W Agbeke
University College of Education of Winneba, Special Education, Winneba, Ghana
This study obtained information on how persons with visual impairment move about in space without bumping into objects. In all 42 persons with visual impairment were interviewed. They were made up of 19 women and 23 men. The aim of the study was to uncover the techniques and strategies used by persons with visual impairment in Ghana to aviod bumping into objects in space when moving about. The phenomenological method was used for the study as this approach focuses on the 'lived experience of individuals'. The semi-structured interview was used to collect data. The main findings suggest that obstacle sense, the mastery of spatial locomotion by persons with visual impairment and sound localization are comparatively independent abilities; stimulation of the face and other exposed areas of the skin to air and sound waves are not sufficient conditions for the perception of objects by pers who are visually impaired; there is also significnat individual differences in the ability to perceive objects; obstacle sense has a significant connection with pitch/sound discrimination; there is a positive correlation between object or obstacle sense and an early onset or the time the visual problem started; the size of the object has influence on its perceptibility; for some persons with visual impairment object perception is experienced as a facial pressure; for some others, perception of objects come to them through echo of sounds from the object.
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