Embodied Inclusion in Emotionally Aware Hybrid Learning Environments: A Case Study on Visual Impairment

Authors: Addolorata Amadoro

The diffusion of digital technologies and artificial intelligence has transformed contemporary learning ecologies, reshaping the embodied, relational, and affective configurations through which participation and belonging are constructed. Hybrid learning environments increasingly emerge as spaces where physical and digital dimensions, technological mediation, communicative practices, and affective processes interact (Floridi, 2014). Within this framework, inclusion cannot be reduced to technological access; it must be understood as the co-construction of participation by bodies, technologies, and interactions. This perspective aligns with embodied cognition approaches (Gallagher, 2005) and sociocultural perspectives that emphasize the mediational nature of learning (Vygotsky, 1978). In contexts involving students with visual impairments, accessibility and relational belonging are deeply interconnected (Pérez-Pereira & Conti-Ramsden, 1999). Emotionally aware learning environments should therefore be understood not merely as systems that detect emotional states but as relational ecologies that sustain affective attunement and shared participation (Stern, 1985).