Attitudes of visually impaired persons toward cane use

Semistructured telephone interviews were conducted with 10 visually impaired adult cane users to analyze the attitudes and emotions associated with their transition to cane use. Images of stigma, prominent during the early stages of orientation and mobility (O and M) training, were usually replaced by more positive (or at least pragmatic) attitudes in longer-term cane users. Several factors contributed to the lengthy (mean 1 3/4 years) delay between the onset of severe visual impairment and the commencement of O and M training: the clients' intertia, fear of stigmatization, and difficulty in interfacing with the vision rehabilitation system.