Lived Experiences of Learning to Use a Long Cane: The Importance of Integrating Perceptual, Existential, and Social Dimensions for Active Cane Use

Abstract

How do people who are blind or visually impaired experience learning to use a long cane? This question is of paramount importance for planning and delivering rehabilitation programs and orientation and mobility (O&M) training. Until now, research into learning to use a long cane has focused primarily on technical and professional aspects, paying little attention to the lived experience of the learning activities that are offered in the field of O&M. This extensive qualitative study adopts a lifeworld phenomenological approach and sets out to examine the pedagogical processes within rehabilitation, focusing on the learning experiences of people with impaired vision. The methods used included participant observation during O&M training sessions and recurrent narrative interviews with three research subjects. The results show that learning to use the long cane has perceptual, existential, and social dimensions which are intertwined processes that relate to mind and body, body–world relations, and human existence and society. Learning to use a long cane has in this study been interpreted as embedded with cultural meaning about disability. Further, the habitual use of the cane promotes adaptation to visual impairment but also to build new body–world relations. The lifeworld theory and its methodology have contributed to theoretical evidence and rigor throughout. The results bring new interpretations to the field of O&M and are a relevant basis and valuable for pedagogical rehabilitation as it highlights the importance of taking the individual’s lifeworld and needs into consideration when teaching someone how to use a long cane.