Do Sighted People Respond to Different Levels of Visual Loss?

Abstract

Although an extensive literature has developed from the investigation of the attitudes of the sighted toward the blind, and of the nondisabled toward the disabled, little emphasis has been placed on differences in attitudes towards subtypes of blind people. Partially sighted and totally blind people vary significantly in life experiences and abilities. In this study, eight random samples of respondents from a small Western city were presented with questionnaires which requested that they evaluate the characteristics of a stimulus person who varied by sightedness (blind, totally sightless, partially sighted, sighted), and age (35 or 65 years). Respondents gave higher expectations to sighted than partially sighted persons, and higher to partially sighted than to totally sightless persons. The older stimulus person was given lower expectations. Age of respondent affected expectations for persons of all sightedness categories. Respondents did not distinguish between the term “blind” and the specified blindness conditions of partially sighted and totally sightless. These results were discussed within the context of other research on disability attitudes and attitudes toward racial and ethnic minorities.