Characterization of the population with visual and auditory disabilities enrolled in the Rehabilitation Unit of Valle del Cauca’s Instituto para Niños Ciegos y Sordos

Abstract

This article presents a characterization of the socioeconomic, demographic, and participatory conditions of children enrolled in the Rehabilitation Unit of Valle del Cauca’s Institute for Deaf and Blind Children (INCS for its Spanish initials), Cali headquarters. In addition to providing clinical visual and auditory health services, this institution has been working for 74 years for the habilitation, rehabilitation and inclusion of children with visual and auditory disabilities in southwestern Colombia.

This characterization was performed on a sample of 196 children, who during the enrollment process provide information on demographic and socioeconomic characteristics, as well as on membership and participation in social networks. The families’ psychosocial risk profile is constructed with this information. Materials and methods. The study is based on secondary data collected by INCS Social Work Department. The socio-demographic, socioeconomic, and family variables are combined to create a risk scale used to guide the institution’s interdisciplinary intervention. Results. A significant proportion of those admitted come from vulnerable socioeconomic areas of the city of Cali and surrounding towns and departments. Our analysis shows that over 95% of people attending the institution are covered by social health insurance. The right to participation is the most frequently affected(63%), followed by the right to development (25%). This research shows that 10% of the boys and girls admitted at are high psychosocial risk but it also highlights that families perceive themselves as objects of intervention rather than active participants in the intervention made by the institution.