Ecossistema inclusivo, acessível e colaborativo para acadêmicos com deficiência visual no ensino superior

Abstract

This thesis investigates and proposes, in light of Urie Bronfenbrenner's Bioecological Theory of Human Development, a model of an inclusive, accessible, collaborative, and technologically mediated educational ecosystem, designed to enhance access, retention, and success of visually impaired students in higher education. The research, qualitative, descriptive, and analytical in nature, was developed in three interconnected stages. The first consisted of recruiting participants through snowball sampling, involving academics and graduates with visual impairments from different regions of Brazil. The second stage comprised the development, validation, and application of a semi-structured questionnaire and interviews, organized according to the PPCT model (Person, Process, Context, and Time). The third involved the treatment and interpretation of the empirical corpus, articulating the Discourse Analysis proposed by Eni Orlandi with the references of the Biopsychosocial Assessment of Disability and the principles of Education 5.0. The results revealed senses of resistance, agency, and displacement, indicating that the inclusion of visually impaired students is built upon the dynamic interaction between individual characteristics, pedagogical practices, support networks, and institutional policies. Barriers and facilitators emerged, distributed across micro, meso, exo, macro, and chronosystem levels, highlighting the importance of pedagogical accessibility, teacher training, institutional co-responsibility, and technological mediation. The analysis allowed for the construction of an interpretative matrix that systematizes essential dimensions of an inclusive university ecosystem, supported by collaborative practices, a culture of accessibility, and the transversality of academic actions. Based on this matrix, the Count On Me application was designed, conceived as a tool to support student protagonism, longitudinal monitoring of educational trajectories, and the integration of institutional resources, services, and actions. The thesis demonstrates that inclusion is a collective and continuous process that requires articulation between policies, practices, and technologies, reaffirming higher education as a democratic, equitable, and plural space.