The problems faced by university students with impairment using English materials

The experiences of the rights to legal remedies and identity building, which began with the Moral Model and continued with Medical Model, Social Model and Human Rights Model, have led to many studies in various fields for decades. The Human Rights model, which is the starting point of our research, states that persons with disabilities should have the same rights and the same opportunities in all areas of life as people without disabilities. This holistic approach, which includes education, explains the need for all the steps necessary for persons with disabilities to have an education and learning experience without problems like everybody else, to be taken by lawmakers and practitioners. Based on the Human Rights Model and considering that the right to education is one of the basic rights, this study aims to exhibit the learning experiences of persons with visual impairment in preparatory classes, especially in the use of materials. and to ensure these problems to be solved within the framework of universal design. Materials that will be designed in the future will be accessible to persons with disabilities. This study is designed as a needs analysis. The study aims to record the experiences of persons with visual impairment who had studied a preparatory year in Turkey and studied English in an intensive period. Also, it tries to define needs and create solutions for the problems regarding materials that are used in those preparatory classes in order to guide materials to be prepared in the future. The researcher first realized the need in the field in her literature review and prepared interview questions to determine the needs accurately. After the initial preparation, the interview questions were updated in consultation with five different experts who had experience in foreign language teaching. Interviews started with the pilot interview group consisting of the first 4 participants and the necessary changes were made with the experience obtained. Interview questions and interview channels were adjusted. As a result, the data obtained after interviews with 17 participants who had studied English at high schools or university level were analysed using both the descriptive analysis method and the Maxqda2020 program. The results of the analysis are described in the results section so that persons with visual impairment can access them using screen readers. The recommendations prepared based on the findings are in the final part of the study. The result of the study suggests that persons with visual impairment experience accessibility problems in general when learning a foreign language, but these problems are caused by the fact that people who prepare or apply these materials do not consider personal characteristics and do not think in universal design consciousness. Specific to this research, as long as individuals who learn and teach languages, authors, printing houses, legislators develop an understanding of Universal Design and this understanding becomes widespread, most of the problems mentioned can disappear and persons with visual impairment may not experience the same problems when learning foreign languages in the future.