URN_NBN_SI_DOC-YB4EH2W4

Šolska kronika • zbornik • 2 • 2007 350 been included in university education and there are quite a number of highly educated individu- als among them. Thus education is a very important step towards the equal inclusion of the blind and visually impaired in society. The first part of the exhibition talks about the historic development of education and care for blind and visually impaired children, whilst the second is about the Kočevje institute for the blind, with a focus on the teaching of geography and weaving. Two classrooms, one with old maps and a Braille typewriter and another containing other teaching aids have been set up. The third part of the exhibition shows modern teaching aids and methods of teaching the blind and visually impaired (a mobile atlas, touchable pictures, an electronic magnifier and specially adapted computer equipment). The exhibition is aimed at and designed for both the blind and visually impaired as well as the sighted. Thus the size and colour of the panels and print have been adapted to the blind; there are also texts in Braille, objects that can be discerned as much as possible by touch, sound recordings of interviews with pupils, music recordings of the Slepi potnik (The Blind Traveller) music group and a video. The updated exhibition, which does not talk only about the historic experience of this area in education, but is also about a more modern set of related issues, has been set up in our mu- seum in the middle of Ljubljana for two other reasons. Firstly, we wish to emphasise the impor- tance of the education of the blind and visually impaired, as it is through equal opportunities in education that the equal position of these groups in society can be achieved. Seven exceptional people (Marko Prpič MA, Luj Šprohar Ph.D., Sonja Pungertnik BA, Stane Padežnik BA, Evgen Bavčar Ph.D., Roman Brvar, Tomaž Wraber) with very valuable experience have offered us a few thoughts on this. And secondly, with this exhibition we wish to contribute towards a greater awareness of the needs of the blind and visually impaired so that they become more visible to sighted people and we learn to live together in harmony. Let this thought resonate in our mod- ern day society and accompany the young visitors to our museum to new and important realisa- tions, so that ideas about equal opportunities come alive in practice.