Journal of Visual Impairment & Blindness 2029 Special Issue on Sexual and Reproductive Health, Relationships, Personal Safety, and Parenthood Among People With Visual Impairments

Issue Details

Guest Editors:

Gaylen Kapperman, Ed.D., Professor Emeritus, Northern Illinois University, USA Ferhat Esatbeyoglu, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Yozgat Bozok University, Türkiye Stacy M. Kelly, Ed.D., Professor, Northern Illinois University, USA

Deadline for Submissions:

February 29, 2029

Projected Publication Date:

November-December 2029 issue

About

Sexual and reproductive health, sexuality, relationships, personal safety, and parenthood are important dimensions of health, well-being, autonomy, and quality of life across the lifespan. Yet, people who are blind, have low vision, or are deafblind (i.e., visual impairments) may encounter unique barriers to accessible information and comprehensive sexuality education, health care and support services, relationship development, personal safety, and opportunities to develop the knowledge and skills needed to make informed and autonomous decisions about their sexual and reproductive health, relationships, childbearing, and parenthood.

These experiences are shaped not only by individuals and their families, partners, and peers, but also by the knowledge, attitudes, practices, and policies of educators, health care and rehabilitation professionals, coaches and other support personnel, service providers, organizations, and broader social systems. Within this broad context, personal safety encompasses consent and personal boundaries, bodily autonomy and self-advocacy, prevention of abuse, exploitation, harassment, and interpersonal violence, online and digital safety, and the recognition of and response to unsafe situations. Accessible information, inclusive education and services, and assistive and emerging technologies may play important roles in promoting informed choice, autonomy, safety, participation, and well-being.

This special issue of the Journal of Visual Impairment & Blindness (JVIB) seeks to advance knowledge and practice related to sexual and reproductive health, sexuality, relationships, personal safety, childbearing, and parenthood among people with visual impairments and deafblindness across the lifespan. JVIB invites innovative research, descriptions of effective and promising practices, conceptual papers, and short reports representing diverse disciplinary and methodological perspectives. Studies examining the experiences and perspectives of people with visual impairments and deafblindness, as well as those of families, partners, professionals, service providers, organizations, and other relevant stakeholders, are encouraged. Research using quantitative, qualitative, mixed-methods, case study, participatory, and other approaches, as well as international and cross-cultural contributions, is welcome.

Topics of interest include, but are not limited to:

  • Sexuality, sexual health, and relationships across the lifespan, including sexual well-being, sexual development, intimacy, dating, marriage and partnership, body image, sexual self-concept, social skills, and relationship development.
  • Accessible sexuality and sexual and reproductive health education, including health literacy, comprehensive and developmentally appropriate information, accessible curricula and instructional materials, teaching approaches, communication, educational interventions, and resources for children, adolescents, and adults who are blind, have low vision, or are deafblind.
  • Menstrual health and menstrual health literacy, including menstrual education and management, access to menstrual products and health care, stigma, psychosocial experiences, and other factors affecting health and well-being.
  • Sexual, reproductive, and menstrual health in sport, physical activity, and exercise contexts, including health education and support, training and performance considerations, and the experiences of recreationally active individuals and athletes participating in disability and Paralympic sport.
  • Knowledge, attitudes, experiences, communication practices, and professional preparation of those who support people with visual impairments or deafblindness, including educators, teachers of students with visual impairments, orientation and mobility specialists, rehabilitation professionals, sport coaches, physiotherapists, health care professionals, sport and exercise professionals, counselors, and other practitioners.
  • Access to sexual and reproductive health care and preventive health services, including gynecological and maternal health care, accessibility of health care environments, services and health information, communication with health care providers, professional attitudes and competencies, barriers to care, and inclusive health care practices.
  • Contraception, fertility, family planning, and reproductive decision-making, including reproductive autonomy, self-determination, self-advocacy, informed choice, and access to appropriate and accessible information and services.
  • Pregnancy, prenatal care, childbirth, postpartum experiences, and parenthood, including preparation for parenthood, parenting experiences and skills, support needs of parents with visual impairments or deafblindness, accessible parenting information and resources, family support, and service needs throughout pregnancy, childbirth, infancy, and child-rearing.
  • Consent, personal boundaries, bodily autonomy, personal safety, and healthy relationships, including safeguarding, recognition of unsafe situations and abuse, and prevention of sexual violence, exploitation, harassment, interpersonal violence, and other forms of abuse.
  • Digital safety and the role of assistive, digital, and emerging technologies, including technologies that support access to sexual and reproductive health information, health care and support services, accessible parenting, informed choice, autonomy, safety, and well-being.
  • Accessibility of digital health information and services, including patient portals, medical forms, digital health technologies, online health information, and other digital resources related to sexual and reproductive health.
  • Roles and perspectives of families, parents, caregivers, partners, peers, educators, health care and rehabilitation professionals, and other support networks in sexuality education, relationship development, social participation, sexual and reproductive health, personal safety, autonomy, and well-being.
  • Peer relationships, social participation, and opportunities for developing interpersonal and intimate relationships, including factors that facilitate or restrict relationship development and participation.
  • Organizational and systemic approaches to sexuality, relationships, personal safety, and sexual and reproductive health, including policies, practices, programs, accessibility, professional education, and support provided by schools, health care and rehabilitation services, community and disability organizations, sport clubs, national and international sport federations, governing bodies, and other institutions.
  • Sexual and reproductive health disparities and barriers to equitable health care, including structural, informational, attitudinal, environmental, and service-related barriers affecting people with visual impairments or deafblindness.
  • International, cross-cultural, and intersectional perspectives, including the influence of culture, gender, age, onset and degree of visual impairment, additional disabilities, socioeconomic circumstances, geographical location, and other identities, experiences, and social and contextual factors on sexuality, relationships, personal safety, sexual and reproductive health, childbearing, and parenthood.
  • Sexuality, relationships, personal safety, and sexual and reproductive health among individuals with additional disabilities or complex support needs, including their experiences, perspectives, and support needs.
  • Experiences and perspectives of people who are blind, have low vision, or are deafblind, including lived-experience and participatory research related to sexuality, relationships, personal safety, sexual and reproductive health, and parenthood.
  • Evidence-based and promising practices for supporting sexuality education, healthy relationships, sexual and reproductive health, personal safety, reproductive autonomy, informed choice, parenthood, participation, and well-being among people with visual impairments or deafblindness.

How to Submit

Papers may be submitted to the journal's Editor in Chief Robert Wall Emerson, Ph.D., Western Michigan University, at https://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/jvib. Submitted manuscripts will undergo standard peer review. Guidelines for contributors are available from the American Foundation for the Blind: online, afb.org/news-publications/publications/jvib/authors; e-mail, jvib@afb.org.