KOLEINY I BEZDROŻA WIDZIALNOŚCI. OSOBY NIEWIDOME WOBEC WIDZENIA I BYCIA WIDZIALNYM
RUTS AND THE WILDERNESS OF VISUALITY. BLIND PEOPLE ON SIGHT AND BEING VISIBLE

Summary/Abstract: In this article, I draw on my research into the lives of blind people that has been conducted since 2011. Research participants consist of twenty two persons aged 18-43 living in Poland; most of them have been blind since their birth or early childhood. In my research I mainly focus on the diversity of strategies and tactics, which help blind individuals to construct their own lives, manage relations with other people and institutions, and relate to their own sense of otherness. In this article, I analyse experiences of the blind against the background of values and meanings attributed to the sense of sight and the concept of seeing and being visible in Western culture. Thus, the article aims at answering the following research questions: How do the blind understand and imagine the mechanism of vision and the ability to see? How do they utilise this knowledge for their own needs? How do they use words and expressions based on visual association and metaphors? How do they understand the elements of nonverbal communication, facial expressions, and gesticulation? How do they understand the concepts of appearance and image? In the process of describing the participants’ opinions and feelings, I attend to the stages and dimensions of this ‘visual socialisation’ of the blind and juxtapose it with a number of broader issues, such as disability, stigma management, femininity, and gender.

• Details
• Contents