The non-visual image of the city: how blind and visually impaired white cane users conceptualize urban space

ABSTRACT

Using the methodology of in-depth interviews, this article explores how blind and visually impaired white cane users conceptualize urban space. The study presented in the article showed that the city is conceived, even without visual mechanisms, through landmarks, paths, edges, nodes and districts, i.e. the types of elements in the city image defined by Kevin Lynch. However, spatial representations of blind people are produced on the basis of spatial experience that is proximal and not distal, as was the case with Lynch. The article discusses elements of the non-visual image of the city that are constructed through direct touch and white cane use. Drawing on Lefebvre’s stance on the interconnectedness of the body, practice and representational spaces, the author argues that the white cane is not just an aid that facilitates the mobility of blind people and helps to navigate in the urban space. As part of the ‘practico-sensory totality’ of the body, it also influences the ways in which the city is experienced and conceived.

RÉSUMÉ

En utilisant la méthodologie de l’entretien en profondeur, cet article explore comment les utilisateurs de canne blanche aveugles et déficients visuels conceptualisent l’espace urbain. L’étude présentée dans l’article a montré que la ville est conçue, même sans mécanismes visuels, à travers des repères, des chemins, des bordures, des nœuds et des districts, par exemple les types d’éléments dans l’image de la ville définis par Kevin Lynch. Pourtant, les représentations spatiales des aveugles sont produites à partir d’une expérience spatiale qui est proximale et non distale, comme c’était le cas pour Lynch. Cet article discute des éléments de l’image non visuelle de la ville qui sont construits directement à travers le toucher et l’utilisation de la canne. En s’appuyant sur le point de vue de Lefebvre sur l’interconnectivité du corps, de la pratique et des espaces représentatifs, l’auteur soutient que la canne blanche n’est pas seulement une aide qui facilite la mobilité des aveugles et aide à naviguer dans l’espace urbain. Faisant partie de la totalité pratique sensorielle du corps, elle influence aussi les manières dont la ville est perçue et conçue.

ABSTRACTO

Utilizando la metodología de entrevistas en profundidad, este artículo explora cómo las personas ciegas y con discapacidad visual que utilizan bastón conceptualizan el espacio urbano. El estudio presentado en el artículo mostró que la ciudad está concebida, incluso sin mecanismos visuales, a través de puntos de referencia, caminos, bordes, nodos y distritos, es decir, los tipos de elementos en la imagen de la ciudad definidos por Kevin Lynch. Sin embargo, las representaciones espaciales de las personas ciegas se producen sobre la base de la experiencia espacial que es proximal y no distal, como fue el caso de Lynch. El artículo analiza los elementos de la imagen no visual de la ciudad que se construyen mediante el contacto directo y el uso del bastón. Basándose en la postura de Lefebvre sobre la interconexión del cuerpo, la práctica y los espacios de representación, se sostiene que el bastón no solo facilita la movilidad de las personas ciegas y ayuda a navegar el espacio urbano. Como parte de la ‘totalidad práctico-sensorial’ del cuerpo, también influye en las formas en que la ciudad es experimentada y concebida.

KEYWORDS:

• Image of the city
• Kevin Lynch
• blind and visually impaired people
• white cane

MOTS CLÉS:

• Image de la ville
• Kevin Lynch
• aveugles et déficients visuels
• canne blanche

PALABRAS CLAVE:

• Imagen de la ciudad
• Kevin Lynch
• ciegos y deficientes visuales
• bastón.

Acknowledgements

I would like to thank participants who agreed to be interviewed as well as the anonymous reviewers for their constructive comments and suggestions on an earlier version of this article.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1. Ableism implies ‘any social relations, practices and ideas which presume that all people are able-bodied’ (Chouinard and Grant 1995, as quoted in Gleeson, 1999b, p. 27), a viewpoint which designates persons with disabilities as ‘marginalised, oppressed, and largely invisible “others”’ (Parr & Butler, 1999, p. 7).

2. Some examples from the rapidly expanding corpus of research developing an embodied understanding of disability include the following: Parr used the new approach to explore the embodied configurations of time and space of people with mental health problems (1998), to reconstruct the micro-geography of inclusion and exclusion of people with mental health problems in semi-institutional settings (2000) and to investigate how people with mental health problems experience belonging through their participation in embodied artistic practices and engagement in artistic communities (2006). Macpherson (2009a, 2009b, 2010, 2017)) applied non-representational theory (Thrift, 2008; see also Hall & Wilton, 2017) to investigate body–landscape relationships in qualitative research carried out with pedestrians who had visual impairments. Crooks (2010) examined coping strategies and the embodied negotiation of the home space of women with Fibromyalgia syndrome. Skelton and Valentine (2010) explored the implications of Internet use and virtual communication for people with hearing impairments. Even on the basis of this small sample of recent publications, we can agree with Chouinard, Hall and Wilton, who noted that geographic research of the relationship between disability and space has become ‘more nuanced and complex’ (2010, p. 3).

3. Due to terminological inconsistency, it is necessary to point out that, in this article, the term white cane is used to refer to a stick used to identify obstacles and orientation landmarks. Most importantly, it is a mobility aid that enables blind people to move around independently. It is with this meaning that the individuals interviewed in this study used the term white cane.

4. See International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems, 10th Revision, WHO version for 2016. http://apps.who.int/classifications/icd10/browse/2016/en#/H53-H54.

5. Webster’s Encyclopedic Unabridged Dictionary of the English Language, 1989, 711.

6. An example given by one of the interviewees, Ž. B., a school teacher, is very indicative in this respect. Having lost his sight, he began to conceptualize the school classroom as a chessboard. Each student in each class had their place, which the teacher coded as if they were on a chessboard. For example, Marina sits at D1, Filip at C1, Tanja at B2, Ivan at D3, etc. The desks in the classroom space are conceptualized as squares on the chessboard in a mental map. Connecting each square, i.e. each location in the classroom, with a particular student who sits at a particular desk, the teacher can have full control of the classroom space and what happens in it, even without sight. It is interesting to note that Golledge applied the same principle. He wrote, ‘Sometimes it helps to ask students to sit in the same seat in consecutive lectures. This allows one to take advantage of one’s auditory localization ability and to be able to cognitively chunk together names of persons and the locations of subgroups of members of the class’ (1997, p. 405).

7. Shore lining is a cane skill that involves following edges (Folska, 2012, p. 26).

8. See also Gleeson (1999a) on the limits of technology and its complex and sometimes contradictory effects.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Croatian Science Foundation [2350] and University of Zagreb [IP006].