QUALITATIVE RESEARCH ON THE CHALLENGES ENCOUNTERED BY VISUALLY IMPAIRED WOMEN IN WORKING LIFE

Today, disadvantaged groups that enter employment experience various problems. In this sense, the difficulties encountered by disabled persons and women separately have been examined in detail in the literature. However, no study investigates the problems experienced by visually impaired women as a specific group in employment. Intersectionality theory suggests that being a woman and being disabled intersect, so more complex problems emerge for them in employment. Detailing these problems is crucial for policy suggestions. Therefore, this article investigates the difficulties encountered by visually impaired women who have been actively working for at least five years. An interpretive phenomenology approach was used in this research. In sample selection, a criterion sampling method was used to reach both visually impaired and female individuals. This study was conducted with 20 visually impaired women, and data were obtained using a semi-structured interview form consisting of open-ended questions. According to the results of the study, the difficulties encountered in working life by visually impaired women working in a full-time job were found to be "flawed work system", "lack of knowledge and awareness among co-workers and managers", "the glass ceiling problem", "self-confidence problem as a result of segregation", "barriers in the community leading to segregation", "access issues".