[accessibleimage] Simon Hayhoes' lecture and attachments - forwarding

Hi,
Am forwarding Simon Hayhoes' email. I dont think it came through to the
Accessible Image list because of attachments. I got it through another
list so am sending it on. I have placed the text from the attachments in
this email. If you prefer the attachments contact Simon directly. I got to
read  a powepoint lecture from Simon awhile back about An Epistemological
Model of Disability, really interesting.
Regards,
Lisa


Dear All,
I realise it will be a bit of a commute for most of you, so please find 
attached the handouts for a lecture I am giving tomorrow in London for Art 
Through Touch. If you can make it, however, Balham would be delighted to
see 
you!

On the current hot topic of new Royal Society Fellowships, by the way,
John 
Kennedy's theories and help have been invaluable in the development of the
4 
Senses project! He has, as ever, been one of my main driving forces and
has 
given me invaluable help with editing as well as everything else - see 
manifesto questions in particular. This lecture will be dedicated to him!

Best wishes and cheers from sunny London.

As ever,

Simon Hayhoe


The 4 Senses Project:
Art Courses & Exhibition

Simon Hayhoe, Independent Researcher / Teacher

Project & Exhibition Coordinators

Orchard House School (Mary West, Ralph Rolls & Simon Hayhoe) / Dorton
House School for the Blind (Jo Wooltorton) / The Victoria & Albert Museum
(Barry Ginley)
NB: This project was conducted with the close co-operation of BlindArt
(London), The Art Beyond Sight Collaborative (New York) and Art Education
for the Blind (New York), three groups with established activities and
expertise in this field.

Background to the project

Since Sunderland Art Gallery?s project for the blind in 1913, there have
been many art education exhibitions and shows in schools, colleges and
museums, which have included students who are blind/visually impaired in
viewings of artefacts. However, all of these projects have educated
students who are blind/visually impaired separately from their sighted
peers. Or they have promoted art purely for people who are blind, usually
reproduced from pieces meant primarily for vision (1 sense) to be
represented through touch (1 other sense).

This project took a different approach. Rather than producing /
commissioning / choosing pieces of art purely for the use of people who
are blind/visually impaired, this project gathered two groups of students
who are sighted and blind/visually impaired to work together to produce
artefacts that can be appreciated by all students, and emphasise the 4
senses they had in common. These artefacts were then displayed in an
exhibition at the Royal College of Art.

Further Background to the Project

One of the founding debates of modern philosophy, between Locke &
Molyneux, asked whether a blind man gaining sight could recognise an
object by sight when he had only touched it before. Since this time, the
studies of blindness based on this question, including those of Diderot,
Berkley, Revesz, Gregory, Sacks and Kennedy, have focused on the following
assumptions and questions about blindness:
Imagine touch was the only sense to be used to understand objects, what
would follow?
Imagine objects are only understood by single perceptions at a time what
would follow?
Imagine pictorial art is understood by direct physical perceptions and not
through other forms of communication, could it be understood by those who
are blind? 
Blind people are mainly a perceptual and not a cultural community, and 
People who are blind have no light perception, and often have never had
light perception. 

Aims & Objectives

The aim of this project was to gather students who are sighted and
blind/visually impaired to work on an art project, producing artefacts
primarily appreciable by all students? 4 non-visual senses.

The objective of this project is to produce and exhibit artefacts that are
appreciable by people who are sighted and those who are blind/visually
impaired through the emphasis of the 4 non-visual senses.

Students Involved in the 4 Senses Project

The project was conducted with UVI pupils with sight from Orchard House
School (aged 10-11 years old) and final year GCSE pupils from Dorton House
School for the Blind (Royal London Society for the Blind ? aged 15-16
years old).

The Project?s Timetable

The project was in 4 distinct phases, as follows:
Phase One: In December, students from Orchard House Preparatory School
were given art exercises in representing themselves non-visually.
Furthermore, Sharareh Khayami from BlindArt came to the school and gave a
presentation during these exercises, describing how they appreciate art. 
Phase Two: In January, students from Dorton House School met students from
Orchard House Preparatory School at the V&A. During this visit, they were
placed into mixed groups, 4 from Orchard House School for every 1 from
Dorton House School. During this visit, the students chose pieces they
wanted to represent emphasising 4 senses from the museum.
Phase Three: In February, both groups of students met again over the
period of a week to make 4 sense representations of pieces from the museum.
Phase Four: In March, the finished pieces were exhibited at the prize
giving exhibition of BlindArt in the Henry Moore Gallery, Royal College of
Art.

