STEREOTYPES ABOUT BLINDNESS AND PEOPLE WITH VISUAL IMPAIRMNTS
STEREOTYPES ABOUT BLINDNESS AND PEOPLE WITH VISUAL IMPAIRMNTS

Summary/Abstract: Social representation of the abilities and potential of people with visual impairment are predominantlystereotypes, blindness being considered to be one of the most difficult and feared human conditions.Often the “sighted” people know very few real elements about the size of the disability, the education andthe possibilities of social-professional integration of the visually impaired, most of the informationcoming from stories conveyed in the collective mind, which create unrealistic, exaggerated images, manytimes in the fictional realm. The existing stereotypes regarding this category of people are both positiveand negative, the blind people being portrayed from objects of mercy, eternally unhappy individuals as aresult of a life marked by tragedy, to superheroes, people endowed with a range of mystical abilities,super powers, worthy to admire. Some of these stereotypes are still fund today in the Romanian society.The present paper aims to identify among the students of the “Dunarea de Jos” University, the dominantstereotypes about the visually impaired and the main meanings attached to the blindness.

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