How does living in a rural location affect experiences of acquired vision impairment?

Abstract

This research explores the lived experiences of adults with acquired sight loss who live in rural areas in Southwest England. There is a scarcity of published academic research with this group. Vision impaired people who live in rural locations are therefore unrecognised sources of vision impairment rehabilitation knowledge. The research is conducted in an interpretivist paradigm. The research is guided by phenomenological understanding, rooted in Merleau-Ponty’s concepts of perception, the centrality of tool-use, and human embodiment. Attention is centred on the process of adapting to sight loss in a domestic setting, placing this research in an experiential, community-based educational context. The researcher openly acknowledges her professional migration from urban to rural areas has informed this study.

The interview method is an adaptation of the visual imagery-based Z-MET interview technique, re-designed for this group of participants. This study is connected to other multi-sensory research, particularly sensory ethnography. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with eight vision impaired people living in rural Southwest England, generating descriptive data. Interviews were analysed using an Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis framework. The identified themes, Light and Sound; Blindness: a state of difference; Changes in A Working Life; Me, My People and My Animals; My Rural Home; I am what I eat; each express an aspect of participants’ daily lives that is significant. The themes demonstrate how fundamental rurality is for every participant irrespective of whether this was chosen or the outcome of happenstance. This research shows how rural life remains emphatically different from urban living. This research identifies and conveys participants’ living expertise. In conclusion, implications for both vision impairment rehabilitation service policies and professional practice are stated.