4 Senses Manifesto

The four senses genre of art challenges these starting points, and instead
begins with the following 5 assumptions: 
Senses are not discrete, but work together to form a cohesive whole ? such
as when it is easier to hear when you lip read, as sight cues help fill in
sound gaps.
People who have debilitated perceptions, through for instance blindness or
deafness, would receive more effective communication from an art work
through an enhancement of the other 4 senses as a whole.
Art can be communicated through indirect means such as verbal and written
language.
Although art favouring 4 senses is useful for people who have perceptual
impairments, the 5th sense should be catered for to include the majority
of people with full sensual perception, and also to enhance the 5th sense
for those with a partial perceptual impairment.
Art favouring 4 senses can provide the fully able bodied viewer with a
different understanding of 

A Review of the Experience

The students were initially reluctant to work together because of the age
gap.
It was thought initially unusual that students who were registered blind
liked the Glass Gallery. However, their restricted vision made them more
sensitive to the bright blocks of colour and direct simple shapes there.
After discussing the subjects for a period, students found themselves
building common frames of reference, discussing and agreeing with the form
and function of their pieces.
The students worked together well during the exercises, although the age
difference still meant that students felt uneasy about mixing too freely.
There was, surprisingly, a lack of enthusiasm and acceptance of the
project by the schools? management. No senior managers turned up to the
exhibition, and have since not allowed the sculptures to stay in their
respective schools.
The experience has been good not just in terms of artistic development but
also in terms of disability awareness. Students from Orchard House have
now gained a much greater awareness of blindness, and the structure of
some disabilities.

Conclusion

Aesthetics can provide an insight into the nature of disability in ways
that other forms of education cannot do.
Touch has become a cultural symbol of blindness, however employing the
other senses appears to enhance the artistic experience.
The process of the creation was more important than the eventual products,
in terms of what the students learnt from their experiences.
Students who were blind and visually impaired and involved with this
project, still wanted to work with people from mainstream schools and
function in mainstream society.
The students found the gallery visit more stimulating because it had an
artistic purpose and an end result.


The Future?
Il Progetto Cinematografico dei Quattro Sensi 

The aim of this project is to gather film students from Milan who are
sighted and students from schools for the blind to work on a film project,
producing 4 sense film installations primarily appreciable by all
students? 4 non-visual senses.
        
        The objective of this project is to produce and exhibit artefacts that
are appreciable by people who are sighted and those who are blind/visually
impaired.



The proposed project will begin in early/mid 2006 and will last for
approximately 4 months. The timetable will take place in 5 phases as
follows:

Phase 1) To begin this project students from the Milanese film school will
be given exercises in representing works of art non-visually.

Phase 2) Students from the Milanese school for the blind will meet
students from the Milanese film school initially at the Milanese school
for the blind. Initially, they will discuss how they can create cinematic
4 sense representations of themselves. They will then be split into groups
of 4 students from the film school to 1 student from the school for the
blind.

Phase 3) The groups of students meet at the Milanese film school and
discuss an aspect of their lives in Milan that they would like to
represent. This could be fashion, the buildings, the music or the food.
The students will then discuss how to represent the aspect in four senses
cinematically.

Phase 4) Over the next two months, the students will meet on a regular
basis (ideally at least twice a week) to plan, script, film and produce 5
minute films about their chosen aspect of Milan. The students from the
film school will take the lead in editing and producing these films. It is
also envisaged that filming could involve home and site visits. These
would be negotiated with, and be the responsibility of, the schools.

Phase 5) Each cinematic installation will be screened in a suitable venue
in Milan. The screenings will be preceded by three lectures (live,
recorded or live-video feed), each approximately 20 minutes (including
questions) describing the social/cultural, perceptual and neurological
aspects of blindness. Suggested lecturers are Oliver Sacks
(neurophysiologist), John Kennedy (perceptual psychologist) and Jo



An Epistemological Model of Disability:
The Development of Attitudes Towards Touch, Blindness & the Arts

Simon Hayhoe, Independent Teacher/Researcher

Why Study Blindness & Arts/Crafts Education?

It is often thought to be common sense that people who are blind cannot
appreciate or create visual arts.
This subject has led to related research on the development and
interpretation of all of the senses, disabilities and civil rights issues.
Earlier research* has shown that performance in art classes is not mainly
dependent on levels of blindness or visual memories, but on the early
experiences of fine art.
There are now a number of fine art graduates in England who are legally
registered blind from birth or early age.
* Hayhoe S (2000) The effects of late arts education on adults with early
visual disabilities. Educational Research & Evaluation 6/3/229-249

Traditional Approaches to Analysing Disability

The medical model
The social model
The philosophical model
The psychological model (perceptual)
The psychological model (developmental)

Authors in the Different Models of Disability

The medical model:
Coakes & Holmes Sellors (Optometry), Stanier et al. (Microbiology).
The social model:
Oliver, Barnes & Mercer, Swain, Barton, Albrecht & Levy.
The philosophical model
Diderot, Berkley, Locke & Molyneux, Nagel, Hopkins, McGee, Milligan,
?Demodocus?.
The psychological model (perceptual):
Gregory, Sacks, Kennedy, Heller, Spence. 
The psychological model (developmental):
Vygotsky, Lowenfeld, V & Lowenfeld B, Klein, Howe.

