Young adults with a visual impairment (VI) experience less interaction with the
community that impacts the way they relate to the world as they transition to the larger society
where they face significant barriers of adjustment, exclusion, and work participation. Young
adults with VI contend with cultural stigma, inequality, poor self-esteem caused by
marginalization, a low quality of life (QOL), and lack of social support systems that exist beyond
the home. The aim of this study was to understand the perceptions of young adults with VI in
Elgeyo-Marakwet and Kisumu Counties of Kenya concerning the barriers to community
inclusion and work participation that they have experienced in education, health, social,
economic, and cultural settings in everyday interaction. The study sought to further understand
what was perceived as barriers that young adults with VI must deal with when living with visual
impairment from the perspective of a focus group composed of members of the community.
This study contends that a community-based rehabilitation (CBR) strategy affords the
opportunity to coordinate communities in identifying access needs and mobilize resources to
address common goals within the human sociocultural environment. The concept of CBR is an
effective tool in promoting social change and enabling young adults with VI to advocate for
community inclusion and work participation. CBR recognizes that disability is nested in
widespread poverty, unequal distribution of resources, social stigma, and unequal access to work
participation. The theoretical framework of the study was based on the functional model of
disability as defined by the International Classification of Functioning (ICF) that discounts the
presumption that disability relegates productivity. The study utilized qualitative research case
study design based on interviews, observation, document collection and photovoice; a
community-based participatory research (CBPR) strategy in data collection. Photovoice is a
focus group approach utilized whereby the participants took photographs of scenes and
expressed their viewpoints by telling their stories of what those photographs represent in terms of
their perceptions on non-participation, exclusion, or otherwise of young adults with VI. Data
was organized into themes and presented in the form of narratives and visual representation
through the use of tables.