The Psychology of Blindness and Visual Culture: Towards a new psychological model of visual impairment

Simon Hayhoe

Research output: Book/ReportBook

Abstract

Context, Aims and Objectives
Research shows that access to two-dimensional and three-dimensional art works by people with visual impairment has been restricted by intellectual beliefs (Hayhoe 2015, 2017). Research has also shown that a significant number of people with visual impairment born without sight and who live without a conception of sight can comprehend and creatively reproduce what have previously been thought to be purely visual concepts, such as perspective, colour and visual metaphor (Kennedy & Juricevic 2006, Kennedy 2008, Hayhoe, Cohen, Garcia-Carrizosa 2020). Furthermore, research on people with visual impairment , perception of the visual arts and visual computer programming also suggests that people with visual impairment learn visual concepts even when they have little or no visual experience (Hayhoe 2008, 2011).

The aim of the book is to discuss:
•the philosophical and psychological history of visual culture and people with visual impairment from antiquity through to the present,
•case studies of people with visual impairment learning visual culture in formal and informal settings in the US and UK,
•case studies of teaching of people with visual impairment , including teaching in schools and museums in the US and UK
In the course of this discussion, the study principally focuses on four issues of learning theory, visual culture and people with visual impairment in the US and UK:
1.the comprehension of visual communication and visual culture by people with visual impairment in the US and UK
2.the motivation to learn about visual culture by people with visual impairment in the US and UK, i.e. why would a people with visual impairment want to know visual concepts
3.the experience of exclusion from learning about visual culture by people with visual impairment in the US and UK
4.whether people with visual impairment who are born without sight or who have visual impairments in early childhood learn visual culture using different modalities in comparison to people with visual impairment who lose vision later in life in the US and UK

The proposed book has two objectives. The first objective is to address two broader social issues effecting the inclusion and well-being of people with visual impairment in the US and UK: (1) the philosophical and psychological nature of visual culture and its effects on the lived experience of people with visual impairment ; (2) whether it is possible to increase access to visual culture for people with visual impairment through language, alternative sensory data or through contemporary communication media such as virtual and augmented reality. The second objective of this book is to start a debate on the nature of visual culture and visual communication, and the books asks whether communication or culture can be intrinsically visual. On this latter objective, this book will add to the debate on scopics (Jay, 1993), which examines the value of the visual component of visual artefacts by asking whether the semantic component of such works can be as important to their comprehension as their sensory content.

This book is necessary as little is known about: (1) the understanding of visual culture and visual communication by people with visual impairment in real world settings in the US and UK – previous studies have largely focussed on philosophical or lab based studies; (2) the difference between the understanding of visual culture and visual communication by people with visual impairment who acquire their visual impairments late in life and people with visual impairment who acquire their visual impairments early in life. Understanding these concepts not only helps us to understand how people with visual impairment feel included in visual culture, but also how culture and artefacts are conceptualized verbally, culturally and through the senses, which begs the question: Does culture need to be perceived at all to be understood? In this book, it is argued that understanding this question is particularly necessary as social inclusion is founded in large part on access to mainstream culture, cultural institutions, technologies, and communication.
Original languageEnglish
Place of PublicationAbingdon, U.K.
PublisherRoutledge
Number of pages200
Volume1
Edition1
Publication statusAcceptance date - 3 May 2023

Keywords

  • Blind
  • Visually Impaired
  • Psychology
  • visual culture
  • philosophy of mind
  • blindness
  • vision
  • ocularcentricity
  • scopics

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