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Interview with Vision Ireland: How loneliness impacts the visually impaired

by | Apr 16, 2026 | health, Health and Loneliness Series, loneliness, Loneliness research network

Peter O’Toole Chartered Psychologist. B.A., Msc, Reg. Psychol., Ps.S.I.

Peter is the Head of Counselling, Wellbeing & Emotional Support for Vision Ireland. He has been with VI for 4 years and has worked for 7 years in the sensory disability sector. Peter is a qualified counsellor and Chartered Psychologist. Vision Ireland’s Counselling, Wellbeing & Emotional Support service has been placing a strong emphasis on social health over the last few years to compliment the other various supports offered.

Could you tell us about the population your organisation supports?

Vision Ireland is the country’s National Sight Loss agency. According to the last census, 296,601 people in Ireland experience blindness or a vision impairment to any extent. In 2026, Vision Ireland expects to support 3,000 newly diagnosed people alongside our 20,000 existing service users. Our Counselling, Wellbeing and Emotional Support service provides the most comprehensive specialist source of emotional support for blind or vision impaired people (and their families) in Ireland.

Is loneliness a significant issue for them?

As we work to provide our service users with counselling and wellbeing supports, we see how strongly and consistently issues of isolation and accompanying loneliness feature for this community. Expressions of loneliness are evident across the entire age range we support, and we are noting a high incidence reported amongst the younger age cohort also. Blind and vision-impaired (VI) people in Europe face a disproportionately high risk of loneliness, with a range of studies indicating they are up to three times more likely to experience loneliness. Research has shown that 76-80% of blind or vision impaired individuals feel lonely some or all of the time.

Why do you think that is?

Living with sight loss or vision impairment is a significant challenge for many. Adjusting and adapting can be overwhelming as it can affect self-esteem, sense of self and ability to undertake daily tasks independently. Loneliness can be of particular concern for people with VI, as vision is a key sensory modality for social communication. Studies have determined that coping in social contexts can be more demanding when having difficulties seeing, and that people with VI may be more easily left out and isolated from others.

Other factors include reduced social interaction due to transport challenges, a higher prevalence of anxiety and low mood, and reduced confidence. People who are blind or vision impaired may have fewer opportunities to learn and modify social skills. In addition, individuals with VI are at higher risk of poor health, unemployment, low financial income and adverse interpersonal events, which strongly correlate with loneliness.

How does loneliness impact them?

Many share that the inability to perceive facial expressions and body language hampers social interaction and deepens their feelings of disconnection. This can often result in a cycle of social withdrawal, depression, and feelings of dependency on others, without the support required being always recognised by those others.

Younger individuals often relay their difficulties in finding and engaging in social activities, intimate relationships, and social cues. Also, inaccessible technology and information in many various spheres can prevent connection, limiting access to news, services, and online communities.

One of the most prevalent impacts arises from widespread significant challenges with public transport in Ireland, rural isolation, and navigation hazards (street clutter, poor paving etc.) hindering many from leaving their homes, meeting friends, or attending social events.

Is there anything you wish people knew about how loneliness affects this population?

Although much of what we know about loneliness in this population comes from studies and research, the most profound insight is often what we ourselves actually learn from those who have looked to us for support. Many express their experience of feeling condescended to, being ignored, or often feeling the need to hide their sight loss, causing further isolation.

Vision impairment can lead to diminishing connections if society overlooks the fundamental rights of everyone to feel included in a community, and often many individuals feel like they have become a “burden” who cannot fulfil previous roles or relationships. Essentially, everyone in society has equal basic needs in terms of social health, and a commitment to better inclusivity, access to services, transport and social engagement is a priority for everyone, at a local, community and national level.

What services or supports for loneliness do you think they would like? Where should these services be?

Vision Ireland offer a suite of services along a spectrum of engagement, including specific group peer supports, social activities, our Connection Network Befriending service and dedicated Counselling support.

Although many of these services take place online, as they originated during the Covid-19 years, we continue to receive requests for increased in-person interactions. However, due to lack of appropriate funding, resources and transport challenges, the capacity of our own service and other charities and NGOs to extend and develop further social opportunities is limited.

Those whom we support articulate their desire to have other services within communities such as gyms, choirs, social clubs and groups etc, become more open to including blind and vision impaired participants or members.

