Advocacy Plan
I am interested in advocating for individuals with blindness and low vision by providing counselors with tips for effectively serving clients who have visual impairments. The above diagram is an example of a resource that I would refer counselors to; it provides basic instructions to sighted individuals for guiding someone with blindness or low vision. This information would help sighted counselors guide their clients who need assistance getting to and from their office before and after sessions. It is also important that counselors know to offer assistance to their visually impaired clients instead of assuming that they need help. For example, it is better to ask the client “Can I help you?” than saying “Here, let me help you”, and then grabbing the client’s arm. Lastly, since clients with visual impairments usually cannot identify their counselor when they walk into the room, it is helpful to the client if the counselor announces their presence. For example, when I work with a client who has blindness of low vision in the future, I will say, “Hello (client’s name), it’s Josh. Can I help you to my office?” These are the kinds of tips that I believe would benefit counselors working with visually impaired individuals. I plan on providing them to my fellow co-workers when I begin working with clients.
Servant Leadership
On November 28th, I will be volunteering at VoiceCorps, a 24/7 radio station in Columbus that provides access to news, information, education, and entertainment to people who cannot read print. Many listeners are legally blind, while others have low vision from macular degeneration, diabetic retinopathy, cataracts, trauma, or glaucoma. VoiceCorps also serves individuals without visual impairments, including those who can no longer turn the pages of a newspaper because they have had a stroke of have Parkinson’s disease. This photo is of a volunteer at VoiceCorps reading one of the newspapers that the radio station broadcasts for listeners. During my time at VoiceCorps, I will be meeting with the director of volunteers, Amy Billerman. I will receive a tour of the facility and observe live readings in order to gain an understanding of the work that takes place at VoiceCorps. Afterward, I will answer the phone and help out with other activities on an as-needed basis. I look forward to serving at VoiceCorps, one of the greatest resources for individuals with visual impairments in central Ohio.
Strengths-Based Needs
The above photo is of a boy and a woman, both of whom are visually impaired, walking around what appears to be a college campus. Both individuals are successfully navigating through the area using their walking canes, and they appear to be enjoying a conversation together. Unfortunately, it is relatively common for children with blindness or low vision to experience psychological issues, including isolation, difficulty communicating with their peers, and mood disorders (Augestad, 2017). Despite this adversity, many individuals with visual impairments successfully develop the skills that are necessary to effectively function on a day-to-day basis. In fact, longitudinal studies have revealed that emotional problems among children and young adults with visual impairments usually lessen over time (Gold, Shaw, & Wolffe, 2010). These individuals often become very mobile, and don’t allow their visual impairment to prevent them from traveling and navigating around their communities. Many people with blindness or low vision successfully attend universities and find meaningful forms of employment. Lastly, as the above photo demonstrates, people with visual impairments are capable of building strong interpersonal relationships and enjoying interactions with others.
Systemic Challenges
The above picture displays a blind woman navigating through a construction zone within an urban setting. Although she appears to be making her way through the area quite effectively, her safety is definitely at risk. In a wide variety of contexts, it is common for the needs of people with disabilities to go unaccounted for. The above photo provides an example of this frequent occurrence: individuals who are blind are certainly in danger of falling and getting hurt in this kind of setting. Research has shown that being visually impaired has several impacts on people’s lives, including “reduced levels of social participation and social support, increased risk for falls, and depression” (Hodge, Thetford, Knox, & Robinson). Blind and low-vision individuals are often expected to function in settings that were designed with only the needs of sighted people taken into account. Unfortunately, this common trend makes it difficult for blind and low-vision individuals to fully participate in many of the experiences that so many sighted people take for granted.
