -38 mdash6 ICSEA 03 21 11 00 07 PSSM -06 21 21 -67 08 Going on -11 02 03 46 -19 Fitting in -09 33 37 -86 1

10 Accepted 21 26 33 -45 -311 Lonely 06 05 -07 88 -012 Enjoying -14 16 36 -65 0

ADDIS = presence of an additional disability 0 = Educational Advantage PSSM = Psychological SeVISCLAS = Blind sports classification (B1 B2 B3sures higher scores are in the direction of the con

students received unreciprocated help in44 of their interactions the majorityof which (62) came from staff The restcame from peers (27) and friends(12) respectively Most of the time(90) students felt comfortable or not atall dependent with this help Students reshyciprocated by helping with other studentsin only 8 of their in-class interactionsHeidi elaborated on her reciprocity Shewas helping a group with French vocabshyulary There was only one self-report of astudent actually providing unreciprocatedhelp Jasmine was helping a classmatewith a disability with work Students reshyceived unreciprocated help in 20 oftheir out-of-class interactions

WHAT ARE THE INFLUENCES

ON PERCEPTIONS OF INCLUSION The PSSM was used as a global measureof inclusion Correlations (see Table 4)indicated strong relationships between thepresence of an additional disability and

PSSM fitting in and loneliness These

copy2017 AFB All Rights Reserved Journal of Vi

riables

6 7 8 9 10 11 12

mdash 24 mdash 20 -14 mdash 04 40 13 mdash 18 37 -17 28 mdash 14 -42 24 -46 -11 mdash 17 20 -19 57 24 -56 mdash

= yes ICSEA = Index of Community Socio-of School Membership questionnaire her score equates with better vision In all meashyt being measured p lt 05 p lt01

relationships indicated that visually imshypaired students who had additional disshyabilities were more likely to not feel inshycluded not enjoy school feel as if theydid not fit in and feel lonely In her inshyterview Jasmine one of these studentsreported being proud of not fitting in atschool She unlike her peers had surshyvived a life-threatening illness She feltshe had a better appreciation of life thanthey did However she also described havshying difficulty making friends at schoolCara and Jasmine both felt they did not fitin when their need for quiet to concentrateon schoolwork conflicted with others inthe class ldquotalking and not wanting to dotheir workrdquo

Correlations (see Table 4) also indishycated moderate relationships betweenPSSM scores and in-the-moment fitting inand loneliness Students with higherPSSM scores were more likely to fit inand not feel lonely This global senseof inclusion was independent of inshy

l va

5 5 7 1 0 9 -

0 -

no 1nse

the-moment enjoyment acceptance or

sual Impairment amp Blindness January-February 2017 13

awareness There were also moderate reshylationships between fitting in enjoymentand loneliness Students who did not feellike they fitted in were more likely to feellonely and not enjoy themselves Therewere no significant correlations with genshyder age grade level of vision andICSEA and internal variables Significantcorrelations between age and additionaldisability (rb = 77) and grade and addishytional disability (rb = 84) reflected asampling issue

Discussion The results of this small-scale study sugshygest that the majority of students felt inshycluded in their respective schools andconcur with Grayrsquos (2009) survey of speshycial needs co-coordinators These educashytors felt that most visually impaired stushydents had good relationships with peersand teachers and were fully engaged inschool life The PSSM item that our parshyticipants rated highest related to havingan adult to talk to if problems arose andreinforces previous findings (Crouch etal 2014) on the importance of goodstudent-staff relationships to be includedfor high school students with disabilitiesldquoPeople know I can do good workrdquo wasanother PSSM item that participants ratedvery highly Perhaps for these studentspublic acknowledgement and recognitionof competence which counter stereotypshyical assumptions of disability are imporshytant parts of feeling included Oliverseemed to experience particular difficultyhere He perceived that his academiccompetence was not recognized or acshyknowledged because he used braille amedium foreign to his peers Althoughmost students felt included there was a

group of students primarily students with

14 Journal of Visual Impairment amp Blindness January-Februa

additional disabilities who struggled soshycially feeling lonely not included and asif they did not fit in

On the Everyday Inclusion Survey acshytivities that seemed to involve a greaterdegree of choice or freedom were deshyscribed more positively than routine orcompulsory activities Activities with asingle friend as a companion did not rateas positively as did those with a group offriends (with the exception of eating) orwith students in other classes Studentstogether with a single friend were doingschoolwork or doing nothing not situashytions with a high degree of choice Incontrast groups of friends congregatedoutside class times to talk and joke and doleisure activities over which they had relshyatively more choice and freedom Stushydents in other classes were companions inextracurricular activities also associatedwith more choice and freedom

Our results quantify the effect of doingnothing in relation to other activities atschool highlighting lack of participationlack of awareness loneliness not fittingin and lack of acceptance In many ofthese instances students were forced intodoing nothing because class activitieswere inaccessible Inaccessible pedagogyhas been identified previously (Whitburn2014) Math PE and sports were subshyject areas listed by our participants andwere also previously identified as probshylematic for visually impaired students(Gray 2009) The gaps our students deshyscribed were substantial In some casesthey encompassed an entire lesson It isclear from this study and other researchthat visually impaired students have towork hard to maintain parity with peersand the everyday activities of life often

take longer (Gale amp Cronin 1998 Sacks

ry 2017 copy2017 AFB All Rights Reserved

amp Wolffe 1998) Doing nothing wastedvaluable time This indicates that staffneed more awareness of the importance oftime to visually impaired students and theimperative to provide access to all aspectsof the curriculum

There was a mild but fairly frequentelement of loneliness at school Studentsreported loneliness about one-third of thetime although they never reported beingldquoheapsrdquo lonely Historically the prevashylence of loneliness has been higher invisually impaired students than for peerswho are sighted (Hadidi amp Al Khateeb2013) girls in particular (Huurre amp Aro1998) We found no relationship betweengender and loneliness but identified doingnothing and eating as activities in whichstudents felt most lonely

The reason eating seemed to be a timewhen students felt lonely is unclear Regshyularly eating alone reinforced perceptionsof isolation for Oliver Eating with agroup of friends was also lonely for someThis may reflect the quality of the grouprelationships Anna who felt lonely eatshying in a group did not regard her group offriends at school as real friends Eatingwith them however might have beenpreferred to eating alone Alternativelyfeeling lonely when eating in a groupcould reflect challenges in keeping pacewith subtle group interactions Unliketheir sighted peers it may not be easyto attend to the details of eating (suchas locating unwrapping and steadyingfood) while keeping up with the banterand spontaneity of group conversation

