Objective: To describe the challenges to activity and participation faced by young people with visual impairment within the framework of the International Classification of Functioning (ICF).
Methods: 14 young persons (aged 16-22 years) with visual impairment and their parents (n = 22) participated in the study. The Canadian Occupational Performance Measure (COPM) was used to describe challenges of participation as perceived by the young persons themselves. Individual interviews with the young persons and their parents were used to investigate in more depth the challenges the young persons face with regard to participation.
Results: Young persons with visual impairment face challenges to participation most frequently with regard to mobility, domestic life, interpersonal interaction and relationships, major life areas, and leisure activities. The environment in which they live has a central role as a barrier or facilitator of participation.
Conclusions: The challenges related to activities and participation that young persons with visual impairment face are diverse. It is important that these challenges are assessed individually and with the help of subjective measures. Serving as a broad framework for classifying the data, the ICF proved to be a useful tool, but used strictly at category level it may limit the coding of data and narrow interpretation.
Keywords: ICF; activity; inclusion; participation; visual impairment; young persons.