Sightless Vision: Reflections on a Paradox

Vision is frequently understood in terms of both an ability to see, and equally an ability to draw on personal experiences, technological knowledge and expert status to predict future events. The central theme this paper addresses is whether vision is inextricably linked to sight. This question has implications for culture and organisation studies, as axiomatically it is frequently assumed that people engaged with organisations either possess a full range of senses (Pink 2008), or tend to marginalise sensory experiences (Corbett 2006). However, worthy as the study of the senses in culture and organisational research undoubtedly is, the research is frequently conducted at a singularly theoretical level and the lack of disabled researchers in the academy has been well documented (Barnes 2003; Duckett and Pratt 2007; Oliver 1997). This paper bridges the divide between theory and praxis by reflecting on the utility of social research methods from the experiential perspective of a blind researcher.