Social attitudes and beliefs of sighted people towards blindness and blind persons

Abstract

Blindness has been interpreted in diferent, often controversial ways, since ancient times. It has been stereotyped and labeled by sighted people and has thus afected the acceptance of Visually Impaired persons, the tolerance towards them and their integration into societal life. Te main purpose of this study is to fnd out the contemporary beliefs and social attitudes of Greek sighted people towards blindness and blind persons. 115 sighted Greek people, most of them from urban and rural areas of Athens and Crete, were asked to fll in a questionnaire consisting of 25 questions. Our results showed that firstly, visually impaired people are still treated with some prejudice concerning the size of their disability, their education and their integration into society. However, they have ceased to apply antiquated perceptions based on fear or ignorance. Sighted people no longer believe that blind individuals are beggars, evil or blinded because of a punishment. Secondly, sighted people still believe that blind persons possess some extra powers and abilities such as better sense of things, especially of hearing, sixth sense or better judgment abilities. Finally, the common belief about associating blind people with their musical talents and skills is no longer in actual existence.

Cilj ovog istraživanja je da utvrdi savremena uverenja i stavove Grka sa normalnim vidom prema osobama sa oštećenjem vida. Još od davnih vremena slepoća se interpretira na različite, često kontra verzne načine. Ona je takođe stereotipizovana i obeležena od strane onih koji vide, što je uticalo na prihvatanje osoba sa oštećenjem vida, toleranciju prema njima i njihovu integraciju u društvo. Prvo, prema osobama sa oštećenjem vida se i dalje odnosi sa određenim predarasudama vezanim za stepen njihovog oštećenja, nji hovo obrazovanje i integraciju u društvo. Međutim, nestale su zasta rele percepcije zasnovane na strahu ili neznanju. Osobe koje vide više ne veruju da su slepe osobe prosjaci, zlikovci ili da je njihovo slepilo nekakva kazna. Drugo, osobe koje vide i dalje veruju da slepi imaju nekakve dodatne moći i sposobnosti, kao na primer izraženija čula, naročito sluh, šesto čulo ili bolju procenu. Konačno, rasprostranjeno verovanje kojim se slepima pripisuju muzički talenti i sposobnosti više ne postoji.