Seeking Dignity and Independence: Toward an Ethnography of Blindness in Israel

Abstract

Today, blind people in Israel are in transition from their traditional segregation and dependent roles to an indeterminate type of integration and activism. Case material from an anthropological field study of 57 blind adults in the Tel-Aviv area is used to illustrate the contradictions that blind people face in this transitional period, especially in relation to the acceptance of benefits that are offered because of their sightlessness.