Ways of seeing
Tuesday, 23 March 2010 12:10 pmI've been thinking about seeing, and how people with disabilities are part of the social construct of looking and being looked at.
Children look at things and people with unmalicious curiosity, before they're taught by adults not to stare. I think that not staring is primarily about maintaining boundaries and privacy (eye contact is usually taboo on public transport, where you may be pressed so closely to strangers that you can feel the contents of their pockets), but staring is also about wanting to look at something unusual in order to understand it. We don't give real training in how to look at something we find unusual or threatening, and are left with the options of staring invasively or refusing to look. ( Read more... )
Children look at things and people with unmalicious curiosity, before they're taught by adults not to stare. I think that not staring is primarily about maintaining boundaries and privacy (eye contact is usually taboo on public transport, where you may be pressed so closely to strangers that you can feel the contents of their pockets), but staring is also about wanting to look at something unusual in order to understand it. We don't give real training in how to look at something we find unusual or threatening, and are left with the options of staring invasively or refusing to look. ( Read more... )