Almost half (44) of all class interacshytions involved students receiving unrecipshyrocated help This degree of frequencyseems higher than that given to sighted

peers yet for the most part students felt

copy2017 AFB All Rights Reserved Journal of Vi

comfortable being helped Staff providedthe majority of help and although theseinteractions were not enjoyable theywere not particularly disliked either Ourparticipants did not seem to experiencethe degree of tension reflected in otherstudies that have noted dilemmas betweenthe need for adult assistance and a dislikeof the social perceptions this assistance orchaperoning creates (West et al 2004Whitburn amp OrsquoConnor 2011) Tensionmay still exist however since doingnothing as an alternative is even less enshyjoyable (see Table 3) Help may be thelesser of two evils or alternatively pershyhaps our results simply speak well to thediscretion and sensitivity of these staff

The presence of an additional disabilitynegatively influenced perceptions of inshyclusion The proportion of students in ourgroup who had additional disabilities was25 whereas these students now comshyprise 65 of visually impaired students(Hatton Ivy amp Boyer 2013) Further reshysearch may be needed into this lack ofinclusion Perhaps the energy and timerequired to attend to health-related needsas well as academic tasks leaves littletime and energy to focus on developingor maintaining social connections Orperhaps as Jasmine articulated some ofthese students may have a perspective onlife that does not resonate with the morecommonly appreciated experiences ofteenagers These students may find it difshyficult to negotiate the balance betweentheir personal and social identities stayshying true to themselves and also connectshying with the more popular interests andvalues of peers These students wereamong the youngest in this sample ofadolescents Although no relationships

were found (see Table 4) between grade

sual Impairment amp Blindness January-February 2017 15

or age and the internal variables perhapsstudents with additional disabilities needmore time alone than other visually imshypaired peers do to find common groundwith sighted peers

The more these students perceived theyfit (see Table 4) the more enjoyable andless lonely was their experience of schoolThis suggests as has been found in otherstudies (Khadka et al 2012) that stushydents will gravitate towards practices thatemphasize similarity with sighted peersThis may at times create tension betweenstudents and the adults who seek from along-term perspective to guide them toshywards particular educational or vocationaloutcomes Social pursuits may take preshycedence over academic tasks and equipshyment deemed ldquoclunkyrdquo may not be utishylized Some students may be reluctant touse braille in class if they perceive itcreates a social barrier as alluded to byOliver in this current study

There may be the potential for schoolsto utilize clubs and extracurricular activshyities as developmental resources for visushyally impaired students Experiences in acshytivities that provided relative choice andfreedom were rated most positively bystudents Judiciously facilitated interestgroups could provide time and opportushynities for visually impaired students todevelop their personal and social identishyties share interests and reciprocate withpeers (Jessup et al 2010 Rosenblum2000) Douros (2015) who is visuallyimpaired and has additional disabilitiesvalued clubs as a way of developingfriendships They provided opportunitiesfor reciprocity and consequent respect forher within her school These opportunitiesmay be particularly important if there are

few opportunities for students to share

16 Journal of Visual Impairment amp Blindness January-Februa

interests display competence or reciproshycate elsewhere

LIMITATIONS

As the data obtained are from a relativelysmall sample care needs to be exercisedwhen extrapolating beyond this group ofstudents This study should be regarded asexploratory providing evidence for conshysideration and direction for further reshysearch As previously noted this group ofparticipants had a lower proportion of vishysually impaired students with additionaldisabilities than is representative of thispopulation of adolescents As participantswere self-selected there may be a higherdegree of students struggling at schoolthan is represented here

Conclusion This study has both provided encourageshyment and highlighted concerns in regardto the inclusion of visually impaired highschool students Most students whoseonly disability is visual impairment reshyported feeling included It would be inshystructive to understand how these stushydentsrsquo social experiences in high schoolcompare with those experiences out ofschool

The school experience is more enjoyshyable if visually impaired students pershyceive they fit in with their peers Practishytioners can facilitate fitting in by ensuringboth discreet and timely access to all asshypects of the curriculum Gaps still exist incurriculum access many of which seempreventable The value of time to thesestudents needs to be respected as essentialto both academic parity and friendshipdevelopment There may also be potentialfor schools to utilize extracurricular clubs

for some of these students so they can

ry 2017 copy2017 AFB All Rights Reserved

develop common ground with peers Thesocial challenges that still exist for somestudents including those students withadditional disabilities are concerning beshycause of the now-well-established linksbetween social experience and mentalhealth Future research may need to focusmore closely on the school social experishyences of these students

References Bossaert G Colpin H Pijl S J amp Petry

K (2013) Truly included A literaturestudy focusing on the social dimension ofinclusion in education International Jourshynal of Inclusive Education 17(1) 60ndash79doi 101080136031162011580464

Bray P Bundy A C Ryan M M ampNorth K N (2010) Feasibility of a comshyputerized method to measure quality ofldquoeverydayrdquo life in children with neuromusshycular disorders Physical amp OccupationalTherapy in Pediatrics 30(1) 43ndash53 doi10310901942630903294687

Cochrane G Lamoureux E amp Keeffe J(2008) Defining the content for a newquality of life questionnaire for studentswith low vision (The Impact of Vision Imshypairment on Children IVI_C) OphthalmicEpidemiology 15(2) 114 ndash120 doi 10108009286580701772029

Crouch R Keys C B amp McMahon S D(2014) Studentndashteacher relationships matterfor school inclusion School belongingdisability and school transitions Journalof Prevention amp Intervention in theCommunity 42(1) 20 ndash30 doi 101080108523522014855054

Department of Science (2007) Improve thelearning outcomes of students with disabilshyities in the early middle and post compulshysory years of schooling Department of Scishyence Education and Training AustralianGovernment Canberra

DET (2010) Explaining ICSEA New SouthWales Department of Education and Trainshying Retrieved from httpwwwschools

nsweduaumediadownloadsschoolsweb

copy2017 AFB All Rights Reserved Journal of Vi

newsannouncementsyr2010janwhat_is_icseapdf

Dıez A M (2010) School memories ofyoung people with disabilities An analysisof barriers and aids to inclusion Disabilityamp Society 25(2) 163ndash175 doi 10108009687590903534346

