Sage Journals: Discover world-class research

Abstract

Accessibility of cities involves designing spaces and services to enable everyone to live independently and fully participate in urban life. This study aims to gather the perspectives of individuals with visual impairment on the accessibility of everyday environments in Padua, a middle-sized urban centre in Northeastern Italy. A total of 204 participants with visual impairment completed an online survey designed to meet accessibility standards, including adjustable text size, audio descriptions, and screen readers compatibility. Findings show that 70% of respondents frequently experience physical and social barriers in local services and transport; 61% in health services; 58% in commerce; 41% in sports; and 38% in both cultural and educational settings. Thematic analysis of open-ended responses further identified specific barriers, which reflected both physical and social dimensions. Social barriers, alongside physical ones, should be a primary focus in evaluating the accessibility of urban environments and in planning subsequent interventions.

Keywords

Accessibility physical barriers social barriers urban environment visual impairment and blindness

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Abowitz

D. A.

Toole

T. M.

(2010). Mixed method research: Fundamental issues of design, validity, and reliability in construction research. Journal of Construction Engineering and Management, 136(1), 108–116.

Bednar

M. J.

(Ed.). (1977). Barrier-free environments. Dowden, Hutchinson & Ross.

Benjamini

Hochberg

(1995). Controlling the false discovery rate: A practical and powerful approach to multiple testing. Journal of the Royal Statistical Society: Series B, 57(1), 289–300.

Bilal Salih

H. E.

Takeda

Kobayashi

Kakizawa

Kawamoto

Zempo

. (2022). Use of auditory cues and other strategies as sources of spatial information for people with visual impairment when navigating unfamiliar environments. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 19(6), 3151. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19063151

Boadi-Kusi

S. B.

Amoako-Sakyi

R. O.

Abraham

C. H.

Addo

N. A.

Aboagye-McCarthy

Gyan

B. O.

(2023). Access to public transport to persons with visual disability: A scoping review. British Journal of Visual Impairment, 42(1), 71–85. https://doi.org/10.1177/02646196231167072

Building and Construction Authority. (2019). Code on accessibility in the built environment. Building and Construction Authority (BCA), a Singapore Government Agency Website. https://www1.bca.gov.sg/docs/default-source/universaldesign/accessibilitycode2019.pdf?sfvrsn=ec47172e_2

Burton

M. J.

Ramke

Marques

A. P.

Bourne

R. R.

Congdon

Jones

Ah Tong

B. A. M.

Arunga

Bachani

Bascaran

Bastawrous

Blanchet

Braithwaite

Buchan

J. C.

Cairns

Cama

Chagunda

Chuluunkhuu

Cooper

. . . Faal

H. B

. (2021). The lancet global health commission on global eye health: Vision beyond 2020. The Lancet Global Health, 9(4), e489–e551.

Casey

Brady

Guerin

(2013). ‘Is seeing perceiving?’ Exploring issues concerning access to public transport for people with sight loss. British Journal of Visual Impairment, 31(3), 217–227.

Cushley

L. N.

Galway

Curran

Peto

(2022). Navigating the unseen city: Town planners, architects, ophthalmic professionals, and charity opinions on navigating of the built environment with a visual impairment. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 19(12), 7299.

10.

Dhakal

(2022). NVivo. Journal of the Medical Library Association, 110(2), 270.

11.

Douglas

Pavey

Corcoran

Clements

(2012). Evaluating the use of the ICF as a framework for interviewing people with a visual impairment about their mobility and travel. British Journal of Visual Impairment, 30(1), 6–21. https://doi.org/10.1177/0264619611428932

12.

Fougeyrollas

Boucher

Edwards

Grenier

Noreau

(2019). The disability creation process model: A comprehensive explanation of disabling situations as a guide to developing policy and service programs. Scandinavian Journal of Disability Research, 21(1), 25–37.

13.

Gallagher

B. A.

Hart

P. M.

O’Brien

Stevenson

M. R.

Jackson

A. J.

(2011). Mobility and access to transport issues as experienced by people with vision impairment living in urban and rural Ireland. Disability and Rehabilitation, 33(12), 979–988.

14.

Gökgür

(2014). Regulations to be made in urban areas in order to improve accessibility of the visually-impaired. ICONARP International Journal of Architecture and Planning, 2(1), 82–96.

15.

Guba

E. G.

Lincoln

Y. S.

(2005). Paradigmatic controversies, contradictions, and emerging confluences. In Denzin

N. K.

Lincoln

Y. S.

(Eds.), The Sage handbook of qualitative research (3rd ed.; pp. 191–215). Sage.

16.

Gustafson-Pearce

Billett

Cecelja

(2005). Perceptual impact of environmental factors in sighted and visually impaired individuals. British Journal of Visual Impairment, 23(1), 25–30.

17.

Harris

P. A.

Taylor

Minor

B. L.

Elliott

Fernandez

O’Neal

McLeod

Delacqua

Kirby

Duda

S. N.

, . . . REDCap Consortium. (2019). The REDCap consortium: Building an international community of software platform partners. Journal of Biomedical Informatics, 95, 103208.

18.

Harris

P. A.

Taylor

Thielke

Payne

Gonzalez

Conde

J. G.

(2009). Research electronic data capture (REDCap) – A metadata-driven methodology and workflow process for providing translational research informatics support. Journal of Biomedical Informatics, 42(2), 377–381.

19.

Havik

E. M.

Steyvers

F. J.

Kooijman

A. C.

Melis-Dankers

B. J.

(2015). Accessibility of shared space for visually impaired persons: A comparative field study. British Journal of Visual Impairment, 33(2), 96–110.

