Abstract

In an oculocentric society, vision prevails and structures actions, interactions, and often patterns of thought to a significant extent. It is within this context that this research explores, through interviews, the experience of people with visual impairments. Inspired by the method of sensory ethnography (Laplantine, The Life of the Senses, 2015), the study draws on the narratives of my collaborators to reveal the particularities of vision.

Sight has characteristics that distinguish it from the other senses. To these are added social norms and habits that privilege sight, thereby reducing accessibility for those who cannot see. The analysis addresses three main themes. First, the sensation of moving with visual impairment, on a spatial, sensory and emotional level. Second, the deconstruction of the notion of “appearance,” which is not composed solely of visual cues, and an analysis of what the visual contributes to self-perception and the perception of others. Finally, the exploration of the possibility of a world without vision and without ableism, in order to question the logics that shape ways of thinking and acting.

Through resonance, individuals with reduced or absent vision remain influenced by the prevailing culture centered on visual perception. They live in constant awareness of the norms imposed by sight due to their different perception style (discussed by Siegfried Saerberg, professor of disability studies and participatory research, artist and blind person, in his text “Just go straight ahead”, 2010). I draw on Dokumaci’s concept of Activist Affordances (2023) to expose how people with visual handicaps develop new ways of functioning and interacting in society by adapting to visual norms.

Aiming to recognize and valorize the multisensory aspects of life, this research contributes to a better understanding of the diversity of experiences and obstacles these individuals face, without reducing them to mere concepts.