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"The thesis I submitted and defended is unique in that it is the first thesis in the world to incorporate knowledge from pedagogy and psychology into a course on movement on the Internet with a screen reader," described Jaromír Tichý, a graduate of the Faculty of Education at the University of West Bohemia in Pilsen (FPE UWB).

As part of his research, Jaromír Tichý prepared a course in which blind people were taught to use their screen reader in such a way that it read information from websites to them using computer voices. "The educational materials that were available until then did not help the blind much to search for information on the Internet with their screen reader," the author said. The course that Jaromir created therefore differed from others in that it focused on the consistent application of pedagogical and psychological aspects. These included motivation, imagination, memory and divergent thinking.

Tichý described the research process off the record using the following example: A blind user cannot see a web page with his eyes. Therefore, he does not know how the information is organized on the page. The author prepared the course chapter before teaching it in such a way that it contained exercises and examples that would help the blind person to better visualize how the web page looks during the course. In preparing for the course, he drew on insights from psychology related to imagination. After the class, he compiled a record of the class to examine whether the blind person's imagination had been sufficiently developed during the course and whether there was anything he could improve. In a similar way, he involved motivation, memory and divergent thinking in the lessons.

The author of the 2023 thesis went on to say, "I hope that my thesis will kick-start the development of further teaching materials and, most importantly, that it will kick-start further educational research into the extent to which these materials can help people with visual impairments."

In addition to the school itself and the individual teachers, Jaromír Tichý's family and friends were a great support during his studies at FPE UWB. His parents often helped him by lecturing him on subjects that he would otherwise not have had a chance to access with his eye defect. In this way, Jaromír graduated from primary school, high school and subsequently from bachelor's, master's and doctoral programs.

And does Jaromir have any message for visually impaired people who would like to go to university? "I would tell these people to definitely give it a try. You will learn a lot of interesting things at university and studying will broaden your possibilities, so it is worth going for an education. And if it doesn't work out, nothing happens at all. The most important thing is health and personal happiness."

The TyfloCentre in Pilsen, where Jaromír teaches visually impaired people how to use a computer or telephone, is currently looking for volunteers. Maybe this is where you will find your calling too.

You can listen to the full interview in Czech on the university radio Wéčko with a successful UWB graduate who helps others here: