This study aimed to analyze the performance level of independent living skills of
students with visual impairments and blindness. The independent living skills were
measured by rating scales in 4 subcategories of the skills. The subjects for the study
were 284 students at school for the blind. Their teachers were asked to rate total 377
items of 4 subcategories (helath-safety, clothing, eating-cooking, household) with
6-Likert scale. The collected data was analyzed by SPSS 22.0 to test differences from
background for each school grade, such as sex, onset of visual impairment, visual
function, presence of other disabilities, and type of living.
The study result showed that in both the health-safety subcategory and the
household subcategory, the adventitious group scored higher than the congenital
group(onset of visual impairment) and the low vision group scored higher than the
totally blind(visual function). The differences turned out statistically significant in the
elementary school group and the high school group. In the clothing subcategory and
the eating-cooking subcategory, the adventitious group scored higher than the
congenital group(onset of visual impairment) and the low vision group scored higher
than the totally blind(visual function). The differences were statistically significant in
the elementary school group, the middle school group, and the high school group. The
students with visual impairment scored higher than the students with other disabilities
with a statistically significant difference in all the school groups of all subcategories.
The result implied that teaching independent living skills to students should depend
on their background information even though they are at school for the blind. Each
skill item should be carefully designed and taught although there was no statistically
significant difference in terms of sex and type of living. Finally, the study suggested a
further study consider a level of the difficulty of the skills.