ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses self-esteem of people with visual impairment. Self-esteem is a multidimensional hierarchical concept that provides subjective evaluation of self. People with visual impairment have conventionally been considered to have low self-esteem. However, recent research shows that children and adolescents with visual impairment have similar self-esteem levels as their sighted peers but need to improve the importance of some self domains such as the physical self. Contradictory results appear regarding self-esteem levels of young adults with visual impairment. As the improvement and maintenance of self-esteem depend on perceived competence in areas of importance and the experience of social support it is important for people with visual impairment to focus on decreasing the importance of the domains in which they continuously perform low self-esteem. At the same time people with visual impairment need to feel socially accepted. Thus, boosting the importance of the domains that are related to the everyday activities of people with visual impairment are crucial for self-esteem improvement or maintenance.