Traditional Approaches to Analysing Disability:
The Medical Model

Looks at blindness simply as the symptom of a disease. The model works
towards curing the disease.
Sees blindness as a fixed symptom. The model works towards treating the
whole illness in isolation. Does not consider before and after lives.
Sees blindness as a scientifically definable symptom only.
Focuses on blindness as a deficit. It defines it as abnormal and not
equivalent to sight.

Traditional Approaches to Analysing Disability:
The Social Model

In its most extreme state, it regards disability purely as a socially
defined label. However, it most often accepts that disability is a
condition that is partially formed from medical symptoms, but is greatly
influenced by social attitudes.
It is often associated with a notion that people who are disabled are
oppressed by people who are able bodied. This model works towards civil
rights for people who are disabled.
It regards all people with disabilities as equally oppressed. People are
regarded the same whatever their disability. It is not a person?s physical
condition but the social attitude and institutional factors that disable
people.
Looks at issues such as social isolation, hegemonic oppression and the
place of blindness under capitalist, feudal, theocratic and socialist
governance.

Traditional Approaches to Analysing Disability:
The Philosophical Model

Looks at the phenomena caused by the ?quirks? of disabilities. These
include socialisation, perception, communication and cognition. This model
works towards an understanding of all human conditions.
Distinguishes between early & late disability, and the transition between
these two as separate mental states.
Works towards overcoming the problems caused by disability without
necessarily addressing their rectification. Disability is simply the
subject of an academic curiosity.

Traditional Approaches to Analysing Blindness:
The Psychological Model (Perceptual)

Looks at the problems caused by the symptoms of disability, such as
understanding objects, communications and cognition. Works towards making
people?s lives easier, or facilitating education.
Restricted to sensory impairments, such as blindness and deafness.
Distinguishes between early & late disability.  Uses this distinction to
facilitate smooth transitions or re/education for these two distinct
groups.
Works towards overcoming the problems caused by disability without
necessarily being able to treat it. The aim is to work on traits resulting
from the disability, such as lack of communication.

Traditional Approaches to Analysing Blindness:
The Psychological Model (Developmental)

Looks at the individual and social problems caused by the symptoms of
disability, such as socialisation, social communications, emotional trauma
and cognition. Works towards making people?s lives easier, or facilitating
education.
Examines the problems caused by specific disabilities and disability in
general.
Distinguishes between early & late disability.  Uses this distinction to
facilitate smooth transitions or re/education for these two distinct
groups.
Works towards overcoming the problems caused by disability without
necessary curing the disability. The aim is to work on traits resulting
from disability, such as lack of communication.

The Epistemological Model of Blindness

Analyses the analysis of blindness.
Sees the study of blindness through psychological, medical and social
traits rather than diseases or symptoms.
It regards each disability as having its own quirks and traits. It also
distinguishes between the study of early and late disability.
Disability can also be analysed as a philosophical concept, a social
label, a medically defined symptoms or psychological differences.
Therefore, the epistemological model works towards understanding these
concepts in order to inform more accurate and effective definitions of
disabilities.
Attitudes towards blindness have histories, which change. These changes
are dependent on the context of ability/disability, and the cultural
context of societies and institutions.
Social definitions are neither intrinsically good nor bad. They work
towards the rhetorical objective, however, of reducing unhappiness.
It sees the study of blindness as working towards the subjective and
objective models of disability.

Subjective Disability

Subjective disability is described in relation to tasks, whether they are
socially or ?naturally? defined.
Subjective disability only exists within certain tasks in certain
locations. E.g. people are not blind during a telephone conversation,
although their language may still refer to different understandings.
Subjective disability is not linked to an identity. It has no cultural or
symbolic characteristics.
Subjective disability can be alleviated through technology. E.g. blindness
as a trait can be alleviated by optical character readers, large type,
audio-tapes, strong spectacles and Braille.
People who are regarded as able bodied in what we regard as normal living
conditions can be disabled under what are regarded as abnormal conditions.
E.g. people can be blinded in extreme darkness or very bright light.
Disability is not regarded as a social but a practical category. E.g. it
is based on individual tasks rather than a social identity.

Objective Disability

An identity defined by a society, institution or scientific concept.
People who are blind are identified by symbols. E.g. Dark glasses, the
look of their eyes, white canes, facial expressions.
People are defined by their perceived usefulness to society. E.g. tasks
that produce capital.
People are judged on the permanence of their blindness. E.g. a person who
is temporarily blinded is still regarded as person with sight.
Social assumptions are made about people?s characters based on their
blindness. E.g. sexual deviance or innocence.

