Study on the Acquisition of the Concept of Spatial Representation by Visually Impaired People - Maps for the Future Children Education and Internet - page 290

These drawings have been the subject of studies by many researchers, both
nationally and internationally. Relevant research on how drawings express the
children's perceptions of the living space as well as understanding of the mental
and structural factors responsible for the process of producing these graphic signs
contribute to the development of methodological procedures that assist

in

expanding the cartographic and geographic concepts of these individuals.
However, note that there is insufficient research on the drawings by blind
subjects and how they can express knowledge about a particular object or environ-
ment by means of graphic language. Many parents and teachers believe that the act
of drawing is only possible through the use of a visual channel. For this reason, they
try not to encourage blind children to draw. Others (teachers) who teach blind
children to draw expect them to produce representations similar to those of children
who can see.
In this research on the spatial organization of a group of blind pupils, we engaged
them in an activity where they were to render drawings. This option was considered
when we observed that the pupils produced graphical representations of isolated
objects. As a basis, we also used the reflections of the authors of School Cartogra-
phy about the importance of drawings for children to learn about standard maps and
about how these children's drawings are representations of their thoughts about the
world (Almeida 2010 ). We also sought to investigate if drawings have the same
importance for the blind. The study referred to on spatial organization was
published in a book by Ventorini ( 2009 ) entitled, A experiˆncia como fator
determinante na representa¸˜o espacial da pessoa com deficiˆncia visual.
However, there were unanswered questions in the aforementioned paper: how,
for example, these pupils, particularly one who lost his sight in the early years of his
life, acquired the necessary concepts to express themselves through drawings?
What are these concepts and what is the process to acquire them? Why are not all
blind people able to draw, as we observed in theory and practice involving a blind
pupil, who was 15 years of age?
In academic publications we discovered that drawing activities do not make up
part of the everyday lives of blind people, perhaps due to the fact that it is a visual
activity. In our view there is no difference in the meaning of drawings produced by
blind children and those who are not if they are interpreted in the following way:

A child's drawing is, thus, a system of representation. Not a copy of objects, but an interpreta-
tion of that which is real, done by the child in graphic language. Looking at a drawing in this
way, it is possible to see beyond the infantile stages of the drawing, and analyze them as an
expression of a language, which children appropriate to make their impressions visible,
thereby socializing their experiences. In one representation, “X” does not equal reality “R”,
which represents this, and the connection can be either analog or arbitrary (author's emphasis).
The drawing establishes an analog link with the object represented, as the visual signifiers are
of the same nature as its meaning (our emphasis). [ ]. The graphic image is not, therefore, a

copy of reality. It depends on the systems of representation and its perception of the object and
its graphical abilities. (Almeida 2010 )

...

The considerations of the author, although they concern the drawings of children
with normal vision, also apply to the drawings prepared by the group of blind