Social Rehabilitation as a Tool to Increase the Independence of Persons with Visual Disabilities

This thesis looks at social rehabilitation courses designed for visually impaired people. Through social rehabilitation, people learn to do various activities which help them achieve independence, self-sufficiency and independence. The study aims to map out the experience of those who have completed a social rehabilitation course and whether it has helped them achieve a more independent life. It will also ascertain the reasons which led them to undertake the course and compare the opinions of clients with the opinions of those who run the courses. To begin with, the theoretical section of the study will describe visual perception, visual impairments and their sensory compensation. It further defines social rehabilitation and describes specific social rehabilitation courses. Trained instructors lead these courses and are in intensive contact with their clients. As such, a related subchapter describes the relations between instructors and clients. Also looked at is communication with people with visual impairments, which is highly specific in many cases. The practical section utilises a qualitative survey based on semi-structured interviews. The research survey comprises two parts, and I focus on the opinions of those who have completed the course in the first part, having spoken to 6 such people, while the second part of the investigation was undertaken amongst the course instructors (teachers). The interviews were undertaken at two organisations providing services to visually impaired people. The research results suggest that completing social rehabilitation courses has helped people increase their independence and thus improve their quality of life. The courses met the expectations of clients. The opinions of clients and instructors concurred to a large extent, with everyone seeing the courses as of great benefit. The deciding factors for beginning the courses were two fundamental needs the need for independent movement and the need to acquire new information, thus to learn something new. The research results can serve anyone who wishes to find out more about the life of people with visual impairments. They will also find out about special courses with which people with visual impairments can look after themselves and their family relatively independently