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Author: search.filters.author.Bandara, S

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    PublicationOpen Access
    From ‘Frying Pan to Fire’: Unprecedented Challenges of COVID-19 on Blind People in Sri Lanka
    (2021) Suraweera, T; Thelijjagoda, S; Jayathilaka, R; Bandara, S; Gunasekara, S; Hasintha, S
    COVID-19 has shattered all wakes of people’s lives in most countries in diverse proportions. Sri Lanka being no exception, has experienced the spread in early March 2020 and later in September in the same year. Since then, the Government has implemented a wide range of far-reaching health measures and several other social restrictions with the view to combating the spread of the disease. Among the badly challenged fractions of the population due to pandemic was the people with disabilities. It is known that the persons with visually impairments and blindness represent the majority of this vulnerable community. The impact of the pandemic on the blind people are mostly untouched. Purpose of this paper is to examine the challenges of COVID-19 experienced by the blind people in the light of their social and economic life. A qualitative case study approach was adopted for data collection. Thirty-six blind persons representing of diverse livelihood activities, selected through purposive sampling method were interviewed. The interview transcriptions were initially examined through word cloud and subjected to thematic analysis for examining changes to social and economic activities. Results highlight that owing to COVID-19 pandemic shutdown, blind people have been severally disturbed in several aspects, some of which are unique to this community. The key challenges identified are related to mobility and transportation, acquisition of daily needs, disturbed social interactions, income earning opportunities, and information and communication. The precautionary measures implemented on COVID-19 pandemic has brought about disturbances that are relatively severer for the blind people on moving forwards with their day-to-day life activities, than the sighted people. The decision makers dealing with pandemic situations should take into consideration of inclusive policies.
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    PublicationOpen Access
    ACADEMIC SUCCESS OF PERSONS WITH VISUAL IMPAIRMENT AND BLINDNESS IN THE TERTIARY SECTOR: EXPLANATORY MODEL
    (Available on-line at: www.oapub.org/edu, 2022-01-14) Suraweera, T; Bandara, S; Wickramarachchi, C; Dewage, N; Gunawardana, T; Nanayakkara, N; Yapa, E; Thelijjagoda, S; Jayathilaka, R
    Ensuring universal access to education is an effective and sustainable means of empowering people with visual impairment and blindness. Literature confirms that blindness of a person is not a barrier for learning, yet past research brings about a range of diverse obstacles for productive engagement in education due to universities being designed for the sighted persons. Given that the persons with impairment are looked after comparatively better in the western world than in the developing nations for realising their challenging academic goals. Purpose of this paper is to present the findings of a comprehensive study on the academic work of persons with visual impairment and blindness in the tertiary sector. This population included recent undergraduates and those who have completed a university degree. The two distinct outcomes presented are; (first phase) the critical factors influencing the academic performance of persons with visually impairment and blindness and, (second phase) an explanatory model that characterizes the construct ‘the academic performance’. Using a semi-structured questionnaire, purposely selected eleven key informant interviews were utilized for the first phase for the qualitative investigation. Thematic analysis was used as the main method of data analysis. The Second phase employed a sample survey. Fifty respondents who had studied in universities during the 5-year period from 2015-2020 were selected through snow-ball sampling. Exploratory factor analysis was used as the main data analysis technique. The key findings of phase one revealed that external support, physical environment, motivation to learn, instructional strategies, ICT and English literacy are major contributory factors to academic performance. The second phase of the quantitative analysis derived five composite factors. Of these, the factor labeled “Motivating influences” appears to be mostly contributing to the academic performance of persons with visual impairment and blindness. While education is a lifelong endeavor of a person, these findings can contribute to make a substantial change in the quality of life of this community in the long run.