Case Studies: Reflections on the Meaning of Blindness in the Life Experiences of Four New Zealanders (Part One of Two)

Abstract

This qualitative study, reported in this and the following Issue (BJVI, 17.2, 1999), explored the meaning of blindness in the lives of four blind people through open-ended interviews about their experiences in New Zealand's education system. The participants described how they: had been separated from their families to be educated in a residential setting; believed they were expensive to educate as they needed specialist services; and how they had not been encouraged to move beyond limited employment prospects and lifestyles. Through consumer activism, blind people in New Zealand have historically resisted imposed constructions which narrowly define them. A social constructionist definition of blindness may assist professionals to move towards educational strategies which emerge from and support the meanings and definitions of blindness defined by blind people.