SENTUMBWE RESOURCE ACCESS

PERCEPTIONS OF PEOPLE WITH
VISUAL IMPAIRMENTS

Some explanations for the apparently problematic social and economic experiences of people with visual impairments (PWVI) can, in many cases, be attributed to the often negative perceptions of them held by their non-disabled compatriots. Such negative perceptions are primarily caused by several factors, among them: the spread phenomenon i.e. the assumption that loss of sight leads to a decline in normal functioning or task-performance; and the assumed vulnerability of individuals with visual impairments.

In many societies, most people assume that there is a link between sight and physical or practical functioning. For many, loss of sight is perceived as being detrimental to the individual's ability to function normally in many crucial areas of everyday life situations. Within social science disciplines this phenomenon is generally referred to as “spread”. As one prominent analyst of disability, Wright, has pointed out, spread does not only affect additional physical areas of the person with a disability, but also involves that individual's social abilities and events as well. Consequently, people with disabilities may be looked upon as less worthy and, therefore, less acceptable.

Fundamental to understanding people's perceptions of PWVI is the concept of “the self”. That is to say, those aspects of the concept which relate to how individuals perceive themselves vis-à-vis other persons.

Significant in this connection are the evaluative attributes of “the self” in the course of inter-person and/or inter-group interaction. It is particularly during situations of primary social interaction which call for face-to-face encounters between individuals that PWVI become most aware of the consequences of their disability. In such encounters many sighted people imagine themselves in the visually impaired person's position and, more often than not, envisage only situations of incapacity and hopelessness. This is, for example, evident in such emotionally-expressed clichés as:

“I cannot imagine how you can .... when you can't see”.

Goerdt, who has carried out a study on physical disability in the Caribbean has, for example, written that people's perceptions regarding the significance of specific disfunctions reveal not only their views of the affected individuals, but also their own values and expectations regarding normal people.

Vulnerability

Closely linked to people's concern about the functional attributes of sight, is also the actual and imagined dependence on others and subsequent vulnerability of pwvi. This assumed vulnerability also contributes to the negative perception of visual impairment. Because of the vulnerable state people imagine PWVI to be in, loss of sight is for most people, therefore, perceived to be one of the most disabling of all physiological disabilities. The non-disabled have no scruples in verbally expressing their negative opinions about visual impairment as many PWVI often experience:

“As a blind person, many people have given me the impression that being blind is the worst thing that could have happened to me. I have, for example, heard people in my village say that it would have been much better if I had lost a leg or become deaf”, said nineteen-year-old Susan from Uganda,

An interesting dimension of visual impairment particularly in rural ethnic communities which also contributes to the negative perception of PWVI, is its believed causes and/or reasons. For instance, some parents do not see the purpose of educating their blind children because they consider them to be a punishment for wrongful deeds, for instance, neglect of ancestral spirits.

In the light of the above discussion, we can, at this point, conclude that: people's perceptions of visual impairment include hypothetical situations of themselves as victims and, subsequently, helpless; and such envisioned situations and experiences become a source for and part of their mechanisms for evaluating the competence and, therefore, life quality of PWVI.

We must, however, note that the preceding discussion does not disregard the Positive perceptions of them experienced by blind people in the course of social interaction. Such positive perceptions often stem from intimate relations between the visually impaired and sighted. This points to the significance Of sociological factors such as the form and nature of interaction between individuals and the kind of resources individuals possess or have access to. This is particularly crucial in developing countries where almost all interaction between individuals as private or public persons often requires the physical presence of actors in face-to-face encounters. Given this form of interaction, the success or failure of sighted / visually impaired encounters will, to a great deal, often depend upon the kind of and basis for the knowledge about the latter that the sighted have and to the kind of task at hand.

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