Douros A (2015) Surviving secondary schoolas a blind student Paper presented at theBiennial Conference of the South Pacific Edshyucators in Vision Impairment Melbourne

Everitt B S Landau S Leese M amp StahlD (2011) Cluster analysis (5th ed) WestSussex John Wiley amp Sons

Field A (2009) Discovering statistics usingSPSS (3rd ed) London SAGE

Gale G M amp Cronin P (1998) The schoolyears In P Kelly amp G M Gale (Eds)Towards excellence Effective educationfor students with vision impairments (pp118 ndash136) North Rocks Australia NorthRocks Press

Goodenow C (1993) The PsychologicalSense of School Membership among adolesshycents Scale development and educationalcorrelates Psychology in the Schools 30(1)79ndash90

Gray C (2009) A qualitatively different exshyperience Mainstreaming pupils with avisual impairment in Northern IrelandEuropean Journal of Special Needs Edushycation 24(2) 169ndash182 doi 10108008856250902793644

Hadidi M S amp Al Khateeb J M (2013)Loneliness among students with blindnessand sighted students in Jordan A briefreport International Journal of DisabilityDevelopment and Education 60(2) 167ndash172 doi 1010801034912x2012723949

Hagborg W J (1998) School membershipamong students with learning disabilitiesand nondisabled students in a semiruralhigh school Psychology in the Schools35(2) 183ndash188

Hatlen P (2004) Is social isolation a predictshyable outcome of inclusive education Jourshynal of Visual Impairment amp Blindness98(11) 676 ndash678

Hatton D D Ivy S E amp Boyer C (2013)

Severe visual impairments in infants and

sual Impairment amp Blindness January-February 2017 17

awareness There were also moderate reshylationships between fitting in enjoymentand loneliness Students who did not feellike they fitted in were more likely to feellonely and not enjoy themselves Therewere no significant correlations with genshyder age grade level of vision andICSEA and internal variables Significantcorrelations between age and additionaldisability (rb = 77) and grade and addishytional disability (rb = 84) reflected asampling issue

Discussion The results of this small-scale study sugshygest that the majority of students felt inshycluded in their respective schools andconcur with Grayrsquos (2009) survey of speshycial needs co-coordinators These educashytors felt that most visually impaired stushydents had good relationships with peersand teachers and were fully engaged inschool life The PSSM item that our parshyticipants rated highest related to havingan adult to talk to if problems arose andreinforces previous findings (Crouch etal 2014) on the importance of goodstudent-staff relationships to be includedfor high school students with disabilitiesldquoPeople know I can do good workrdquo wasanother PSSM item that participants ratedvery highly Perhaps for these studentspublic acknowledgement and recognitionof competence which counter stereotypshyical assumptions of disability are imporshytant parts of feeling included Oliverseemed to experience particular difficultyhere He perceived that his academiccompetence was not recognized or acshyknowledged because he used braille amedium foreign to his peers Althoughmost students felt included there was a

group of students primarily students with

14 Journal of Visual Impairment amp Blindness January-Februa

additional disabilities who struggled soshycially feeling lonely not included and asif they did not fit in

On the Everyday Inclusion Survey acshytivities that seemed to involve a greaterdegree of choice or freedom were deshyscribed more positively than routine orcompulsory activities Activities with asingle friend as a companion did not rateas positively as did those with a group offriends (with the exception of eating) orwith students in other classes Studentstogether with a single friend were doingschoolwork or doing nothing not situashytions with a high degree of choice Incontrast groups of friends congregatedoutside class times to talk and joke and doleisure activities over which they had relshyatively more choice and freedom Stushydents in other classes were companions inextracurricular activities also associatedwith more choice and freedom

Our results quantify the effect of doingnothing in relation to other activities atschool highlighting lack of participationlack of awareness loneliness not fittingin and lack of acceptance In many ofthese instances students were forced intodoing nothing because class activitieswere inaccessible Inaccessible pedagogyhas been identified previously (Whitburn2014) Math PE and sports were subshyject areas listed by our participants andwere also previously identified as probshylematic for visually impaired students(Gray 2009) The gaps our students deshyscribed were substantial In some casesthey encompassed an entire lesson It isclear from this study and other researchthat visually impaired students have towork hard to maintain parity with peersand the everyday activities of life often

take longer (Gale amp Cronin 1998 Sacks

ry 2017 copy2017 AFB All Rights Reserved

amp Wolffe 1998) Doing nothing wastedvaluable time This indicates that staffneed more awareness of the importance oftime to visually impaired students and theimperative to provide access to all aspectsof the curriculum

There was a mild but fairly frequentelement of loneliness at school Studentsreported loneliness about one-third of thetime although they never reported beingldquoheapsrdquo lonely Historically the prevashylence of loneliness has been higher invisually impaired students than for peerswho are sighted (Hadidi amp Al Khateeb2013) girls in particular (Huurre amp Aro1998) We found no relationship betweengender and loneliness but identified doingnothing and eating as activities in whichstudents felt most lonely

The reason eating seemed to be a timewhen students felt lonely is unclear Regshyularly eating alone reinforced perceptionsof isolation for Oliver Eating with agroup of friends was also lonely for someThis may reflect the quality of the grouprelationships Anna who felt lonely eatshying in a group did not regard her group offriends at school as real friends Eatingwith them however might have beenpreferred to eating alone Alternativelyfeeling lonely when eating in a groupcould reflect challenges in keeping pacewith subtle group interactions Unliketheir sighted peers it may not be easyto attend to the details of eating (suchas locating unwrapping and steadyingfood) while keeping up with the banterand spontaneity of group conversation

Almost half (44) of all class interacshytions involved students receiving unrecipshyrocated help This degree of frequencyseems higher than that given to sighted

peers yet for the most part students felt

copy2017 AFB All Rights Reserved Journal of Vi

comfortable being helped Staff providedthe majority of help and although theseinteractions were not enjoyable theywere not particularly disliked either Ourparticipants did not seem to experiencethe degree of tension reflected in otherstudies that have noted dilemmas betweenthe need for adult assistance and a dislikeof the social perceptions this assistance orchaperoning creates (West et al 2004Whitburn amp OrsquoConnor 2011) Tensionmay still exist however since doingnothing as an alternative is even less enshyjoyable (see Table 3) Help may be thelesser of two evils or alternatively pershyhaps our results simply speak well to thediscretion and sensitivity of these staff

