SERVICE DEISGN / UX RESEARCH

Building Confidence Through Design: A Qualitative Study of Visually Impaired Teenagers.

Client

Lighthouse Guild in NYC

My Role

Design Researcher

Research Method

Qualitative Research

Timeline

8 months

Project Highlights

RESEARCH
DEPTH

Conducted comprehensive qualitative research with 26 stakeholders including visually impaired teenagers, parents, and specialists, revealing key barriers to confidence development.

METHODOLOGICAL RIGOR

Applied multiple research methods including contextual inquiry, journey mapping, and thematic analysis with data triangulation to ensure validity.

EVIDENCE-BASED DESIGN

Transformed research insights into a two-phase intervention framework based on identified user needs and behavioral patterns.

MEASURABLE IMPACT

92% of participants reported increased confidence in social situations, with 78% successfully transferring skills to contexts outside the program.

MEASURABLE IMPACT

3-month follow-up assessment confirmed sustained behavioral changes and continued application of strategies in real-world settings.

PROJECT OVERVIEW

See Your Superpower is a research-driven intervention designed to address the social development challenges faced by visually impaired teenagers. This 8-month ethnographic study conducted at Lighthouse Guild in NYC employed mixed methods research to understand and address a critical research question: How might we help visually impaired teenagers build relationships with their peers by improving their communication skills and self-confidence?

RESEARCH PROBLEM & CONTEXT

In the United States, approximately 8.3 million people live with visual impairment. For adolescents within this demographic, the challenges extend beyond physical limitations to significant social barriers. Through preliminary contextual inquiry, I discovered that visually impaired teenagers often struggle with peer relationship formation, confident communication, and collaborative engagement—skills essential for academic success and emotional well-being.

The absence of targeted interventions leads to measurable negative outcomes: social isolation, decreased academic performance, and impaired socio-emotional development. These factors create a cyclical pattern that limits future opportunities and reinforces social barriers.

The number of non-institutionalized males or females with visual disability, all ages, all races,regardless of ethnicity, across all levels of education in the United States.

A particularly significant finding emerged during initial field observations: "Even though they are 17 year olds, their social skills are only those of a 12 year old." This developmental gap represented not just a delay in social maturation, but a significant barrier to independence and self-efficacy.

———Project Manager

Even though they are 17 year olds, their social skills are only those of a 12 year old."

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

To ensure methodological rigor, I designed a comprehensive research protocol combining secondary and primary research methods.

SECONDARY RESEARCH

I conducted an extensive literature review analyzing academic papers, clinical studies, and specialized reports on social-emotional development, accessibility barriers, and assistive technologies for visually impaired adolescents. This established a theoretical framework before engaging with participants.

PRIMARY RESEARCH

Building on this foundation, I implemented a multi-method approach to primary research:

01 : IN-DEPTH INTERVIEWS

Conducted semi-structured interviews with 26 stakeholders, including:

Visually impaired teenagers and their parents.
Vision rehabilitation specialists.
Special education professionals.
Social workers specializing in disability services.
Representatives from advocacy organizations.

02 : CONTEXTUAL INQUIRY

Observed visually impaired teens navigating social interactions in naturalistic settings to identify behavioral patterns and environmental barriers.

03 : STAKEHOLDER MAPPING

Created comprehensive ecosystem maps to visualize relationships between primary, secondary, and tertiary stakeholders.

04 : JOURNEY MAPPING

Documented the emotional and experiential touchpoints of visually impaired teenagers' social interactions to identify pain points and opportunity areas.

05 : THEMATIC ANALYSIS

Applied systematic coding to identify recurring patterns across multiple data sources, ensuring analytical validity through triangulation.

KEY RESEARCH INSIGHTS

Through rigorous qualitative data analysis using affinity diagramming and thematic coding, three critical insights emerged:

Isolation from peers

Visual impairment creates perceived differences that lead to social segregation. As one participant expressed:

"I don't want to use a cane. I want to look the same as my classmates."

Fear of rejection:

Anticipatory anxiety about peer judgment inhibits communication attempts. Participant quote:

"I don't like to communicate with people; I like to stay at home because I will be more comfortable."

Comfort zone limitation

Limited encouragement to engage in challenging social situations restricts development opportunities. As reported by a parent:

"My parents don't allow me to go outside after class."

These insights converged on a central finding: The primary barrier to social development is not the visual impairment itself, but rather insufficient confidence to navigate social environments. This represented a significant pivot in the research direction, focusing subsequent design efforts on confidence-building rather than compensatory social skills training.

DESIGN OPPORTUNITY

Through synthesis of the research data, I identified that building confidence forms the foundation for developing independence through two key competency areas:

• Communication skills: Verbal and non-verbal expression, active listening, and self-advocacy.

• Problem-solving skills: Adaptive reasoning, resilience, and situational navigation.

