Face to face: dialogues around visual impairment

Abstract

ABSTRACT This study aims to find out how society views vision impairment (VI) by bringing it closer to citizens through a specific strategy to encourage contact and dialogue with people with VI. A ‘Human Library’ was developed in which 14 people with or related to vision impairment discussed their experiences and concerns with 52 citizens without vision impairment. Twenty-two hours of interaction were recorded and analysed. The results show that participants are interested in issues that reflect the lack of knowledge and social disconnection with the situation of people with VI. They also identify 5 stereotypical images of VI as: (1) impairment, (2) inferior social category, (3) closed social group, (4) ignored condition in the sighted society and (5) group with less possibilities in school. These representations are based on the need to build more spaces for exchange and encounter that allow us to review and break down images of disability that continue to fuel exclusion. The study clearly points to the need to develop public policies aimed at making disability a matter of citizenship. To this end, it proposes the need to promote innovative actions that facilitate new forms of relationships between people based on dialogue, mutual knowledge and social cohesion.