Ableism as a Mechanism of Physical and Mental Health Inequities Among Children with Visual Impairment - Abstract: Approximately 3% (500,000) American children are blind or visually impaired – defined as having difficulty seeing even with correction. Children who are blind or visually impaired (CBVI) report lower health related quality of life and experience higher rates of chronic health conditions and mental health disorders compared to children with typical vision. Despite the prevalence of childhood blindness being greater than or equal to other rare, but well-researched, childhood conditions (e.g., childhood leukemia), research is virtually nonexistent regarding psychological, social, and environmental factors that directly (and uniquely) impact the wellbeing, health, and development of CBVI. Thus, there is a critical need to understand how psychosocial and developmental factors contribute to mental and physical health outcomes among CBVI. The objective of this research project is to extend and expand our preliminary findings that highlighted a link between negative psychosocial experiences and poorer physical and mental health of CBVI by: (1) recruiting a first of its kind, large, national sample of CBVI; (2) obtaining detailed measures of external negative social experiences including bullying, peer rejection, and social isolation and the negative affective states and cognitions that result from these experiences from the perspectives of both caregivers and children; (3) using advanced multivariate analytic techniques to identify the contributions of these factors – beyond other relevant contributors to health – to physical and mental health outcomes among CBVI; and (4) obtaining multi-method, multi-informant assessments of physical and mental health status to further validate our findings. By elucidating how the social environment of CBVI contribute to the physical and mental health and wellbeing of these children, the proposed research will foster the development of interventions aimed at improving long-term health outcomes and promoting resilience among CBVI – thereby having an important positive impact on the growth, wellbeing, and development of this population. We will achieve the overall objectives of this proposal by assessing 500 CBVI ages 9-17 and their caregivers from across the United States with respect to both external and internal processes related to their social interactions and experiences and child physical and mental health status. We will collect data on potentially relevant covariates including nature of visual impairment and presence of other disabilities.