Education & Disability

?Every physical defect (sic.), be it blindness or deafness, alters the
child?s attitude towards the universe and, primarily towards its fellow
beings. Let us take, for instance, the geometrical place of a human being
in the social sphere, his part and his fate as partaker of life and all
functions of social existence, and we shall all come to the conclusion
that everything is to be entirely altered on the case of the human being
with any defect. Any physical defect provokes a social sprain, with
unavoidable consequences.
It goes without saying that blindness and deafness are biological facts
and not at all of a social nature, but the teacher has to deal not so much
with the facts as with the social consequences of these facts. When we
have a blind child as an object of education before us, we are compelled
to deal not so much with the blindness itself, as with the conflicts which
arise therefrom within the child when it enters life??
Vygotsky LS (Van der Veer R & Valsiner J Eds.) (1994) The Vygotsky reader.
Oxford: Blackwells

Classification of The 3 Core Scientific Enlightenment Theories of Arts&
Crafts Education in the Original European Institutions
Late 18th Century-Mid 19th Century British Asylums

Blindness often caused by sexually transmitted diseases.
Asylums based in port cities with large populations of prostitutes and
single men from many countries.
Asylums were set up by members of non-conformist Protestant foundations,
who were often blind themselves.
The asylums believed that inmates had no usable vision whatsoever.
These religious groups believed that blind people were at risk of deviance
through not seeing the beauty of God and nature, and that they should be
pitied.
Asylum inmates were expelled for deviance, but treated as family if they
contributed positively.
The religious groups believed that students could find God through hand
crafts and later through sacred music.
This attitude survived because it was profitable and self sustaining.

Late 18th Century-Mid 19th Century British Asylums

"Then view you pensive, interesting group,
Hard is their lot,- with poverty they stoop,
The shades of darkness on their eyelids dwell,
They know not how to chase the mystic spell.
View nature's soul! doth not that god of day!
Pour in delight upon the visual ray?-
View Flora's beauties in their gay attire,
Say, do not these a secret joy inspire?
The charms of nature, and the works of art,

Late 18th Century-Early 19th Century French Institutions

Institutions founded from the philosophy of the Enlightenment. This
philosophy was provided by surgeons and teachers connected with the
Emperor, such as Diderot & Hauy.
Funded initially by middle class charity and imperial patronage. The first
student was middle class although the other children were beggars.
The rhetoric was of a moral equivalence of students who were blind with
those who had sight, however intellectual equivalence was doubted.
Literature was the main subject at the schools, as it was thought that
this would provide an enlightenment. Braille thus evolved from this
institution.
This attitude did not survive in France because it was unprofitable, and
its funding ran dry. It was also politically contentious.

Late 18th Century-Early 19th Century French Institutions

?Since my son must give up light,
At least open to him the path of wisdom;
And may the radiance of Virtue at the bottom of his heart 
Compensate him, alas!
For the daylight he has lost.?

Paulson WR (1987) Enlightenment, romanticism and the blind in France.
Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press.

Late Early 19th Century Austrian Education

Believed in integration and state education.
Original educationalists were religious Catholics.
Believed that touching objects and stimulating children?s minds would
prevent masturbation.
It was felt that blind children were particularly prone to masturbation as
they did not have mental visual stimulus.
Believed that literacy was also important, and promoted Braille education.
Promoted handcraft training, so as to allow students to have an income
after their education. However, they believed that these handcrafts should
be balanced with a literate education.
Believed in creativity in touch, and devised what appeared to be the first
recorded case of sculptural education ? This involved carving crucifixes,
an important art in Catholic churches in this era.

Late Early 19th Century Austrian Education

"[The] blind person who cannot be stimulated by vision and who is thus
used to gaining pleasure from feeling objects is more liable than others
to involve himself in the vice of masturbation that weakens the body and
soul. Exercise and occupation can prevent this most effectively.?

Klein JW (Lowenfeld B Trans) (1836) Guide for a suitable treatment of
blind children from their earliest youth on in the circle of their
families and in the schools of their home communities. Featured in
Blindness 1971/231-242. 

Conclusion

Legacies of this history still exist today. E.g. Handcrafts have only
recently been surpassed by visual art in Europe and North America. Until
recently, little creative art education has existed in schools for the
blind or some state education.
People still often assume that people who are blind cannot understand art.
Yet they assume that people who are blind can read, which is a more visual
exercise than tactile, plastic tasks.
Education and training in Britain and North America are still often based
on vocational training in manual trades for students thought incapable of
academic thought.
Students who are blind are still more likely to study music than other
forms of creative arts. Braille has developed sophisticated technology,
and has a large body of research. Tactile diagrams and research into this
subject is still relatively new.


Lisa Yayla
Huseby Kompetansesenter 
Oslo Norway
lisa.yayla@xxxxxxxxxx

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