20.

Ianes

Cramerotti

Fogarolo

(2021). Il nuovo PEI in prospettiva bio-psico-sociale [The new PEI in the bio-phyco-social perspective]. Erickson.

21.

ISTAT. (2022). Salute e ricorso a servizi sanitari, Italia e Ue – Anno 2019 [Health and use of health services, Italy and the EU – Year 2019]. Istituto Nazionale di Statistica (ISTAT). https://www.istat.it/tavole-di-dati/condizioni-di-salute-e-ricorso-ai-servizi-sanitari-in-italia-e-nellunione-europea-indagine-ehis-2019/

22.

Kiger

M. E.

Varpio

(2020). Thematic analysis of qualitative data: AMEE Guide No. 131. Medical Teacher, 42(8), 846–854.

23.

Kosnik

Winslow

Kline

Rasinski

Sekuler

(1988). Visual changes in daily life throughout adulthood. Journal of Gerontology, 43(3), P63–P70.

24.

Law. (138/2001). Classificazione e quantificazione delle minorazioni visive e norme in materia di accertamenti oculistici [Classification and quantification of visual impairment and standards for eye examinations]. Gazzetta Ufficiale n. 932001, https://www.parlamento.it/parlam/leggi/01138l.htm

25.

Lieberson

(1976). Rank-sum comparisons between groups. Sociological Methodology, 7, 276–291.

26.

Maart

Eide

A. H.

Jelsma

Loeb

M. E.

Ka Toni

(2007). Environmental barriers experienced by urban and rural disabled people in South Africa. Disability & Society, 22(4), 357–369.

27.

Mathidharan

Raheja

(2024). Understanding the challenges in the urban street navigation of persons with visual impairment: A field-based study in the Indian context. Studies in Health Technology and Informatics, 320, 295–302. https://doi.org/10.3233/SHTI241018

28.

Montarzino

Robertson

Aspinall

Ambrecht

Findlay

Hine

Dhillon

(2007). The impact of mobility and public transport on the independence of visually impaired people. Visual Impairment Research, 9(2–3), 67–82. https://doi.org/10.1080/13882350701673266

29.

Nuzzi

Becco

Boschiroli

Coletto

Nuzzi

(2024). Blindness and visual impairment: Quality of life and accessibility in the city of Turin. Frontiers in Medicine, 11, Article 1361631.

30.

Nykiforuk

C. I. J.

Glenn

N. M.

Hosler

Craig

Reynard

Molner

Candlish

Lowe

(2021). Understanding urban accessibility: A community-engaged pilot study of entrance features. Social Science & Medicine, 273, 113775.

31.

Old

(1996). Helping elderly people: Injecting urgency into a flexible response to needs. British Journal of Visual Impairment, 14(3), 116–117.

32.

Oliver

(2004). If I had a hammer: The social model in action. Disabling Barriers–Enabling Environments, 2, 7–12.

33.

Oppegard

(1984). Sensory loss, family support, and adjustment among the elderly. The Journal of Social Psychology, 123(2), 291–292.

34.

R Core Team. (2023). R: A language and environment for statistical computing. R Foundation for Statistical Computing. https://www.R-project.org/

35.

Shahmoradi

(2015). The study of accessibility of urban spaces and facilities in lived experience of visually impaired people in city of Tehran. Social Welfare Quarterly, 15(58), 195–220.

36.

Shakespeare

(2006). The social model of disability. The Disability Studies Reader, 2(3), 197–204.

37.

Sharma

Minh Duc

N. T.

Luu Lam Thang

Nam

N. H.

S. J.

Abbas

K. S.

Huy

N T.

Marušić

Paul

C. L.

Kwok

Karbwang

de Waure

Drummond

F. J.

Kizawa

Taal

Vermeulen

Lee

G. H. M.

Gyedu

K. G.

. . .Karamouzian

(2021). A consensus-based checklist for reporting of survey studies (CROSS). Journal of General Internal Medicine, 36(10), 3179–3187.

38.

Tracy

(2010). Qualitative quality: Eight ‘big-tent’ criteria for excellent qualitative research. Qualitative Inquiry, 16(10), 837–851. https://doi.org/10.1177/1077800410383121

39.

United Nations. (2006). Convention on the rights of persons with disabilities. https://www.ohchr.org/en/instruments-mechanisms/instruments/convention-rights-persons-disabilities

40.

Vierra

Razzaq

Andreadis

(2023). Categorical variable analyses: Chi-square, Fisher exact, and Mantel–Haenszel. In Eltorai

A. E. M.

Bakal

J. A.

Newell

P. C.

Osband

A. J.

(Eds.), Translational surgery (pp. 171–175). Academic Press.

41.

WHO. (2001). ICF: The international classification of functioning, disability and health.

42.

Wiener

W. R.

Welsh

R. L.

Blasch

B. B.

(2010). Foundations of orientation and mobility (Vol. 1). American Foundation for the Blind.

Supplementary Material

Please find the following supplemental material available below.

For Open Access articles published under a Creative Commons License, all supplemental material carries the same license as the article it is associated with.

For non-Open Access articles published, all supplemental material carries a non-exclusive license, and permission requests for re-use of supplemental material or any part of supplemental material shall be sent directly to the copyright owner as specified in the copyright notice associated with the article.

0.00 MB

0.05 MB

Accessibility in a midsize city: A large-scale survey on perceptions of people with visual impairment

Abstract

Keywords

Get full access to this article

References

Supplementary Material