Intersectionality and access to visual rehabilitation services: Experiences of people with low vision, a qualitative study

Abstract

Low vision is a condition of visual impairment, generated by an underlying pathology that affects visual functioning and the development of daily activities. In the field of visual impairment, the developments in the analysis of access to rehabilitation services are scarce and incipient. The study approaches the understanding of the experiences of people with low vision in Medellín, Colombia, in their search for visual rehabilitation services. Ethnographic collective case study was conducted. Intersectionality was adopted to explore people’s experiences with low vision management health services. Five women and four men with low vision who attended the healthcare center participated in the study. Twenty-nine interviews and 16 participant observation exercises were carried out. Three categories emerged in the study: (1) I had never heard of low vision services; (2) Interaction with the health system: A path of struggles; and (3) Barriers that are exacerbated by the intersection of multiple identities and systems of oppression. The Colombian health system acts as an axis of structural oppression that interacts with the economic condition, educational level, and geographical location to generate greater difficulties for the identification of low vision management options, which also interact with the multiple and dynamic identities of each subject.