PUB LDS 916 Changing what it means to be normal.pdf (67.11 kB)
Changing what it means to be "normal": a grounded theory study of the mobility choices of people who are blind or visually impaired
journal contribution
posted on 2015-03-12, 14:21 authored by Elizabeth Ball, Colette NicolleIntroduction: The ability to get out and about is important to social inclusion and quality of
life and it is one of the most significant challenges for people who are blind or visually
impaired. There has been little research into the underlying concerns of people who are blind
or visually impaired when making decisions about mobility.
Method: This grounded theory study explored the main mobility-related concerns of people
who are blind or visually impaired. It uses qualitative data, drawn from a combination of
online discussions, face-to-face, telephone and email interviews, and focus groups with
people who are blind or visually impaired and rehabilitation practitioners.
Results: The primary concern of people who are blind or visually impaired when making
choices about where to go, and when and how to do so, was a desire to see oneself and to be
seen by others as “normal”. Self-identity and perceived “normality” are subjective and
changeable and are continually internally co-reconstructed to achieve congruence between
them. The mobility strategies used are those that are perceived as most “normal”.
Discussion: Perceived “normality” has a powerful influence on behaviour. By harnessing
this, rehabilitation services may be better able to promote autonomy and self-reliance. Implications for Practitioners: To promote independence, rehabilitation services must change
people’s perception of what is “normal”. People must be supported to come to perceive
fulfilment of valued social roles, autonomy and self-reliance as “normal”.
History
School
- Design
Published in
Journal of Visual Impairment & BlindnessPages
1 - 21 (21)Citation
BALL, E.M. and NICOLLE, C.A., 2015. Changing what it means to be "normal": a grounded theory study of the mobility choices of people who are blind or visually impaired. Journal of Visual Impairment & Blindness, 109 (4), article 4.Publisher
© American Foundation for the BlindVersion
- AM (Accepted Manuscript)
Publisher statement
This work is made available according to the conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0) licence. Full details of this licence are available at: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/Publication date
2015Notes
File created (12/03/2015). This is not the final version of record. The following article was published in the Journal of Visual Impairment & Blindness, 109 (4), article 4. The final version of record can be found at http://www.jvib.org.ISSN
0145-482XeISSN
1559-1476Publisher version
Language
- en