VULNERABILITIES AND STRENGTH OF PEOPLE WITH PRE-EXISTING (VISUAL AND PHYSICAL) DISABILITIES IN THE FACE OF CRISES/DISASTERS

Date

2024-1-25

Author

Karakedi Beydoğan, Gülşah

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Understanding how people with disabilities experience crises is crucial for providing more effective psychological support during such times. However, there is limited research available on this subject. In this regard, the present research seeks to uncover the specific challenges and needs that individuals with disabilities face pre-during-post crises as well as their ways of coping from their own voices. The study also addresses emergency plan suggestions created by the participants themselves, incorporating elements relevant to the counseling domain like psychosocial needs. This present study was a phenomenological study in which 15 people with disabilities in Türkiye—10 of them with visual disabilities and five of them with physical disabilities—were interviewed about their own crisis experiences like earthquakes, explosions, traffic accidents and so on. The data gathered via semi-structured interviews were analyzed through content analysis using Maxqda12 software. The findings indicated that disability may both increase their resilience and exacerbate vulnerabilities in times of crisis and disasters. Furthermore, the crisis experiences of people with disabilities are unique due to the roles their disabilities play in shaping their experiences. The challenges, needs, facilitating factors, and coping mechanisms for both people with visual disabilities and people with physical disabilities are detailed in the results section separately. The findings were discussed in connection with existing literature on crises. The practical consequences of these results for counseling were also presented, addressing mental health professionals, policymakers, and scholars.

Subject Keywords

People with disabilities, Türkiye, Crisis Experiences, Disability, Psychological counseling

URI

https://hdl.handle.net/11511/108381

Collections

Graduate School of Social Sciences, Thesis