Acessibilidade para surdos e pessoas com deficiência auditiva no contexto da biblioteca universitária

Abstract

This paper focuses on accessibility for deaf and hard of hearing people in the context of university libraries. Accessibility is essential to ensure equality among individuals. In this sense, the struggle of people with disabilities for their rights is constant, and over the centuries they have achieved achievements, which have already resulted in national and international legislation. Based on this theme, we have the following question: what does the university library offer to users with deafness and hard of hearing, from the perspective of accessibility as a contribution to their right to full access to the library?. The general objective of the research is to present the realities of university libraries in public and private higher education institutions in Teresina, regarding accessibility for the deaf and hearing impaired. The specific objectives are to analyze accessibility practices in university libraries aimed at the deaf and hearing impaired; identify the characteristics that differentiate the human conditions of deafness and hearing impairment, and the theoretical foundations of libras and accessibility; and point out national legislation and public policies for libraries that provide accessibility for the deaf and hearing impaired. The methodology used was based on qualitative research with a descriptive approach, with the application of a questionnaire with open questions to two librarians, managers of two university libraries, a public and a private one in Teresina, respectively. With the analysis of the data, it was found that, although the analyzed libraries present different structures and resources to a greater or lesser extent, both demonstrate efforts to serve their academic communities. However, with regard to accessibility, they still do not contemplate the needs of service from the perspective of a set of resources available for this purpose. In short, both institutions need to know and understand their user community better in order to define resources, policies and technologies that serve everyone.