Individuals with Visual Impairments: A Review of Psychomotor Behavior

The present paper is a review of the psychomotor abilities of individuals with visual impairments. It was found that cardiovascular endurance, muscular endurance, flexibility, and balance were significantly lower in individuals with visual impairments than in individuals with nonimpaired sight. Differences were found in physical fitness and psychomotor skills among individuals with visual impairments. Those individuals with a later onset of blindness and greater visual acuity performed best. Segregated environments appeared to foster superior physical fitness and psychomotor skills compared to integrated environments. Findings indicated that some physical fitness evaluation instruments produce inaccurate results in testing individuals with visual impairments. Suggestions for future research are included.