The presence of an additional disabilitynegatively influenced perceptions of inshyclusion The proportion of students in ourgroup who had additional disabilities was25 whereas these students now comshyprise 65 of visually impaired students(Hatton Ivy amp Boyer 2013) Further reshysearch may be needed into this lack ofinclusion Perhaps the energy and timerequired to attend to health-related needsas well as academic tasks leaves littletime and energy to focus on developingor maintaining social connections Orperhaps as Jasmine articulated some ofthese students may have a perspective onlife that does not resonate with the morecommonly appreciated experiences ofteenagers These students may find it difshyficult to negotiate the balance betweentheir personal and social identities stayshying true to themselves and also connectshying with the more popular interests andvalues of peers These students wereamong the youngest in this sample ofadolescents Although no relationships

were found (see Table 4) between grade

sual Impairment amp Blindness January-February 2017 15

or age and the internal variables perhapsstudents with additional disabilities needmore time alone than other visually imshypaired peers do to find common groundwith sighted peers

The more these students perceived theyfit (see Table 4) the more enjoyable andless lonely was their experience of schoolThis suggests as has been found in otherstudies (Khadka et al 2012) that stushydents will gravitate towards practices thatemphasize similarity with sighted peersThis may at times create tension betweenstudents and the adults who seek from along-term perspective to guide them toshywards particular educational or vocationaloutcomes Social pursuits may take preshycedence over academic tasks and equipshyment deemed ldquoclunkyrdquo may not be utishylized Some students may be reluctant touse braille in class if they perceive itcreates a social barrier as alluded to byOliver in this current study

There may be the potential for schoolsto utilize clubs and extracurricular activshyities as developmental resources for visushyally impaired students Experiences in acshytivities that provided relative choice andfreedom were rated most positively bystudents Judiciously facilitated interestgroups could provide time and opportushynities for visually impaired students todevelop their personal and social identishyties share interests and reciprocate withpeers (Jessup et al 2010 Rosenblum2000) Douros (2015) who is visuallyimpaired and has additional disabilitiesvalued clubs as a way of developingfriendships They provided opportunitiesfor reciprocity and consequent respect forher within her school These opportunitiesmay be particularly important if there are

few opportunities for students to share

16 Journal of Visual Impairment amp Blindness January-Februa

interests display competence or reciproshycate elsewhere

LIMITATIONS

As the data obtained are from a relativelysmall sample care needs to be exercisedwhen extrapolating beyond this group ofstudents This study should be regarded asexploratory providing evidence for conshysideration and direction for further reshysearch As previously noted this group ofparticipants had a lower proportion of vishysually impaired students with additionaldisabilities than is representative of thispopulation of adolescents As participantswere self-selected there may be a higherdegree of students struggling at schoolthan is represented here

Conclusion This study has both provided encourageshyment and highlighted concerns in regardto the inclusion of visually impaired highschool students Most students whoseonly disability is visual impairment reshyported feeling included It would be inshystructive to understand how these stushydentsrsquo social experiences in high schoolcompare with those experiences out ofschool

The school experience is more enjoyshyable if visually impaired students pershyceive they fit in with their peers Practishytioners can facilitate fitting in by ensuringboth discreet and timely access to all asshypects of the curriculum Gaps still exist incurriculum access many of which seempreventable The value of time to thesestudents needs to be respected as essentialto both academic parity and friendshipdevelopment There may also be potentialfor schools to utilize extracurricular clubs

for some of these students so they can

ry 2017 copy2017 AFB All Rights Reserved

develop common ground with peers Thesocial challenges that still exist for somestudents including those students withadditional disabilities are concerning beshycause of the now-well-established linksbetween social experience and mentalhealth Future research may need to focusmore closely on the school social experishyences of these students

References Bossaert G Colpin H Pijl S J amp Petry

K (2013) Truly included A literaturestudy focusing on the social dimension ofinclusion in education International Jourshynal of Inclusive Education 17(1) 60ndash79doi 101080136031162011580464

Bray P Bundy A C Ryan M M ampNorth K N (2010) Feasibility of a comshyputerized method to measure quality ofldquoeverydayrdquo life in children with neuromusshycular disorders Physical amp OccupationalTherapy in Pediatrics 30(1) 43ndash53 doi10310901942630903294687

Cochrane G Lamoureux E amp Keeffe J(2008) Defining the content for a newquality of life questionnaire for studentswith low vision (The Impact of Vision Imshypairment on Children IVI_C) OphthalmicEpidemiology 15(2) 114 ndash120 doi 10108009286580701772029

Crouch R Keys C B amp McMahon S D(2014) Studentndashteacher relationships matterfor school inclusion School belongingdisability and school transitions Journalof Prevention amp Intervention in theCommunity 42(1) 20 ndash30 doi 101080108523522014855054

Department of Science (2007) Improve thelearning outcomes of students with disabilshyities in the early middle and post compulshysory years of schooling Department of Scishyence Education and Training AustralianGovernment Canberra

DET (2010) Explaining ICSEA New SouthWales Department of Education and Trainshying Retrieved from httpwwwschools

nsweduaumediadownloadsschoolsweb

copy2017 AFB All Rights Reserved Journal of Vi

newsannouncementsyr2010janwhat_is_icseapdf

Dıez A M (2010) School memories ofyoung people with disabilities An analysisof barriers and aids to inclusion Disabilityamp Society 25(2) 163ndash175 doi 10108009687590903534346

Douros A (2015) Surviving secondary schoolas a blind student Paper presented at theBiennial Conference of the South Pacific Edshyucators in Vision Impairment Melbourne

Everitt B S Landau S Leese M amp StahlD (2011) Cluster analysis (5th ed) WestSussex John Wiley amp Sons

Field A (2009) Discovering statistics usingSPSS (3rd ed) London SAGE

Gale G M amp Cronin P (1998) The schoolyears In P Kelly amp G M Gale (Eds)Towards excellence Effective educationfor students with vision impairments (pp118 ndash136) North Rocks Australia NorthRocks Press

Goodenow C (1993) The PsychologicalSense of School Membership among adolesshycents Scale development and educationalcorrelates Psychology in the Schools 30(1)79ndash90

Gray C (2009) A qualitatively different exshyperience Mainstreaming pupils with avisual impairment in Northern IrelandEuropean Journal of Special Needs Edushycation 24(2) 169ndash182 doi 10108008856250902793644

