Simon Hayhoe

This article examines how the process of constructing knowledge has affected the institutional treatment of people with impairments and the construction of an ethic of disability. Its primary finding is that the process of creating knowledge in a number of contexts is influenced more by traditions and the biases of authors in order to signify moral and intellectual superiority, than by a desire to improve the lives of disabled people. Furthermore, this article finds that certain impairments are theorised using very particular methodological assumptions, as they hold what are felt to be greater intellectual value, and are associated more with morality through the perception and understanding of what is felt to be nature. The article presents a case study of such an epistemological process, which discusses the development of philosophies on a Western understanding of three impairments: blindness, deafness and learning impairments. It is argued that knowledge leading to the development of separate institutions for these impairments was based on severe forms of reductionist materialism and metaphysics, which were heavily influenced by social and cultural prejudices.

This paper proposes a model of inclusive technical capital, and its use in the evaluation of technology and education designed to include students with disabilities. This paper also examines the role of mainstream mobile technologies and m-learning in the inclusion of students with disabilities. A recent research project on the inclusivity of native settings and apps on Apple’s iOS and Google’s Android mobile operating systems is reviewed, and a model of evaluation is proposed as a starting point for future evaluations. The paper concludes that mobile technology has advantages over traditional assistive technologies as a tool of inclusive technical capital. However, more needs to be done to develop tablets and smartphones’ native settings and apps to include students with disabilities. It is also found that mobile devices as a whole need to become cheaper in order to make them more socially inclusive

This article examines how the process of constructing knowledge on impairment has affected the institutional construction of an ethic of disability. Its primary finding is that the process of creating knowledge ina number of historical contexts was influenced more by traditions and the biases of philosophers and educators in order to signify moral and intellectual superiority, than by a desire to improve the lives of disabled people through education. The article illustrates this epistemological process in a case study of the development of Protestant asylums in the latter years of the nineteenth century

Three genres of photographs created by visually impaired people are discussed. The analysis focuses on the notion that two-dimensional art works can be understood more readily through experiential learning. The article concludes that whatever their level of vision, visually impaired people have shown their understanding of visual concepts through photography, and that sighted people can gain an understanding of the social and perceptual worlds of visual impaired people by reading their photographs

Three case studies of teachers at the Metropolitan Museum of Art are discussed in the context of a larger grounded theory parent study of blind and visually impaired visitors, teachers and systems of instruction. The fieldwork focused on verbal imaging techniques to describe unreachable artworks. The analysis focuses on the traditional understanding that artworks in the museum are deciphered primarily from the perspective of visual perception, that museums are simple vessels of art, as contended by Ernst Gombrich and Pierre Bourdieu, and that inclusion is active. The enquiry also examines whether there is a bridge between sensing an object and understanding it that is partially beyond perception. The article has three conclusions. The first is that the three teachers devised methods to passively rather than actively include students in their descriptions of unreachable artworks, by discussing and developing bespoke modes of communication which were tailored to the viewer’s background and impairment. The second is that visitors often develop symbolic, intellectual and emotional connections with artworks and the museum through verbal descriptions and being in their presence. The third is that previous literature has focused too heavily on the understanding that active inclusion in the museum is premised primarily on touch