Latter-Day Saint Charities Supports UEW Resource Centre for Students with Special Needs
The Latter-Day Saint Charities on Friday, 1st November, 2019 donated 25 sets of refurbished computers and headphones and two computerized Braille Embossers to the Resource Centre for Students with Special Needs of the University of Education, Winneba (UEW).
The donation was to equip the Resource Centre with the needed equipment to enhance teaching and learning as well as aid students with special needs in their studies.
The Africa West Area Welfare Specialist, Elder Geoff J. Germane presented the items to the Head, Department of Special Education, Dr. Daniel Dogbe at the Resource Centre. Receiving the items on behalf of the University and the Centre, Dr. Dogbe expressed heartfelt gratitude to the donor and pledged to ensure that the items are used properly for the purpose for which they were brought.
The University has also employed an IT specialist, Mr. Anthony Gyening who is blind to be in charge of the Resource Centre. Mr. Gyening, commended Management for the opportunity offered him to teach and guide his colleagues with special needs to be able to achieve their dreams in life. He called for more equipment for effective and efficient teaching at the Resource Centre.
The Resource Centre for Students with Special Needs is a Unit under the Department of Special Education, established during the 1992/1993 academic year to assist students with visual impairment in the institution. Currently, the Centre supports 159 students who are visually impaired, 31 students with hearing impairment, two students with cerebral palsy, one student with deafblindness and three students who are physically challenged – two are wheelchair users.
IT specialist, Mr. Anthony Gyening
To ensure a successful academic integration in the University, the Centre produces learning materials in accessible formats for students with visual impairment and the deafblind who are print disabled. As part of the activities of the Resource Centre, chapters of textbooks, pamphlets and other learning materials are produced in Braille, softcopy and large print depending on the unique needs of the student for easy access.
Working in line with tenets of the Marrakesh Treaty which came into force in 2016, textbooks and other learning materials are scanned, edited to ensure that accurate information is presented and embossed in Braille symbology for those who need them. Large prints are also produced for the low vision readers while students with visual impairment who have computers are given the softcopy of scanned documents to read with the aid of screen readers such as JAWS and NVDA.
The facility is located at the Faculty of Educational Studies block room 102, North Campus, UEW.
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