Reference:
Hodge, S., Thetford, C., Knox, P., & Robinson, J. (2015). Finding your own way around: Experiences of health and social care provision for people with a visual impairment in the United Kingdom. British Journal of Visual Impairment, 33(3), 200–211. https://doi-org.proxy.lib.ohio-state.edu/10.1177/0264619615596198
Annotated Bibliography
Augestad, L. B. (2017). Mental health among children and young adults with visual impairments: A systematic review. Journal of Visual Impairment & Blindness,111(5), 411-425. Retrieved from http://proxy.lib.ohio-state.edu
The primary purpose of this study was to summarize currently scientific knowledge relating to the occurrence of mood disorders among children and young adults with visual impairments. A systematic review was conducted of articles published between January 1998 and July 2016, inclusive. 17 publications met the inclusion criteria, and 15 studies implemented a cross-sectional design. The literature explored causes for visually impaired children’s psychological issues, including isolation, difficulty communicating with their peers, and mood disorders that blind low-vision children commonly face. Each of the studies that were used examined samples of individuals with visual impairments in the age range of 5 to 20 years, with one exception. One study sample contained individuals aged 10 to 22 years. Relevant published articles were identified by searching several databases including PsycNET, PsycArticles, PsycINFO, SCOPUS, PubMed, ERIC, MEDLINE, Google Scholar, and Web of Science. Most of the studies suggested that young people with visual impairments had more emotional problems than their sighted peers. Girls with visual impairments more often experienced serious symptoms of depression and anxiety than boys with visual impairments. Two studies with longitudinal designs revealed that emotional problems among children and young adults with visual impairments usually lessen over time. This study provides information regarding the needs of young people with visual impairments, which be useful for coming up with service ideas. The results also provide counselors with a greater understanding of potential interventions for visually impaired clients. Although this study has generalizable results because it examined many studies, most of the individual studies had small sample sizes and were limited to specific geographical areas. Furthermore, many of the studies that were referenced do not mention the diagnosis that led to individuals’ vision loss, or the onset time of the vision loss. This information would have been helpful in understanding the impacts of individuals’ vision loss on their mental health.
Gold, D., Shaw, A., & Wolffe, K. (2010). The social lives of Canadian youths with visual impairments. Journal of Visual Impairment & Blindness, 104(7), 431–443. Retrieved from http://proxy.lib.ohio-state.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/
The primary purpose of this study was to explore the daily lives of Canadian youths with visual impairments, particularly their social and leisure lives. The literature referenced throughout this paper highlighted the lack of acceptance that visually impaired individuals experience from their peers, and the difficulties that visually impaired children experience when developing their foundational social skills. The participants were 328 Canadians, aged 15-30, who were either blind or had low vision. To collect information on these individuals’ social lives, researchers used the Youth Lifestyles (Social Domain) Questionnaire. Data was collected related to the participants’ social networks, their levels of perceived social support, the nature of activities in which they participated, and the venues in which they socialized. One of the main conclusions of this study was that youths who are visually impaired engage more in passive and moderately socially interactive activities than in highly socially interactive activities. Furthermore, youths with low vision appear to engage in many of the same passive activities as their blind peers, but also participate in moderately social activities. Neither group participated in highly social activities, which suggests that even mild levels of vision loss may limit involvement in certain types of social opportunities. This article effectively portrays some of the obstacles that visually impaired children face. It also provides direction for potential intervention strategies and areas for growth during counseling. My primary concern related to this study is that it did not include a sighted control group. As a result, the impact of vision loss sometimes had to be inferred from the comparison of the social experiences of the youths with low vision and the blind youths. This limitation leads to an incomplete understanding of the impacts of visual impairment on children’s daily lives, and limits the study’s generalizability.
