Protective shielding, potential harm: a hermeneutic phenomenological study of the cyberbullying experiences of youth with visual impairment

ABSTRACT

Cyberbullying was explored through the ‘lived experiences’ of youth with visual impairment (VI) and their schoolteachers in this study. A hermeneutic phenomenological design was used to reveal the rich details of how the 29 youth and five schoolteachers (n = 34) experienced cyberbullying in their different lifeworlds. Interviews and focus groups were conducted over a period of seven months. Three themes emerged: Sites of Cyberbullying, Coping Mechanisms and Sources of Help and Cybersecurity Awareness. Most youth with VI experienced traditional bullying in their school lifeworlds from school mates and teachers while in their cyber worlds, verbal bullying in the form of insults and body shaming from outsiders was common. Interestingly, most youth with VI participated in playing games on their mobile phones and in multiplayer games with sighted individuals. All 29 Malaysian youth participants demonstrated high anxiety towards cyberbullying and any potential threat, illuminating their lack of preparedness and training towards such threats. Protective policies by schools and parents designed to shield youth with VI may inadvertently yield the opposite results. Hence, this study further develops the theorisation of cyberbullying, and further research could include the perspectives of parents, police and school administrators.

KEYWORDS:

• Lived experiences
• disabilities
• good health and well-being
• reduced inequality
• bullying and cyberbullying

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to express their gratitude to all participants who took part in this study and to the Ministry of Higher Education (MOHE) Malaysia under the Fundamental Research Grant Scheme (FRGS/1/2020/SS0/SYUC/02/2) for the funding support.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Institutional review board statement

The study was conducted with the approval of the Institutional Review Board (or Ethics Committee) of Sunway University (protocol code PGSUREC2021/028) for studies involving humans.

Informed consent statement

Informed consent was obtained from all subjects involved in the study.

Additional information

Funding

The project is funded by Fundamental Research Grant Scheme (FRGS), grant number FRGS/1/2020/SS0/SYUC/02/2, awarded by the Malaysia Ministry of Higher Education (MOHE).