The Adjustment Process
Taken from the CCB Para Rehab by Doctor Dean W. Tuttle
The process of adjusting to blindness and to the psycho-social impact of blindness follows the same pattern as adjusting to any severe trauma or significant change in one’s life. The stages or phases are sequential not hierarchical, with a great deal of overlap between one phase and the next. Although the nature of the crisis for the congenitally blind may appear to be quite different from the trauma experienced by the adventitiously blind, the process of accommodating follows the same sequential pattern. Persons with any degree of restricted vision experience trauma directly attributable to their impaired vision and after each trauma, to one degree or another proceed through the phases described as they search for self-acceptance and self-esteem.
Trauma, Physical Or Social:
The physical or social trauma is the event or circumstance that precipitates the necessity for adjustment. For the congenitally blind, it may be the initial awareness that he is blind, that he is different. For the adventitiously blind, it may be the onset of blindness due to accident or disease. For both, it may be a recurring encounter with the social stigma of blindness.
Shock And Denial:
Feelings of unreality, detachment, and disbelief are common expressions during this phase. The shock is a form of psychic anesthesia enabling the self to incorporate subsequently the full significance of the traumatic impact bit by bit. Avoidance of the full significance of the trauma can also be accomplished by denying in one way or another that the source of the trauma exists.
Mourning And Withdrawal:
During this phase, the individual mourns or grieves for the generalized global loss of vision or the generalized global awareness of being “different.” It is usually a time of self-pity when one withdraws from family and friends, a lonely time.
Succumbing And Depression:
The individual begins to analyze, one by one, the perceived losses or inabilities regardless of whether they are realistic or not. This is the “I can’t” phase. Although feelings of distress and doubt are common, in more extreme instances the emotional reactions of this phase may result in severe depression.
Reassessment And Reaffirmation:
A reexamination of the meaning of life and purpose for living usually initiates a recovery. Sometimes reassessment precipitates a revision of one’s values and goals, resulting in a reaffirmation of self and of life.
Coping And Mobilization:
The reawakened desire to live life to the fullest and as independently as possible necessitates the development of techniques and strategies for coping with life’s demands as a blind person. There is a willingness to identify oneself as blind and a desire to cope with the realities of blindness.
Self-Acceptance And Self-Esteem:
With the confidence that competence brings, the individual begins to develop or regain self-esteem as a person of dignity and worth. Rather than seeing himself as a blind person he sees himself as a person with many characteristics and traits, only one of which is his blindness. He is comfortable with himself, he likes himself, he has acquired or regained self-acceptance and self-esteem.
A number of factors influence this adjusting process:
age of onset, degree of vision, support of significant others, availability of professional services, etc. Adjusting with blindness is not a static condition but rather a dynamic and fluid process, never ending.