Psychological Experiences of Visually Impaired Street Beggars

ABSTRACT

The act of street begging has been associated with some challenges such as accidents, harassment, low self-esteem and others. Limited studies have actually focused on persons with disabilities involved in street begging in Ghana despite the distress resulting from interactions of these experiences. Therefore the aim of this study was to understand the psychological experiences of visually impaired street beggars in Ghana. The study employed a qualitative approach specifically phenomenology to understand their lived experiences. Twenty-five (25) participants (visually impaired street beggars) were purposively sampled from three (3) busy streets in the Greater Accra region of Ghana. Participants were interviewed using a semistructured interview guide and data collected was analyzed using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA). The results of the study showed that visually impaired street beggars experienced personal losses such as job, relationships and hobbies with vision loss which resulted in negative emotions such as sadness, fear and anger. Further, the findings also revealed that participants took certain defense actions with the hope of regaining their sights. In addition, the results also showed that participants experienced daily challenges with the vision impairment and street begging. However, support from family, public, other visually impaired beggars, and spiritual beliefs were important factors that helped visually impaired street beggars to adjust to stressful experiences.