Social Representations of Health in Deaf People and Blind People

Abstract

The present article addresses the social representations of health of 20 blind people and 18 people who were deaf from birth and are users of Colombia sign language, through the hierarchical evocation technique and interviews. The research was justified by the lack of knowledge of these people’s beliefs and opinions about health, which affects the processes of social inclusion and their quality of life. It consisted on qualitative research with a phenomenological approach that identified the central components of social representations, which corresponded to the biomedical perspective and the conditions for health. As for the peripheral components, health services and access barriers are represented, in addition to some representations of rights and agency as an action to obtain care with a differential approach. The meanings of the representations focused on the deficiencies of health services, the lack of training of professionals, and physical accessibility barriers.