J M Tellevik¹, B Elmerskog²
¹University of Oslo, Department of Special Needs Education, Oslo, Norway; ²Tambartun National Resource Centre, Mobility, Melhus, Norway
The development of functional skills in mobility must be related to the cultural practices in the community. In doing so, it becomes obvious that we need to consider the activities that comprise such practises, and how visually impaired persons participate in them. The purpose of the present study, carried out in Uganda, was to implement habilitation and rehabilitation initiatives for visually impaired persons integrated in authentic, ecological valid activities and cultural practices in the local communities. In order to improve the life conditions of visually impaired persons in their local community a working method was developed where mobility route training was integrated in current and future analyses of activities and participation. This working method was initiated along with competence and capacity building at various levels within the existing structures in the Ugandan society. The results, based on recordings from 257 visually impaired children, adult and elderly persons, showed that visually impaired persons mainly participated in ADL and domestic activities, and considerably less in social/cultural, work and educational activities. In planning and prioritising future activities work, educational and domestic activities were mainly preferred followed by social/cultural and ADL activities. Most mobility routes selected for training were associated with new activities prioritised within these spheres of activity. The results indicate that mobility training when related to ecological valid activities may have wide-ranging effects on the quality of life of the visually impaired population.
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