Outdoor difficulties experienced by a group of visually impaired Iranian people

PROPOSE: A qualitative approach using semi-structured individual interviews was used to elicit common outdoor difficulties in individuals with visual impairment. METHODS: Interviews were recorded and then transcribed verbatim into text for thematic analysis. Twenty legally-blind individuals aged 34.25 ± 2.41 years with different etiologies were included in this study. RESULTS: All participants had experienced some sort of difficulty in outdoor environments. The most important problems as perceived by the participants are installation of tactile ground surface indicators, unsafe sidewalks, existence of obstacles on sidewalks, difficulty reading bus numbers, disorientation, fear of falling, recognition of faces, inability to read street names, the presence of spaces between platforms and buses, walking into glass doors, crossing streets, and the risk of Arial barriers. CONCLUSIONS: As a visually impaired person might say, sidewalks can be the most dangerous of places. Appropriate urban modification can be very beneficial.