Impact of professional reorientation of people with Spinal Cord Injury (SCI) in the photo & video production industry

Abstract

This qualitative research explores the therapeutic effects of photography and video making on the mental health of disabled people, mainly paraplegics and tetraplegics. We will see to what extent the artistic creative process and the professional reconversion might concur to the rehabilitation and integration of people with limited physical capabilities. Furthermore, we will determine how they perceive the experience and whether it generated positive or negative thoughts about the acquired disability. Last but not least, we will try to find out if the artistic process has improved the self-esteem of the subjects, as well as their perceived quality of life. Although we found that all study participants have low self-esteem, it does not influence their self-image, with the identified traits generally being positive and adaptive. The study also showed that references to manifested disability are very weak, which indicates that disability is not considered to be a defining characteristic for the analyzed group, but just another aspect of personality.