Hodge, S., Thetford, C., Knox, P., & Robinson, J. (2015). Finding your own way around: Experiences of health and social care provision for people with a visual impairment in the United Kingdom. British Journal of Visual Impairment, 33(3), 200–211. https://doi-org.proxy.lib.ohio-state.edu/ 10.1177/0264619615596198
The primary purposes of this study were to explore the changing support needs of people with a longstanding visual impairment from the clinical, visual function, and quality of life perspectives. The literature referenced in this article highlights negative impacts that visual impairment have on people’s lives, including reduced levels of social participation and social support, increased risk for falls, and depression. The lengthy registration process for individuals with visual impairment to receive services is also described. This research study was conducted in two phases, three years apart. In the first phase, 37 people with visual impairments participated in narrative interviews and qualitative data related to their experiences were derived. In the second phase, semi-structured interviews were conducted, which focused on participants’ experiences in the three years following the first phase of the study. The findings from the interviews indicated a trend in which individuals with visual impairments had to build complex networks of formal and informal support for themselves. A lack of access to sufficient healthcare resources was commonly reported. Even when they did receive services, visually impaired individuals often struggled to implement the recommendations of their healthcare providers. This article gave me a better understanding of the obstacles visually impaired individuals face when seeking treatment. It offers insight into an area of need that could be addressed during counseling. My only critique of this study is that only 21 people were able to consent to an interview in the second phase of the research. Although trends could still be observed in the remaining participants’ experiences, this relatively small sample size decreases the generalizability of this study.
Holloway, E., Sturrock, B., Lamoureux, E., Hegel, M., Casten, R., Mellor, D., & Rees, G. (2018). Delivering problem-solving treatment in low-vision rehabilitation: A pilot feasibility study. Rehabilitation Psychology, 63(3), 349–356. https://doi-org.proxy.lib.ohio-state.edu/10.1037/rep0000217
The purpose of this study was to explore the feasibility and effectiveness of Problem-Solving Treatment for Primary Care (PST-PC) delivered by low-vision rehabilitation (LVR) practitioners to adult clients with depressive symptoms. Relevant literature that was cited included information related to the prevalence of visual impairment, and the psychological effects of visual impairment. References were also made to literature that described obstacles low-vision people experienced when seeking psychotherapy. Lastly, literature describing the development of PST-PC was referenced. This study implemented a single-group, pretest-posttest design. Participants were 62 new or returning clients recruited by intake staff from 28 LVR centers in Australia and 14 LVR staff. Staff members completed a PST-PC intervention with the clients, involving the acquisition and development of problem-solving skills. This intervention occurred over the course of six to eight weekly sessions of 45-60 minutes each. The PHQ-9, a nine-item measure of the severity of depressive symptoms experienced in the past two weeks, was used to assess symptoms of depression at baseline and 3 months. A 53% improvement in depressive symptoms was observed at follow-up. The results from this study are promising and suggest that LVR clients who utilize PST-CT experience lower depressive symptom severity. This study is relevant because it provides an example of an intervention that has been effective when working with visually impaired individuals. Some limitations of this study include a small sample size, short follow-up period, simple univariate analysis on raw scores, and the absence of a control group. I question the generalizability of the results of this study due to these weaknesses.
McDonnall, M. C., & Antonelli, K. (2018). Employers’ implicit attitudes about the competence of people who are blind. Rehabilitation Psychology. https://doi-org.proxy.lib.ohio-state.edu/10.1037/rep0000235
The main purpose of this study was to develop and validate an implicit measure of attitudes about the competence of people who are blind, to be used by employers. The literature referenced throughout this article highlighted the implications and previous results of using the Implicit Association Test within certain contexts, and discussed studies revealing some employers’ negative attitudes toward blind individuals. The literature included a mix of both outdated and recent articles. The sample consisted of 343 business professionals responsible for making hiring decisions. The participants completed an online survey that involved answering questions and completing explicit and implicit attitude measures about blind employees. Participants also completed a knowledge measure about how blind people can perform typical work tasks. The results indicated that employers have strong negative implicit attitudes about the competence of people who are blind, which led to a very large IAT effect. These attitudes were not associated with personal characteristics, exposure to blind people, or explicit attitudes. These attitudes were associated with knowledge about how blind people perform work tasks. The implications of this study reveal the significant barriers that blind individuals face when seeking employment. This study also demonstrates the importance of rehabilitation professionals working with employers to provide education about how blind people function in the workplace in an effort to improve employment opportunities for blind individuals. I question the impact of using different people for the photos in the IAT. One limitation that the authors of the study acknowledged is that participants could have rated their preferences for the prospective employees based on their attractiveness, and I imagine that this occurred based on the results.