In recent times, we have started to gain a better understanding of the role that Social Prescription services can play in assisting members of all communities to become more active participants in a range of services and activities. We would like to see such services increase in range and scope and to further focus on recognising the unique challenges of those we support.

Are there any gaps in people’s understanding of the loneliness you see in this population?

Often there is a specific focus on meeting the practical needs and supports that are required. Whilst essential, many overlook the emotional and mental health implications accompanying loneliness. Given the very specific challenges that the people we support face, it can be easy to miss that people can be reluctant to name their loneliness. Expressing that you feel lonely could be dismissed or considered as invalid. It’s always essential to acknowledge that loneliness is not the same as being alone – for anyone. It’s possible to be in a room full of people, have many friends and family and still “feel” lonely or isolated.

Many underestimate how powerful connection, social activity and peer support can be within this community. It can be too easy to take such things for granted. For us all, meaningful relationships and connection enhance mental health, foster independence, boost self-esteem, whilst providing practical support needed for navigating daily life. Organisations like Vision Ireland commit to empowering people who are blind or vision-impaired to live independently and participate fully in society.

Do you think there is any research that could be done to close this gap?

There is very little research available with regards to the emotional, mental and social health needs of those with vision impairment/blindness in Ireland. Most studies are from other European countries or the U.S. We hope educational institutions and researchers who focus on disability, social issues and mental health would further consider research that includes the VI population.

We would welcome any supplementary research that further explores the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre 2022 study, which determined that Ireland had the highest rate of loneliness in the EU, with over 20% of respondents in Ireland reported feeling lonely most or all of the time, compared to the European average of 13%.

How well do you think government and statutory organisations in Ireland recognise the wider issue of loneliness?

Effective support services for those with vision impairment must be holistic and encompass many different areas including emotional, informational, practical, social and peer support.

The WHO’s social health recommendations focus on addressing the Social Determinants of Health, emphasizing defined action on inequality, social connection, and equitable access to services. The report cites social connection as an under recognised factor in individual and societal health and well-being and terms it as a “missing pillar” of overall health.  This has been our experience within this country, and it remains a challenge to have loneliness recognised as the major health threat it is.

Ireland’s national mental health policy (Sharing the Vision) highlights social connection and community support as crucial for positive mental health. However, for many organisations, accessing the funds, resources and staffing required to address this with the populations we support is difficult to secure.

We would welcome a dedicated, comprehensive national strategy on loneliness and the appointment of a minister for loneliness as evidenced in other countries.

Do you have any advice on how the friends and family of those you support can help them feel less lonely?

Supporting the families and friends of individuals with visual impairment is critical because these serve as a crucial foundation for any individual’s emotional well-being, practical and daily independence, as well as long-term social inclusion. However, we all know that with the best of intentions, family and friends can often make assumptions about what is in the best interests of those they are supporting and neglect to ask specifically about what is being experienced by the person themselves.

We frequently hear that people would like to be asked about what their own preferences are and to be able to have that difficult conversation where they might openly express their loneliness without seeming ungrateful for the presence and concern of their friends and loved ones. Vision Ireland provides counselling support to family members also, which can be a vital source of additional support for the entire family unit.

Member Interviews: Dr Ann Marie Creaven

by | Dec 10, 2025 | loneliness, Loneliness research network

We’re delighted to speak with a leading researcher Dr Ann Marie Creaven, an Associate Professor from the University of Limerick’s Department of Psychology, whose work examines how social connectedness shapes mental and physical health outcomes. Their current research focuses on loneliness in emerging adults and the role of social support in managing chronic conditions like Type 1 diabetes and gestational diabetes, supported by the Irish Research Council and the Irish Endocrine Society.

Beyond their academic work, they’ve distinguished themselves through exceptional public engagement. Since 2018, they’ve been a regular contributor on RTÉ Radio 1, translating complex psychological research for general audiences, and previously held an SFI Discover award to develop psychology education for transition year students.

As a member of UL’s Health Research Institute and the SASHLab research group, they bring both rigorous research credentials and a proven ability to communicate across audiences—making them an ideal voice for the Loneliness Taskforce Research Network’s mission to address social isolation through evidence-based approaches.

LTRN: What is your main area of research?
Dr Creaven:  “So I have two. One is around loneliness and the other is around support for people living with chronic health conditions, particularly diabetes, and particularly type-one diabetes and gestational diabetes at the moment.

