Abstract:

European educational settings welcome new transformative initiatives that aim to enhance equity and inclusion. Disabled students often struggle to communicate and find assistance in their early days at the University. As such, communication and assistance challenges demand new solutions that can help welcome all students. The Inclusive Cultural Heritage Tourism (ICHT) project uses inclusive and educative tools, as well as assistive technologies, to enhance inclusion, accessibility, and equity in tourism and in the everyday life of people, including mainstream education. To do so, a Community of Practice was developed. This initiative aims to provide an easy and accessible virtual “space” for groups of individuals to communicate with, such as students. The core of this project is its social networks, where a structure of regular interaction enables the engagement of every participant in different activities. Participants can also share ideas, and thoughts and discuss pertinent matters on education and tourism, but also find support to overcome communication and educational barriers. The purpose of this forum is to inform and educate about the lack of inclusion and accessibility in the deaf community, and for sign language learning. In this case, a series of information and activities is provided for all students or individuals, in all languages, making it a complementary solution for mainstream education, that is often exclusive. The development of inclusive accessible content such as social networks to assist students should be a priority. The general lack of knowledge of sign language is also concerning. For those reasons, the development of a Community of Practice that raises sign language awareness and that is accessible to all students, deaf and non-deaf, are an important instrument for information, learning, and social and educational inclusion. Showing concerns for the inclusion of disabled people, this Community of Practice is the starting point of welcoming and assisting every deaf student and individual, using a bond of social networks that focus on raising awareness of inclusion and sign language learning.

Keywords:

Inclusion, Accessibility, Assistive technologies, Awareness-raising.