The Transactional Framework

1. The Transactional Framework Understanding Disability

2. The External Environment

3. What are the main issues of physical access for vision impaired people? • Inadequate transport • Lighting • Signage • Use of auditory devices – e.g. speech in lifts • Availability of mobility training

4. Environmental barriers • Instruction manuals in print only • Difficulty of using supermarkets because of lack of tactile labelling • Difficulty of using cash machines • Lack of tactile surfaces in buildings.

5. What are the organisational barriers faced by vision impaired people? • Lack of accessible information • Examination and qualification systems that respond inadequately to the needs of vision impaired individuals • Employment requirements that take no account of the impact of sight loss • Ignorance of what to do by non-disabled employers

6. An objective environment • The physical and organisational environment exists independently of the disabled person. • It is an objective environment with which they must interact. • That interaction can be made easier by changes to the environment and development of coping strategies by the individual.

7. The Rehabilitation Task • What can rehabilitation workers do to ameliorate the impact of the physical environment? • What needs to be done outside of the rehabilitation role?

8. The Social Environment • How do non-disabled people react to vision impaired individuals? • Feel sorry for them • Feel anxious • Irritated • Ignore them • Regard them like anyone else.

9. Impact on the vision-impaired individual of other people’s: • Pity • Anxiety • Irritation • Indifference • Acceptance

10. The Rehabilitation Task • How can the rehabilitation worker enable a vision impaired client to deal with the impact of other people’s attitudes? • What kind of approach will be most effective in empowering the individual?

11. The Transactional Framework