Covid-19 and vision impairment in Britain: a narrative of absence
by Anna Pilson, PhD student at the University of Durham School of Education and iHuman affiliate member
absence
/藞补产蝉(蓹)苍蝉/&苍产蝉辫;
noun
the state of being away from a place or person.synonyms:non-attendance, non-appearance, absenteeism
the non-existence or lack of.synonyms:lack, want, non-existence, unavailability, deficiency, deprivation, dearth;
omission, exclusion, default;
need, privation, famine, drought, poverty
failing, in default of, lacking, wanting, notwithstanding, without
鈥楢bsence鈥 is a word that arises consistently in the mind when considering the impact of Covid-19 on the UK鈥檚 blind and visually-impaired community. Vision impairment is a low-incidence disability and at best, we may suggest that its low prevalence may explain its apparent absence in the thought-process of the British government and institutions during the outbreak to supporting this community. However, I contend that the reason goes beyond 鈥榓ccidental forgetfulness鈥.
From potentially catastrophic delays in accessing crucial public health information due to inaccessible formatting of official documentation and guidance, to simply ITV failing to provide auditory back-ups to public service announcements broadcast about the filming of Coronation Street, there has been a distinct absence of care towards blind and visually-impaired people. This socio-political exclusion is symptomatic of their positioning as 鈥榓bject and Other鈥 (Liddiard, 2020) by inherently dis/ableist attitudes that remain foundational in our society.
Medical Model
The adherence to the medical model of disability by the UK government during the Covid-19 pandemic has affected visually impaired people in unexpected ways. It has (re)positioned them within the margins of society, but in a new sense. The medicalisation of disability in crisis-reactive policy has not been used to perpetuate traditional stereotypes of blindness and deficit, in fact, (superficially at least) quite the opposite. It has instead positioned visually-impaired people as 鈥榥ormal鈥 (Davis, 2006) members of society. However, this 鈥榥ormal鈥 is absent of any positive connotations.
This 鈥榥ormal鈥 is a loaded term, and 鈥漬ormality鈥 is a moving target鈥 (Shakespeare, 2007, p. 52). And in temporarily occupying the space of 鈥榥ormalcy鈥 from which they are usually excluded by bio-political oppressive forces, the visually-impaired community has found itself placed within the crosshair of Covid-19. Disablement has taken on new forms, as normative (mis)conceptions of ability are applied in a newly-directional, and potentially fatal, ways.
Othering
The Covid-19 outbreak has caused blind and visually impaired peoples鈥 lives to truly exist at the dis/abled hyphen (Goodley, 2014; Goodley & Runswick-Cole, 2014). They are 鈥榦thered鈥 by their position within the new hierarchy of disability created by Covid 鈥 perceived as 鈥榥ot disabled enough鈥 to warrant governmental 鈥榩rotection鈥 and therefore, are unable to register on the national 鈥榲ulnerable list鈥. Yet conversely, vulnerability is forced upon them due to their absence on this list by another absence 鈥 the absence of consideration of what it means to be access the world through tactile means when any surface can harbour a deadly viral load.
Blind people during COVID are expected to put their lives at risk to 鈥榩op to the shops鈥. They are subject to violence 鈥 a visually-impaired man was subject to attempted mugging by a gang who tried to take his shopping. They must run the gauntlet of touching products in supermarkets to hold them closer to maximise their residual vision. They must rely upon the goodwill and good behaviour of others in hoping they can avoid the compulsory intimacy (Hammer, 2013) that during other times can constitute simply an annoyance. Social distancing is a visually dialogic process that automatically absents visually-impaired people from possessing equality of power in public places. These public spaces extend to those in virtual realms.
The sweeping move online within the education sector has been done with little thought of those sitting outside normative societal categories. There has been an absence of thought of the inclusion those sitting outside normative societal categories. There has been an assumed equality of digital access. There has been a blas茅 approach to digital literacy. There has been a privileging of face-to-face and synchronous meetings. There has been little consideration the need for crip time (Kafer, 2013). As with the ablest and divisive concept of herd immunity, there has been herd accessibility. Screenshots of 鈥榋oom鈥 meeting invites incompatible with screen-readers. Schools refusing to breach 鈥榙eep-cleaned鈥 areas to send home pupils鈥 specialist assistive technology that have been locked on-site. A lack of modified resources provided on largely inaccessible virtual learning environments. The move online has been undertaken with an absence of access arrangements.
