Guidance on university campuses in Brazil: an essential condition for inclusion

Abstract

The effective inclusion of students with special needs in Brazilian higher education depends on the implementation of a broad set of public measures that range from the on-going education of professionals specialized in special education to the guaranteed access of people with special needs beginning at the elementary schools. The adoption
of specific pedagogical practices is important. It is also necessary to confront prejudice in the educational environment and society as a whole and guarantee physical access to school institutions to allow the participation of these students in all activities. Spatial accessibility – understood as built space that provides conditions for entrance, the
comprehension of functions and realization of activities in a space to guarantee the participation of any person with safety, comfort and independence – is thus revealed as a fundamental requisite for the success of inclusion in higher education. This article deepens the discussion about spatial accessibility and its components – orientation, communication, movement and use. Special emphasis is given to the question of orientation given that the success of the other components is directly related to orientation, which is a subject that is not very much studied in research and projects about
accessibility.