Evaluating the use of the ICF as a framework for interviewing people with a visual impairment about their mobility and travel

Large-scale social surveys of visually impaired people often explore participants’ mobility and travel behaviour. What is methodologically more challenging is gathering participant-centred data in relation to their own interpretation of the barriers they face. Findings from a national survey of visually impaired people are presented in this article (N = 960, probability sample drawn from the British registers of blind and partially sighted people). The research made use of the World Health Organisation ‘International Classification of Functioning, Disability, and Health’ (ICF) to develop an interview schedule in relation to visually impaired people’s participation in mobility and travel. Results found that participants identified a range of barriers and enablers to greater mobility which included individually-based explanations (e.g. difficulties with their eye sight) and socially-based explanations (e.g. inadequate public transport systems). Logistic regression analysis revealed that participants who particularly focused upon individually-based barriers had more severe visual impairment, worried most about their vision, and had most recently lost their sight. The findings highlight how professionals and family must be cautious not to reinforce visually impaired people’s perceptions of individual barriers and any associated sense of helplessness. The use of the ICF model also provided an innovative approach to survey-based studies: the methods adopted encouraged participants to identify issues they thought were important, while still generating findings which can be statistically generalised.