The purpose of this study was to evaluate the perceived self-competence of youths with visual impairment in Turkey in the Expanded Core Curriculum (ECC) areas. To examine how youths with visual impairment perceive their self-competence within the nine ECC areas, an ECC screening tool developed by the Iowa Department of Education was adapted into a five-point Likert-type scale (ranging from 1 = strongly disagree to 5 = strongly agree). Participants were 118 high school students with visual impairment across Turkey. Statistical analysis procedures included descriptive and nonparametric methods. The descriptive statistics were used to determine how participants perceive their competences in the nine ECC areas. The Mann-Whitney U test was used to compare the differences between the mean ranks of self-competence levels within the independent groups. Gender, grade level, and socio-economic level were the variables that evidenced significant differences (p < .05) among the participants’ self-competence levels in the ECC areas of independent living, career education, orientation and mobility (O&M), recreational and leisure skills. The findings demonstrated that some demographic variables may be considered as possible factors contributing to perceived self-competence of youths with visual impairment. As one of the earliest studies relating to ECC skills of youth with vision impairment in Turkey, practitioners may find value in the construct of Likert-type scale to measure the perceived self-competence of youths with visual impairment in the ECC areas.

This study examined experiences of Turkish university students with visual impairments. Semi-structured phone interviews were conducted with eight students with visual impairments from six universities across the country about their experiences in higher education. The qualitative data analysis techniques including classical content analysis and constant comparison were utilized. As the result, it was understood that university students with visual impairments face academic and social challenges. Academic challenges included a lack of course materials available in alternative formats, reliance on audio-recorder in following instructions, and instructors' lack of knowledge. Social challenges that the students face was identified as dependency to parents and others' rude attitudes toward them. Lastly, accommodations and support services provided to these students were explored. It was observed that a very few universities offer necessary technical equipment to these students. In addition, student disability services at universities do not work sufficiently to meet the needs of students with visual impairments. The findings of this study are parallel to what was found in the previous studies on the same topic conducted in Turkey. Therefore, as the developing country, there is an urgent need for improvement in several areas to provide equal educational opportunities to students with visual impairments at universities. Some of the suggestions for the improvement in practice are organizing professional developments for university personnel and preparing students with visual impairment starting in kindergarten for universities by teaching all the skills they would need in the future.

High-quality education for students with visual impairments starts with service intensity determination based on the needs of students by teachers of students with visual impairments (Lewis & Allman, 2017; Spungin et al., 2016). Even though the Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act (IDEA) emphasizes addressing students’ needs for service delivery (United States Department of Education, 2004), some teachers of students with visual impairments continue taking other factors such as caseload size into account for service intensity determination (Pogrund et al., 2019). Similarly, The Michigan Vision Services Severity Rating Scale (Michigan Department of Education, 2017) does not focus on the individual needs of the students to recommend service time. For example, it considers teachers’ availability such as travel time while determining service intensity. It also uses students’ visual condition as a criterion, which may not always accurately reflect the needs of the students for service delivery time.