Expanding our vision of museum education and perception: An analysis of three case studies of independent blind arts learners

In this study, Simon Hayhoe investigates the experiences of blind museum visitors in the context of the relationships between the artworks they learned about in museums, those they experienced when younger, and the social, cultural, and emotional influences of their museum experiences. The three case studies he presents support his hypothesis that, for blind visitors, proximity to works of art is at least as important as perceiving the art itself. This finding questions Gombrich's theory of the economy of vision and Jay's theory of scopics and supports the notion that exclusion from art in this context is more passive than active.