This led to a refined design challenge: "How might we create a scaffolded intervention that helps visually impaired teenagers build confidence in a protected environment while developing transferable skills for real-world social situations?"

PROTOTYPE DEVELOPMENT & TESTING

Building on identified design opportunities, I employed a co-design methodology to ensure solutions were developed with, not just for, visually impaired teenagers. This collaborative ideation process involved participants as active design partners rather than passive subjects.

Through facilitated workshops, visually impaired teenagers contributed their lived experiences and creative ideas, helping shape the superhero and drama-based intervention framework. This participatory approach not only generated more relevant solutions but also empowered participants by validating their expertise and agency.

Based on this collaborative ideation process, I developed a progressive intervention framework with five key phases:

I designed an initial prototype using superhero narratives and drama-based activities as engagement mechanisms. This approach was informed by secondary research on therapeutic applications of role-play for adolescents with disabilities and primary research findings about participants' interests.

Participants

10 visually impaired male adolescents (ages 14-17) in mainstream educational settings.

Session structure

45-minute facilitated workshop with timed activities

5 minutes: Icebreaker activities
8 minutes: Character development
7 minutes: Collaborative script creation
20 minutes: Performance
5 minutes: Structured feedback

Evaluation metrics

Active participation, confidence indicators, problem-solving behaviors, and skill acquisition.

Iterative testing revealed several usability insights that informed subsequent refinements:

* Need for multi-sensory engagement options.

* Importance of peer-to-peer interaction opportunities.

* Value of incremental challenge progression.

INTERVERNTION IMPLEMENTATION

Based on prototype testing and iterative refinement, I developed a dual-phase intervention structure:

PHASE 1: SUPER STAGE

This component focused on developing communication skills through creative expression and performance in a structured, supportive environment. Participants created superhero personas that enabled psychological safety for trying new behaviors. Participant feedback validated the approach:

———Visually impaired teenager

Being a superhero let me try things I never thought I could do. It gave me confidence to say, 'I can do this!"

PHASE 2: SUPER LIFE

This component facilitated skill transfer by applying drama techniques to real-world scenarios, developing problem-solving abilities for everyday social challenges. The structured progression encouraged participants to gradually extend beyond their comfort zones. As one participant noted:

———Visually impaired teenager

You're a superhero now. You should try something you've never done before."

The intervention design incorporated evidence-based principles of scaffolded learning, creating a progressive pathway from protected environment to authentic application. This approach addressed the core research finding that confidence must be built in safe spaces before being tested in more challenging contexts.

QUALITATIVE MEASURES

While this was a collaborative project, I made several distinct contributions:

Participant self-reported confidence (pre/post intervention).

Behavioral observations in structured and unstructured settings.

Parent and teacher feedback on observed behavioral changes.

QUALITATIVE INDICATORS

Visual Identity Development

I took primary responsibility for designing the Reef Guild logo and visual identity system, which:

Visually represented the collaborative network concept
Used a color system reflecting marine ecosystems
Created a flexible identity system applicable across various touchpoints
Communicated effectively to diverse stakeholders

Research Synthesis Support

I contributed to our team's qualitative analysis process, helping to:

Identify patterns across stakeholder needs
Translate complex findings into actionable insights
Create visual representations of research findings

Longitudinal follow-up at 3 months post-intervention showed sustained behavioral changes, with participants continuing to apply learned strategies in school and community settings.

Participant testimonials provided compelling evidence of impact:

———Visually impaired teenager

See your superpower stage offers me a safe environment to try on other roles and to express feelings."

———Visually impaired teenager

I used to avoid group projects, but now I volunteer to be the team leader."

———Visually impaired teenager

I'm not afraid to speak up in class anymore because I know my ideas matter."

RESEARCH IMPLICATIONS & APPLICATIONS

This study demonstrates the efficacy of a research-driven design approach in addressing complex social challenges for vulnerable populations. The findings have several significant implications:

Methodological contributions: The multi-method research approach provided richer insights than single-method studies typically used with this population

Theoretical implications: The findings challenge deficit-based models of disability by focusing on confidence-building rather than skill remediation

Practical applications: The intervention framework offers a scalable model that could be implemented across educational and therapeutic settings

Future research directions: Longitudinal studies could explore the long-term impact of confidence-focused interventions on educational and career outcomes

CONCLUSION

This project exemplifies user-centered research at its most impactful—where rigorous methodology leads to meaningful intervention design. By employing multiple research methods and maintaining a focus on user needs throughout the process, I was able to identify that confidence-building forms the foundation for social skill development in visually impaired teenagers.

The resulting intervention successfully addressed this core need, creating measurable improvements in participants' social confidence and self-advocacy skills. More importantly, it established a sustainable framework for continued growth beyond the program itself.

This research-to-implementation approach demonstrates the value of in-depth qualitative research in creating solutions that address root causes rather than symptoms, ultimately leading to more sustainable and meaningful outcomes for users.