Hadidi M S amp Al Khateeb J M (2013)Loneliness among students with blindnessand sighted students in Jordan A briefreport International Journal of DisabilityDevelopment and Education 60(2) 167ndash172 doi 1010801034912x2012723949

Hagborg W J (1998) School membershipamong students with learning disabilitiesand nondisabled students in a semiruralhigh school Psychology in the Schools35(2) 183ndash188

Hatlen P (2004) Is social isolation a predictshyable outcome of inclusive education Jourshynal of Visual Impairment amp Blindness98(11) 676 ndash678

Hatton D D Ivy S E amp Boyer C (2013)

Severe visual impairments in infants and

sual Impairment amp Blindness January-February 2017 17

amp Wolffe 1998) Doing nothing wastedvaluable time This indicates that staffneed more awareness of the importance oftime to visually impaired students and theimperative to provide access to all aspectsof the curriculum

There was a mild but fairly frequentelement of loneliness at school Studentsreported loneliness about one-third of thetime although they never reported beingldquoheapsrdquo lonely Historically the prevashylence of loneliness has been higher invisually impaired students than for peerswho are sighted (Hadidi amp Al Khateeb2013) girls in particular (Huurre amp Aro1998) We found no relationship betweengender and loneliness but identified doingnothing and eating as activities in whichstudents felt most lonely

The reason eating seemed to be a timewhen students felt lonely is unclear Regshyularly eating alone reinforced perceptionsof isolation for Oliver Eating with agroup of friends was also lonely for someThis may reflect the quality of the grouprelationships Anna who felt lonely eatshying in a group did not regard her group offriends at school as real friends Eatingwith them however might have beenpreferred to eating alone Alternativelyfeeling lonely when eating in a groupcould reflect challenges in keeping pacewith subtle group interactions Unliketheir sighted peers it may not be easyto attend to the details of eating (suchas locating unwrapping and steadyingfood) while keeping up with the banterand spontaneity of group conversation

Almost half (44) of all class interacshytions involved students receiving unrecipshyrocated help This degree of frequencyseems higher than that given to sighted

peers yet for the most part students felt

copy2017 AFB All Rights Reserved Journal of Vi

comfortable being helped Staff providedthe majority of help and although theseinteractions were not enjoyable theywere not particularly disliked either Ourparticipants did not seem to experiencethe degree of tension reflected in otherstudies that have noted dilemmas betweenthe need for adult assistance and a dislikeof the social perceptions this assistance orchaperoning creates (West et al 2004Whitburn amp OrsquoConnor 2011) Tensionmay still exist however since doingnothing as an alternative is even less enshyjoyable (see Table 3) Help may be thelesser of two evils or alternatively pershyhaps our results simply speak well to thediscretion and sensitivity of these staff

The presence of an additional disabilitynegatively influenced perceptions of inshyclusion The proportion of students in ourgroup who had additional disabilities was25 whereas these students now comshyprise 65 of visually impaired students(Hatton Ivy amp Boyer 2013) Further reshysearch may be needed into this lack ofinclusion Perhaps the energy and timerequired to attend to health-related needsas well as academic tasks leaves littletime and energy to focus on developingor maintaining social connections Orperhaps as Jasmine articulated some ofthese students may have a perspective onlife that does not resonate with the morecommonly appreciated experiences ofteenagers These students may find it difshyficult to negotiate the balance betweentheir personal and social identities stayshying true to themselves and also connectshying with the more popular interests andvalues of peers These students wereamong the youngest in this sample ofadolescents Although no relationships

were found (see Table 4) between grade

sual Impairment amp Blindness January-February 2017 15

or age and the internal variables perhapsstudents with additional disabilities needmore time alone than other visually imshypaired peers do to find common groundwith sighted peers

The more these students perceived theyfit (see Table 4) the more enjoyable andless lonely was their experience of schoolThis suggests as has been found in otherstudies (Khadka et al 2012) that stushydents will gravitate towards practices thatemphasize similarity with sighted peersThis may at times create tension betweenstudents and the adults who seek from along-term perspective to guide them toshywards particular educational or vocationaloutcomes Social pursuits may take preshycedence over academic tasks and equipshyment deemed ldquoclunkyrdquo may not be utishylized Some students may be reluctant touse braille in class if they perceive itcreates a social barrier as alluded to byOliver in this current study

There may be the potential for schoolsto utilize clubs and extracurricular activshyities as developmental resources for visushyally impaired students Experiences in acshytivities that provided relative choice andfreedom were rated most positively bystudents Judiciously facilitated interestgroups could provide time and opportushynities for visually impaired students todevelop their personal and social identishyties share interests and reciprocate withpeers (Jessup et al 2010 Rosenblum2000) Douros (2015) who is visuallyimpaired and has additional disabilitiesvalued clubs as a way of developingfriendships They provided opportunitiesfor reciprocity and consequent respect forher within her school These opportunitiesmay be particularly important if there are

few opportunities for students to share

16 Journal of Visual Impairment amp Blindness January-Februa

interests display competence or reciproshycate elsewhere

LIMITATIONS

As the data obtained are from a relativelysmall sample care needs to be exercisedwhen extrapolating beyond this group ofstudents This study should be regarded asexploratory providing evidence for conshysideration and direction for further reshysearch As previously noted this group ofparticipants had a lower proportion of vishysually impaired students with additionaldisabilities than is representative of thispopulation of adolescents As participantswere self-selected there may be a higherdegree of students struggling at schoolthan is represented here

Conclusion This study has both provided encourageshyment and highlighted concerns in regardto the inclusion of visually impaired highschool students Most students whoseonly disability is visual impairment reshyported feeling included It would be inshystructive to understand how these stushydentsrsquo social experiences in high schoolcompare with those experiences out ofschool

The school experience is more enjoyshyable if visually impaired students pershyceive they fit in with their peers Practishytioners can facilitate fitting in by ensuringboth discreet and timely access to all asshypects of the curriculum Gaps still exist incurriculum access many of which seempreventable The value of time to thesestudents needs to be respected as essentialto both academic parity and friendshipdevelopment There may also be potentialfor schools to utilize extracurricular clubs

for some of these students so they can

ry 2017 copy2017 AFB All Rights Reserved

develop common ground with peers Thesocial challenges that still exist for somestudents including those students withadditional disabilities are concerning beshycause of the now-well-established linksbetween social experience and mentalhealth Future research may need to focusmore closely on the school social experishyences of these students

