'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

Issues of visibility, invisibility and the non-disabled gaze are very relevant to the lives of many disabled persons. With this article we tentatively show that, despite the physical 'over'-visibility of disabled bodies, many intricate parts of their personhood remain obscured and invisibl...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:	Disability & society 2016-01, Vol.31 (2), p.210-222
Main Authors:	Lourens, Heidi, Swartz, Leslie
Format:	Article
Language:	eng
Subjects:	Acceptance Action research College students Colleges & universities Disabled people Disabled students Higher education Membership Participatory research Peers Personhood Physically handicapped Social participation South Africa Visibility Visual impairment
Online Access:	Get full text
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Summary:	Issues of visibility, invisibility and the non-disabled gaze are very relevant to the lives of many disabled persons. With this article 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 non-disabled 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.
ISSN:	0968-7599 1360-0508