‘It’s better if someone can see me for who I am’: stories of (in)visibility for students with a visual impairment within South African Universities

Abstract

Issues of visibility, invisibility and the nondisabled gaze are very relevant to the lives of many disabled persons. With this paper we tentatively show that, despite the physical ‘over’visibility of disabled bodies, many intricate parts of their personhood remain obscured and invisible. Interviews with 23 students with a visual impairment revealed that they sometimes experienced stares and averted gazes from their sighted counterparts. In response, they often hid their entire impairment, or parts thereof, in an effort to conform and gain acceptance and to earn membership to a nondisabled peer group. Acceptance was often found in companionship with fellow disabled peers. Since these stories told of continuing exclusion for disabled students on tertiary grounds, further participatory research is recommended.

Recognizing difference: in/visibility in the everyday life of individuals with facial limb absence

“…Zitzelsberger (2005) portrays the way women with various disabling conditions and differences experience their in/visibility in relation to normative standards governing what counts as 'acceptable' embodiment. Lourens and Swartz (2016) explore how South African students with visual impairments cope with the visibility of their disability and negotiate their identities. Finally, Hammer (2016) discusses Israeli blind women's encounters with others' gazes, and how these women position themselves within such encounters.…”

How does a sense of belonging develop in postsecondary? A conceptual Belonging in Academia Model (BAM) from sighted perspectives

“…Additionally, in order to understand sense of belonging, an analysis of the social and institutional environment in which academic belonging takes place is warranted. Furthermore, previous research that has addressed the sense of belonging in academia for people who are blind and partially blind has largely focused on the experiences of students (Freeman et al., 2007; Lourens and Swartz, 2015, 2016a; Reed and Curtis, 2012; Vaccaro et al., 2015). This indicates a gap in the literature for research including multiple academic roles, such as staff or faculty members.…”

“…To redress this issue, Lourens and Swartz (2016a) recommend awareness campaigns about blindness to educate sighted individuals in academia, and with this knowledge build skills to better provide accommodation and support. In a related study, Lourens and Swartz (2016b) build on this recommendation by suggesting researchers explore perceptions of blindness and disability from sighted persons as they are involved in creating the larger social environment.…”

‘I Don’t Have Time For This’: Stuttering and the Politics of University Time

“…After several attempts, and in a plight to protect the feelings of her relatives, she told them she could see the rainbow. Similar to French (2004), it is well cited that able-bodied persons commonly refuse to acknowledge the reality of disabled persons and instead normalise their experiences-ignoring the discomfort and limitations of the impairment (Garland-Thomson 2009;Lourens & Swartz 2016;Watermeyer & Kathard 2016).…”

“…I needed to do this in my own time. The responsibility of managing 'your' own impairment is very relevant to the lives of many disabled persons (French 2004;Garland-Thomson 2009;Lourens & Swartz 2016). Sally French (2004), a disability scholar who is visually impaired, writes about the earliest memories of relatives denying the reality of her disability and anxiously encouraging her to pass normal.…”