References Bossaert G Colpin H Pijl S J amp Petry

K (2013) Truly included A literaturestudy focusing on the social dimension ofinclusion in education International Jourshynal of Inclusive Education 17(1) 60ndash79doi 101080136031162011580464

Bray P Bundy A C Ryan M M ampNorth K N (2010) Feasibility of a comshyputerized method to measure quality ofldquoeverydayrdquo life in children with neuromusshycular disorders Physical amp OccupationalTherapy in Pediatrics 30(1) 43ndash53 doi10310901942630903294687

Cochrane G Lamoureux E amp Keeffe J(2008) Defining the content for a newquality of life questionnaire for studentswith low vision (The Impact of Vision Imshypairment on Children IVI_C) OphthalmicEpidemiology 15(2) 114 ndash120 doi 10108009286580701772029

Crouch R Keys C B amp McMahon S D(2014) Studentndashteacher relationships matterfor school inclusion School belongingdisability and school transitions Journalof Prevention amp Intervention in theCommunity 42(1) 20 ndash30 doi 101080108523522014855054

Department of Science (2007) Improve thelearning outcomes of students with disabilshyities in the early middle and post compulshysory years of schooling Department of Scishyence Education and Training AustralianGovernment Canberra

DET (2010) Explaining ICSEA New SouthWales Department of Education and Trainshying Retrieved from httpwwwschools

nsweduaumediadownloadsschoolsweb

copy2017 AFB All Rights Reserved Journal of Vi

newsannouncementsyr2010janwhat_is_icseapdf

Dıez A M (2010) School memories ofyoung people with disabilities An analysisof barriers and aids to inclusion Disabilityamp Society 25(2) 163ndash175 doi 10108009687590903534346

Douros A (2015) Surviving secondary schoolas a blind student Paper presented at theBiennial Conference of the South Pacific Edshyucators in Vision Impairment Melbourne

Everitt B S Landau S Leese M amp StahlD (2011) Cluster analysis (5th ed) WestSussex John Wiley amp Sons

Field A (2009) Discovering statistics usingSPSS (3rd ed) London SAGE

Gale G M amp Cronin P (1998) The schoolyears In P Kelly amp G M Gale (Eds)Towards excellence Effective educationfor students with vision impairments (pp118 ndash136) North Rocks Australia NorthRocks Press

Goodenow C (1993) The PsychologicalSense of School Membership among adolesshycents Scale development and educationalcorrelates Psychology in the Schools 30(1)79ndash90

Gray C (2009) A qualitatively different exshyperience Mainstreaming pupils with avisual impairment in Northern IrelandEuropean Journal of Special Needs Edushycation 24(2) 169ndash182 doi 10108008856250902793644

Hadidi M S amp Al Khateeb J M (2013)Loneliness among students with blindnessand sighted students in Jordan A briefreport International Journal of DisabilityDevelopment and Education 60(2) 167ndash172 doi 1010801034912x2012723949

Hagborg W J (1998) School membershipamong students with learning disabilitiesand nondisabled students in a semiruralhigh school Psychology in the Schools35(2) 183ndash188

Hatlen P (2004) Is social isolation a predictshyable outcome of inclusive education Jourshynal of Visual Impairment amp Blindness98(11) 676 ndash678

Hatton D D Ivy S E amp Boyer C (2013)

Severe visual impairments in infants and

sual Impairment amp Blindness January-February 2017 17

or age and the internal variables perhapsstudents with additional disabilities needmore time alone than other visually imshypaired peers do to find common groundwith sighted peers

The more these students perceived theyfit (see Table 4) the more enjoyable andless lonely was their experience of schoolThis suggests as has been found in otherstudies (Khadka et al 2012) that stushydents will gravitate towards practices thatemphasize similarity with sighted peersThis may at times create tension betweenstudents and the adults who seek from along-term perspective to guide them toshywards particular educational or vocationaloutcomes Social pursuits may take preshycedence over academic tasks and equipshyment deemed ldquoclunkyrdquo may not be utishylized Some students may be reluctant touse braille in class if they perceive itcreates a social barrier as alluded to byOliver in this current study

There may be the potential for schoolsto utilize clubs and extracurricular activshyities as developmental resources for visushyally impaired students Experiences in acshytivities that provided relative choice andfreedom were rated most positively bystudents Judiciously facilitated interestgroups could provide time and opportushynities for visually impaired students todevelop their personal and social identishyties share interests and reciprocate withpeers (Jessup et al 2010 Rosenblum2000) Douros (2015) who is visuallyimpaired and has additional disabilitiesvalued clubs as a way of developingfriendships They provided opportunitiesfor reciprocity and consequent respect forher within her school These opportunitiesmay be particularly important if there are

few opportunities for students to share

16 Journal of Visual Impairment amp Blindness January-Februa

interests display competence or reciproshycate elsewhere

LIMITATIONS

As the data obtained are from a relativelysmall sample care needs to be exercisedwhen extrapolating beyond this group ofstudents This study should be regarded asexploratory providing evidence for conshysideration and direction for further reshysearch As previously noted this group ofparticipants had a lower proportion of vishysually impaired students with additionaldisabilities than is representative of thispopulation of adolescents As participantswere self-selected there may be a higherdegree of students struggling at schoolthan is represented here

Conclusion This study has both provided encourageshyment and highlighted concerns in regardto the inclusion of visually impaired highschool students Most students whoseonly disability is visual impairment reshyported feeling included It would be inshystructive to understand how these stushydentsrsquo social experiences in high schoolcompare with those experiences out ofschool

The school experience is more enjoyshyable if visually impaired students pershyceive they fit in with their peers Practishytioners can facilitate fitting in by ensuringboth discreet and timely access to all asshypects of the curriculum Gaps still exist incurriculum access many of which seempreventable The value of time to thesestudents needs to be respected as essentialto both academic parity and friendshipdevelopment There may also be potentialfor schools to utilize extracurricular clubs

for some of these students so they can

ry 2017 copy2017 AFB All Rights Reserved

develop common ground with peers Thesocial challenges that still exist for somestudents including those students withadditional disabilities are concerning beshycause of the now-well-established linksbetween social experience and mentalhealth Future research may need to focusmore closely on the school social experishyences of these students

References Bossaert G Colpin H Pijl S J amp Petry

K (2013) Truly included A literaturestudy focusing on the social dimension ofinclusion in education International Jourshynal of Inclusive Education 17(1) 60ndash79doi 101080136031162011580464

