Marketplace experiences of consumers with visual impairments: Beyond the Americans with Disabilities Act

The authors explore how consumers with a variety of visual impairments hand le deft-to-clay interactions with service providers, products, and services . Interviews with 21 people with visual impairments reveal that there are c onsiderable individual differences in adaptation strategies, including the degree of independence desired and achieved Interview themes tire explicate d by means of a conceptual model of the contexts and interplay of dependenc e and independence in the lives of people with visual impairments. The mode l suggests that independence and dependence are not mere opposites on a sin gle dimension: rather, they are domain-specific and complex and are determi ned by both a environmental factors and personal characteristics. It furthe r suggests that some forms of dependency may be as adaptive for many people as is the striving for independence by others. The authors conclude with a discussion of implications for tile Americans with Disabilities Act and ma rketing practice as well as the larger area of consumer vulnerability.