Campaigns
As seen in other countries, such as the Netherlands (as expanded on by Dr Alice Schippers in this collection), the response to addressing the inequality engendered by Covid-19 for visually impaired people has been mobilised by the blind community itself, alongside allies. The charitable sector has responded strongly to the absence of accessibility, with advocacy and activism. The Royal National Institute for the Blind has created a list of useful resources on its website, including modified versions of the government information leaflet that was sent to every household.
It has also been involved in the campaign, along with Thomas Pocklington Trust, Guide Dogs and Visionary, to have supermarkets allocate priority delivery slots to visually-impaired people. It has created an already-successful social media campaign demanding accessible content for official material (#InfoForAll). Its endeavours have been matched by smaller charities: VIEW has collated an exhaustive list of resources for home-schooling and leisure; VICTAR has extended grants for assistive technology; Look UK has created online fora and webinars to combat social isolation. This in turn has been echoed by individuals on social media, for example, by the creation of virtual socialising spaces like the Staying Inn on Twitter (@TheStayingInn). The blind community has inverted the narrative of absence by making its presence felt.
The unquestioned primary of 鈥榮ightedness鈥
However, we cannot escape the fact that Covid-19 has served to solidify the position of the blind and visually impaired community as straddling the insider/outsider divide of British Society . It has been evident that there remains an absence of understanding at governmental level of the barriers that visually-impaired people face in everyday life caused by the unstinting and unquestioned primacy of 鈥榮ightedness鈥 (Michalko, 1998). However, the aftermath of Covid-19 may signify a new world, so let鈥檚 make it a brave one 鈥 which rejects the notion that 鈥榯he only valid ontology is the sighted one鈥 (Goodley 2014, p. 155). Let us move forward as a society in a way that re-makes our conceptions of accessibility, and in turn, re-make our institutions. Let us position accessibility at the heart of the changes that will come from this crisis 鈥 the embedment of 鈥榣iberatory access鈥 done in the service of love, justice, connection and community鈥 (Mingus, 2018). Let us consider 鈥榳hat can stories, bodies and things presently do, and what could they potentially do in a different context?鈥 (Monforte, 2019, p. 117), and let鈥檚 do it urgently to ensure we move forward with an absence of barriers, both physical and attitudinal.
References
Davis, L. (2006). Constructing Normalcy: The Bell Curve, the Novel, and the Invention of the Disabled Body in the Nineteenth Century. In: L. Davis (Ed.). The Disability Studies Reader, 2nd ed. (pp. 3-16). New York: Routledge.
Goodley, D. (2014). Dis/Ability Studies: Theorising disablism and ableism. Oxford: Routledge.
Goodley, D., & Runswick-Cole, K. (2014). Becoming dishuman: thinking about the human through dis/ability. Discourse: Studies in the Cultural Politics of Education, 37(1), 1-15.
Hammer, G., (2013). 鈥淭his is the anthropologist, and she is sighted鈥: Ethnographic Research with Blind Women. Disability Studies Quarterly. 33(2)
Kafer, A. (2013). Feminist, Queer, Crip. Indiana University Press.
Michalko, R. (1998). The mystery of the eye and the shadow of blindness. Toronto, Ontario, Canada: University of Toronto Press.
Mingus, M. (2018, October 13) 鈥淒isability Justice鈥 is Simply Another Term for Love. Keynote, 2018 Disability Intersectionality Summit. Cambridge, Massachusetts. Retrieved 19.4.20 from:
Monforte, J. (2019). Disability, illness and physical activity: A (post)qualitative research. Unpublished thesis. University of Valencia, Spain.
Shakespeare, T. (2007). Disability, Normality, and Difference. In: J. Cockburn & M. E. Pawson (Eds.). Psychological Challenges in Obstetrics and Gynaecology. (pp. 51-59). London: Springer.
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