Bray P Bundy A C Ryan M M ampNorth K N (2010) Feasibility of a comshyputerized method to measure quality ofldquoeverydayrdquo life in children with neuromusshycular disorders Physical amp OccupationalTherapy in Pediatrics 30(1) 43ndash53 doi10310901942630903294687

Cochrane G Lamoureux E amp Keeffe J(2008) Defining the content for a newquality of life questionnaire for studentswith low vision (The Impact of Vision Imshypairment on Children IVI_C) OphthalmicEpidemiology 15(2) 114 ndash120 doi 10108009286580701772029

Crouch R Keys C B amp McMahon S D(2014) Studentndashteacher relationships matterfor school inclusion School belongingdisability and school transitions Journalof Prevention amp Intervention in theCommunity 42(1) 20 ndash30 doi 101080108523522014855054

Department of Science (2007) Improve thelearning outcomes of students with disabilshyities in the early middle and post compulshysory years of schooling Department of Scishyence Education and Training AustralianGovernment Canberra

DET (2010) Explaining ICSEA New SouthWales Department of Education and Trainshying Retrieved from httpwwwschools

nsweduaumediadownloadsschoolsweb

copy2017 AFB All Rights Reserved Journal of Vi

newsannouncementsyr2010janwhat_is_icseapdf

Dıez A M (2010) School memories ofyoung people with disabilities An analysisof barriers and aids to inclusion Disabilityamp Society 25(2) 163ndash175 doi 10108009687590903534346

Douros A (2015) Surviving secondary schoolas a blind student Paper presented at theBiennial Conference of the South Pacific Edshyucators in Vision Impairment Melbourne

Everitt B S Landau S Leese M amp StahlD (2011) Cluster analysis (5th ed) WestSussex John Wiley amp Sons

Field A (2009) Discovering statistics usingSPSS (3rd ed) London SAGE

Gale G M amp Cronin P (1998) The schoolyears In P Kelly amp G M Gale (Eds)Towards excellence Effective educationfor students with vision impairments (pp118 ndash136) North Rocks Australia NorthRocks Press

Goodenow C (1993) The PsychologicalSense of School Membership among adolesshycents Scale development and educationalcorrelates Psychology in the Schools 30(1)79ndash90

Gray C (2009) A qualitatively different exshyperience Mainstreaming pupils with avisual impairment in Northern IrelandEuropean Journal of Special Needs Edushycation 24(2) 169ndash182 doi 10108008856250902793644

Hadidi M S amp Al Khateeb J M (2013)Loneliness among students with blindnessand sighted students in Jordan A briefreport International Journal of DisabilityDevelopment and Education 60(2) 167ndash172 doi 1010801034912x2012723949

Hagborg W J (1998) School membershipamong students with learning disabilitiesand nondisabled students in a semiruralhigh school Psychology in the Schools35(2) 183ndash188

Hatlen P (2004) Is social isolation a predictshyable outcome of inclusive education Jourshynal of Visual Impairment amp Blindness98(11) 676 ndash678

Hatton D D Ivy S E amp Boyer C (2013)

Severe visual impairments in infants and

sual Impairment amp Blindness January-February 2017 17

develop common ground with peers Thesocial challenges that still exist for somestudents including those students withadditional disabilities are concerning beshycause of the now-well-established linksbetween social experience and mentalhealth Future research may need to focusmore closely on the school social experishyences of these students

References Bossaert G Colpin H Pijl S J amp Petry

K (2013) Truly included A literaturestudy focusing on the social dimension ofinclusion in education International Jourshynal of Inclusive Education 17(1) 60ndash79doi 101080136031162011580464

Bray P Bundy A C Ryan M M ampNorth K N (2010) Feasibility of a comshyputerized method to measure quality ofldquoeverydayrdquo life in children with neuromusshycular disorders Physical amp OccupationalTherapy in Pediatrics 30(1) 43ndash53 doi10310901942630903294687

Cochrane G Lamoureux E amp Keeffe J(2008) Defining the content for a newquality of life questionnaire for studentswith low vision (The Impact of Vision Imshypairment on Children IVI_C) OphthalmicEpidemiology 15(2) 114 ndash120 doi 10108009286580701772029

Crouch R Keys C B amp McMahon S D(2014) Studentndashteacher relationships matterfor school inclusion School belongingdisability and school transitions Journalof Prevention amp Intervention in theCommunity 42(1) 20 ndash30 doi 101080108523522014855054

Department of Science (2007) Improve thelearning outcomes of students with disabilshyities in the early middle and post compulshysory years of schooling Department of Scishyence Education and Training AustralianGovernment Canberra

DET (2010) Explaining ICSEA New SouthWales Department of Education and Trainshying Retrieved from httpwwwschools

nsweduaumediadownloadsschoolsweb

copy2017 AFB All Rights Reserved Journal of Vi

newsannouncementsyr2010janwhat_is_icseapdf

Dıez A M (2010) School memories ofyoung people with disabilities An analysisof barriers and aids to inclusion Disabilityamp Society 25(2) 163ndash175 doi 10108009687590903534346

Douros A (2015) Surviving secondary schoolas a blind student Paper presented at theBiennial Conference of the South Pacific Edshyucators in Vision Impairment Melbourne

Everitt B S Landau S Leese M amp StahlD (2011) Cluster analysis (5th ed) WestSussex John Wiley amp Sons

Field A (2009) Discovering statistics usingSPSS (3rd ed) London SAGE

Gale G M amp Cronin P (1998) The schoolyears In P Kelly amp G M Gale (Eds)Towards excellence Effective educationfor students with vision impairments (pp118 ndash136) North Rocks Australia NorthRocks Press

Goodenow C (1993) The PsychologicalSense of School Membership among adolesshycents Scale development and educationalcorrelates Psychology in the Schools 30(1)79ndash90

Gray C (2009) A qualitatively different exshyperience Mainstreaming pupils with avisual impairment in Northern IrelandEuropean Journal of Special Needs Edushycation 24(2) 169ndash182 doi 10108008856250902793644

Hadidi M S amp Al Khateeb J M (2013)Loneliness among students with blindnessand sighted students in Jordan A briefreport International Journal of DisabilityDevelopment and Education 60(2) 167ndash172 doi 1010801034912x2012723949

Hagborg W J (1998) School membershipamong students with learning disabilitiesand nondisabled students in a semiruralhigh school Psychology in the Schools35(2) 183ndash188

