People with visual impairment (VI) may encounter psychosocial challenges including difficulties with socialisation/interpreting visual social cues. Social media (SM) may provide alternative means of socialisation but little is known about the experience of SM from their perspective. Semi-structured interviews with 10 individuals with VI who regularly use SM were analysed according to interpretative phenomenological analysis. Analysis yielded two overarching themes: social media and identity, and social connectedness. Participants described benefits of shared experience, feelings of enhanced control and challenges of SM which emphasise exclusion/inequality. Findings highlight a need for further research to understand/improve the online experience for people with VI.

视力障碍 (VI) 的人可能会遇到社会心理挑战，包括社交/解释视觉社会线索的困难。社交媒体 (SM) 可能提供替代的社交方式，但从他们的角度来看，对 SM 的体验知之甚少。根据解释性现象学分析，对 10 名经常使用 SM 的 VI 个体进行了半结构化访谈。分析产生了两个首要主题：社交媒体和身份，以及社会联系。参与者描述了共享经验的好处、增强控制的感觉以及强调排斥/不平等的 SM 挑战。调查结果强调需要进一步研究以了解/改善 VI 患者的在线体验。