TAKATA A.
Science of social welfare, 43(2) 125-136, Mar, 2003 Peer-reviewed
I conducted a mail-in questionnaire research among 161 members of a selfhelp group for the Low Vision Clinic patients in National S Hospital. The purpose of this research was to grasp the actual usage of a long cane by people with acquired visual impairment and their state of mind about it. (Response rate : 57.8%) As a result, 51.1% of those researched did not use a long cane. (It corresponded to 40.8% of people with severe impairment whose severity level was 1-2 in the identification booklet for persons with physical impairments, and to 33.3% of people who needed to use a long cane by the judgment of 4 orientation & mobility trainers) Self-consciousness, experience of orientation & mobility, vision (p<.001 each) , severity level in the identification booklet for persons with physical impairments (p<.01) and age (p<.05) were significant in the use of a long cane. Only 5.4% were provided with information on public social services available to them. People with acquired visual impairment had feelings of resistance toward using a long cane ; "it means to expose my own disability to the public," "it makes me the center of the public attention," or "it is not so useful." For those reasons, even after they recognized their decline of visual function or danger in their daily mobility, they remained confused or distressed for a long time until they finally reached a decision to use a long cane. Those results suggest the necessity of social services to encourage the use of a longcane.