Hatlen P (2004) Is social isolation a predictshyable outcome of inclusive education Jourshynal of Visual Impairment amp Blindness98(11) 676 ndash678

Hatton D D Ivy S E amp Boyer C (2013)

Severe visual impairments in infants and

sual Impairment amp Blindness January-February 2017 17

toddlers in the United States Journal ofVisual Impairment amp Blindness 107(5)325ndash337

Hektner J M Schmidt J A amp Csikszentshymihalyi M (2007) Experience SamplingMethod Measuring the quality of everydaylife Thousand Oaks California Sage

Huurre T M amp Aro H M (1998) Psychoshysocial development among adolescentswith visual impairment European Child ampAdolescent Psychiatry 7(2) 73ndash78 doi101007s007870050050

Jessup G M Bundy A C Broom A ampHancock N (2013) Sampling social expeshyriences in school Feasibility of experiencesampling methodology on an iPlatformJournal of the South Pacific Educators inVision Impairment 6 79ndash85

Jessup G M Cornell E amp Bundy A C(2010) The treasure in leisure activitiesFostering resilience in young people whoare blind Journal of Visual Impairment ampBlindness 104(7) 419 ndash430

Kef S (1997) The personal networks andsocial supports of blind and visually imshypaired adolescents Journal of Visual Imshypairment amp Blindness 91(3) 236 ndash244

Khadka J Ryan B Margrain T H Wood-house J M amp Davies N (2012) Listenshying to voices of children with a visual imshypairment A focus group study BritishJournal of Visual Impairment 30(3) 182ndash196 doi 1011770264619612453105

Larson R W amp Verma S (1999) How chilshydren and adolescents spend time across theworld Work play and developmental opshyportunities Psychological Bulletin 125(6)701ndash736

Osterman K F (2000) Studentsrsquo need forbelonging in the school community Reshyview of Educational Research 70(3) 323ndash367 doi 10310200346543070003323

Prince E J amp Hadwin J (2013) The role ofa sense of school belonging in understandingthe effectiveness of inclusion of childrenwith special educational needs InternationalJournal of Inclusive Education 17(3) 282ndash262 doi 101080136031162012676081

Rosenblum L P (2000) Perceptions of the

impact of visual impairment on the lives of

18 Journal of Visual Impairment amp Blindness January-Februa

adolescents Journal of Visual Impairmentamp Blindness 94(7) 434 ndash445

Sacks S amp Wolffe K (1998) Lifestyles ofadolescents with visual impairments Anethnographic analysis Journal of VisualImpairment amp Blindness 92(1) 7ndash17

Shochet I M Dadds M R Ham D ampMontague R (2006) School connectednessis an underemphasized parameter in adolesshycent mental health Results of a communityprediction study Journal of Clinical Child ampAdolescent Psychology 35(2) 170ndash179 doi101207s15374424jccp3502_1

Soumlderstroumlm S amp Ytterhus S (2010) The useand non-use of assistive technologies fromthe world of information and communicationtechnology by visually impaired young peoshyple A walk on a tightrope of peer inclusionDisability amp Society 25(3) 303ndash315 doi10108009687591003701215

Sylwester R (2007) The adolescent brainReaching for autonomy Thousand OaksCA Corwin Press

Thomas H J Chan G C Scott J G Con-nor J P Kelly A B amp Williams J (2015)Association of different forms of bullyingvictimisation with adolescentsrsquo psychologishycal distress and reduced emotional wellshybeing Australian and New Zealand Journalof Psychiatry 50(4) 371ndash379 doi 1011770004867415600076

Uttermohlen T (1997) On ldquopassingrdquo throughadolescence Journal of Visual Impairmentamp Blindness 91(3) 309 ndash314

West J Houghton S Taylor M amp KiaLing P (2004) The perspectives of Sinshygapore secondary school students with vishysion impairments towards their inclusion inmainstream education Australasian Jourshynal of Special Education 28(1) 18ndash27

Whitburn B (2014) lsquoA really good teachingstrategyrsquo Secondary students with visionimpairment voice their experiences of inshyclusive teacher pedagogy British Journalof Visual Impairment 32(2) 148 ndash156 doi1011770264619614523279

Whitburn B amp OrsquoConnor B (2011) Exshyploring the voices of secondary school stushydents with vision impairment about their

experiences of inclusion Implications for

ry 2017 copy2017 AFB All Rights Reserved

educational and support staff Paper presentedat the Biennial Conference of the South PacificEducators in Vision Impairment Sydney

Glenda Jessup MAppSc PhD candidate reshysearch associate Occupational Therapy Univershysity of Sydney PO Box 114 Coogee NSW 2034Australia e-mail glendajessupsydneyeduauAnita C Bundy ScD head of department Ocshy

copy2017 AFB All Rights Reserved Journal of Vi

1573 Campus Delivery Ft Collins CO 80523and professor Occupational Therapy Universityof Sydney e-mail anitabundycolostateeduAlex Broom PhD professor of sociology Unishyversity of New South Wales Room 308 GoodsellBuilding Kensington Campus Kensington NSW2052 Australia e-mail abroomunsweduauNicola Hancock PhD senior lecturer Occupashytional Therapy J120 University of Sydney Cumber-land Campus PO Box 170 Lidcombe NSW 1825

cupational Therapy Colorado State University Australia e-mail nicolahancocksydneyeduau

sual Impairment amp Blindness January-February 2017 19

educational and support staff Paper presentedat the Biennial Conference of the South PacificEducators in Vision Impairment Sydney

Glenda Jessup MAppSc PhD candidate reshysearch associate Occupational Therapy Univershysity of Sydney PO Box 114 Coogee NSW 2034Australia e-mail glendajessupsydneyeduauAnita C Bundy ScD head of department Ocshy

copy2017 AFB All Rights Reserved Journal of Vi

1573 Campus Delivery Ft Collins CO 80523and professor Occupational Therapy Universityof Sydney e-mail anitabundycolostateeduAlex Broom PhD professor of sociology Unishyversity of New South Wales Room 308 GoodsellBuilding Kensington Campus Kensington NSW2052 Australia e-mail abroomunsweduauNicola Hancock PhD senior lecturer Occupashytional Therapy J120 University of Sydney Cumber-land Campus PO Box 170 Lidcombe NSW 1825

cupational Therapy Colorado State University Australia e-mail nicolahancocksydneyeduau

sual Impairment amp Blindness January-February 2017 19