Download Psycho-social Aspects of Visual Impairment

Psycho-social Aspects of Visual
Impairment
Historical Perspectives on the
Differences between Blind and
Sighted Persons

It is impossible to expect that the blind child, who under the most favorable
conditions starts with a very meager social and perceptual world, can ever redeem
his loss. While the seeing child is developing in relation to his expanding social
world and stimulating objective environment, the blind child also is growing in
relation to his environment. However, his is not the same expanding social
situation or the same stimulating objective environment. It must not be thought
that the blind child lacks social relationships and stimulation, for he does not. His
growth is of just as positive a nature as that of the others, but it is vastly different,
for it draws its relationship from a greater degree from the stimulations that self
can give. Thomas Cutsforth—The Blind in School and Society, pp. 147-148.
The Loss of Vision DOES make a
difference. . .
Vision loss tends to exacerbate other personality
traits. If a person is introverted and unassertive by
nature, the tendency toward dependency will be
greater. Likewise, if a person is overly assertive
and strong willed, he or she may have a difficult
time with adaptations and even safety concerns.
Is there really a “psychology of the
blind?”
If our students fail to learn to establish
social relationships. . .
 The
alternatives may include:
 Unemployment
 Isolation
 Social
expense
 Development
of self stimulatory behaviors
Common attitudes toward persons
with visual impairments
 Pity
 “It’s
better to be dead than blind.”
 Fear of becoming visually impaired themselves
 Guilt feelings
 Discomfort in the presence of someone who has a
visual impairment.
Negative Psycho-social Characteristics Which
Were Traditionally Attributed to Persons with
Visual Impairment
 Unable
to be productive.
 Incompetent to manage their own affairs.
 At risk for self injury.
 Inferior.
 Socially under developed.
 Should
be educated and eventually cared for in an
institutional setting.
Unrealistic Perceptions of the Capabilities and
Psycho-social Characteristics of Persons with Visual
Impairments
 Heightened
sensitivity to the needs and feelings of
others.
 Increased tendency toward gentleness and
understanding.
 Increased patience.
Beliefs in Superhuman Capabilities of
Persons with Visual Impairments
Music
 Hearing

Once, after I got three obscene phone calls in one evening from some jerk, I
got a little nervous when it dawned on me he was opening the phone book not
only to my name and phone number, but also to my address. Wondering what
the chances were he might try to look me up in person, I called the police
department for some comfort. I told the dispatcher I feared I’d be somewhat at
a disadvantage if my phoning friend suddenly materialized on my doorstep.
The dispatcher assured me, none too reassuringly, mind you, that “ you people
hear better than the rest of us, so you could hear him coming a long way off,
couldn’t you?” Wagner, S. How Do You Kiss a Blind Girl? P.80
Three factors which determine how
people view themselves:
Aspirations -- dreams
 Self-expectation – what you honestly believe you can do
 Expectations of significant others



What if they are too high or too low?
All of these factors are based on or related to the
development of self-concept.
Two Conflicting Views of the Impact of
Visual Impairment
 Losing
one’s vision is a disaster which affects the
very essence of life, making the person inherently
different from the rest of society.
 The visual impairment itself has NO impact on the
individual’s psychological and sociological
development. It is only the negative attitudes of
society toward the blind that creates negative
responses and behavior patterns.
Most Common Contentions
 Social
immaturity
 Social isolation
 Encouragement toward dependence
 Feelings of inadequacy
 Problems with self concept
Self-concept is based on
 Feelings
of competence
 Feelings of self-acceptance
 Assertiveness
 Personal integrity
 Perceiving oneself as having a purposeful and
productive life
 Self-evaluation
Role of significant others
 Subtly
expressed attitudes are clearly understood,
especially by children.
 Overprotection
Overprotection is disastrous because:
 It
leads to a feeling of vulnerability.
 It implies incompetence.
 It isolates the child from peers.
 It isolates the child from the environment.
 It engenders the “martyr” syndrome (i. e. the
caregiver resents the person and the person feels
more and more worthless and guilty.).
Adventitious Onset
 The
greater the degree of impairment, the more
psycho-social impact.
 The grief process is typically longer and more
acute.
 There are other social pressures (e. g. dating,
vocational concerns, academic concerns) which
exacerbate the problem.
You go on thinking of the person as he or she was years ago,
makes time less real. You have a sense of not having
traveled on in your relationships. There is conflict between
the timeless, fixated image of not traveling on, and (on the
other hand) the sharpened sense of distance, that one is
traveling on, further and further, all the time. This conflict
helps me to understand the strange poignancy and
confusion which I feel in the presence of loved people
whom once I saw but now no longer see. J. Hull, Touching
the Rock, 1990, p. 142.
Congenital Onset
 Extended
social immaturity.
 Adjustment and the grief process tends to happen
at significant life change points.
Mercer’s Stages of Psycho-social
Development
 Infancy
– passivity and lack of bonding
 Toddler
 Increased
exploration and possibility of the
development of independence.
 If the child is overprotected, then the foundation for
self-isolation is laid.

Preschool
Usually initial introduction to a consistent group of peers.
 This is a critical period, because the foundation of a child’s
expectation of him or herself is laid.


Elementary


At best, viewed as a class “mascot.”
Middle School
Isolation from peer group typically grows.
 Begins to be perceived as more of an academic “problem” for
teachers.

 High
School presents some of the most difficult
problems because:
 Inability
to drive
 Dating
 Insecurity
about the future
 All of the other things that sighted teenagers face.
How do you teach social skills?
 Assess
– Independent Living
 Oregon Project
 HELP, DASI, etc.
 TSBVI
 Start
EARLY
 Involve all the significant people in the child’s life
 Structure
 Consistency
Techniques
 Basic
concepts training
 Communication training
 Role playing
 Planning and rehearsal for big events
 Incorporating “safe” sighted peers for role play