I’m interested in lots of different aspects of loneliness. Some key questions I’m interested in are around understanding people who might underreport loneliness when asked directly. I am also interested in understanding what loneliness looks like in more marginalised groups, so I’m developing some tests of this idea of ‘loneliness of the odd one out’.

Loneliness is obviously located in a person, and that they experience it as a subjective experience, but I would be interested to see what structures socially mean that there might be lonely communities.“


LTRN: How did you become interested in your area of research?
Dr Creaven: “I did my PhD on social support many years ago. There are so many different kinds: support you actually receive, the support you provide, the support you perceive yourself to have, which isn’t necessarily what you got or will get. There’s a way of thinking about support in terms of practical support, informational support, emotional support. But as I was reading about this, I realised that a lot of what people talk about when they’re lacking support is indirectly a feeling of loneliness. If you feel you don’t belong to a group and you don’t have good support from them, that reflects not just low social support, but a feeling of loneliness. I felt like loneliness captured a lot of what was important, not everything, but a lot of what was important in terms of the emotional value of social support.”


LTRN: How do you see your research contributing to society? What impact would you like your research to have?
Dr Creaven:  “Research impact is a complex construct because some of the research we do leads to dead ends. I would like my research to bring a field forward a bit, either by closing doors to avenues we don’t need to explore anymore, or by identifying ways that are helpful to prioritise.

I’d also like the research to be impactful in terms of not being wasteful. So, if somebody is working on a project addressing a question of interest to me, that’s an opportunity for collaboration or for me not to do that research because that is already being done.”

LTRN: In your opinion, what are the most important skills needed to succeed as a researcher?
Dr Creaven: “Beside a keen interest in what you’re studying (because it’s impossible to motivate oneself to engage deeply in the literature on a topic unless something really of interest to you), I think project management skills are important. Formal training in project management is underappreciated in research, and I think it should be standard that we offer this kind of training to early career researchers because there is often have multiple projects to manage and sometimes decisions are required about what is feasible.”


LTRN: Is there something you are currently working towards achieving?
Dr Creaven: “If I were to achieve one thing, I suppose it would be that the public understands that occasional mild loneliness is a very normal experience that may resolve and that intensively-felt or chronic loneliness is what is really problematic for folks. If we could tackle loneliness without pathologizing loneliness, I think that would be amazing.

We’ve had a great increase in discourse around loneliness since COVID, and I would love to know if people consider loneliness to be stigmatised still or has the increased dialogue reduced the stigma associated with loneliness? We see for some mental health conditions, they’ve become attractive, these labels, among some communities. Loneliness is not one of these labels. I suspect there’s still some stigma attached to that, but I would love to test that because there is a lack of good quality evidence on this.”

LTRN: Can you give an insight into any interesting ongoing or upcoming projects you are involved in or will be involved in?
Dr Creaven: “One area of interest is around loneliness and stigma as we talked about already and another involves looking at loneliness within communities. We talk a lot about loneliness, as this subjective experience people have, this feeling of distress that accompanies your perception that there’s a mismatch in the quality or quantity of social relationships than what you’d like which is shaped by your assessment of what you should have. That assessment is shaped by an awful lot of different factors. What you see in your everyday life, if you see everybody else in your peer group spending a lot of time with each other, you think ‘Oh that’s the norm, that’s not what I have’.

I would love to understand how loneliness operates in groups. One potential way to look at this looks at school data where we have data from PISA for example, the Programme for International Student Assessment, that asks about loneliness at school and it asks this of every child in a classroom. That kind of data could model clusters of loneliness among different groups and see if it does cluster, if it’s very divisive, or if, in groups that are very cohesive, are those who aren’t in the group more likely to experience loneliness. I would love to look at some network models of loneliness. But it requires complete data on loneliness from groups, so that’s going to be the major challenge. It’s easier to get a person than a pair, easier to get a pair than a group of 30.”

LTRN: What was the best piece of advice offered to you?
Dr Creaven: “Research is a team sport. Depending on the model of supervision for your PhD, it might be very much one-on-one with the supervisor. You might have limited interaction with others, but I’ve seen time and time again that when you enlist others to help with different aspects, it makes it easier, smoother, more well-rounded, more impactful because you’re engaging people who might use the research early as well.”

This interview was conducted by Ava Stack of Maynooth University.