Browsing by Author "Wheeler, Laurel"

This thesis uses motivation theory to examine the primary extrinsic and intrinsic motivators influencing blind and visually impaired Ukrainian refugees and internally displaced people as they make decisions in the midst of the Ukraine crisis. Blind and visually impaired Ukrainian refugees and internally displaced people were interviewed face to face in Poland as well as through email and social media. Data was gathered detailing the types of extrinsic and intrinsic motivations that influenced their decisions to become refugees or remain internally displaced in Ukraine. Data was also gathered regarding their experiences as blind and visually impaired Ukrainians, their interactions with the systems, resources and processes in place designed to assist Ukrainians during this conflict, and their expectations for the future. This thesis found that factors such as trust and fear can cause extrinsic motivations to function as intrinsic ones, and can also cause intrinsic motivations to shift into extrinsic motivations. These motivations can function opposite in the lives of the blind and visually impaired as they do in the lives of sighted Ukrainians. This thesis also identified the primary extrinsic and intrinsic motivators that blind and visually impaired Ukrainians described which influenced their decision making.