Empowering the visually impaired through smart voice assistants: a strengths-based approach to resilience

This study investigates how smart voice assistants (SVAs) can foster resilience among people with visual impairment by serving as strengths-based resources that mitigate vulnerability. Drawing on extensive qualitative data from studies performed with the assistance of three large nongovernmental organizations and adopting a strengths-based approach, we identify resilience pathways in which SVAs play five distinct roles in empowering individuals with visual impairments. Differentiating between congenital, innate vulnerability and acquired blindness, a contingent vulnerability, our findings additionally demonstrate that the time of vulnerability onset affects the development of resilience pathways.