Visually Impaired Blogging Research Articles

Since I started blogging many years ago, I’ve been invited to take part in research projects about sight loss with a few people, and it’s always nice when I get to see how my contributions have been used.

Recently, therefore, I was contacted by Ibrahim Emara, an Assistant Professor of journalism at Tanta University in Egypt. He’s the first visually impaired person in Egypt to teach and do research in journalism, and his research has focused on the use of mass media among the visually impaired.

Ibrahim interviewed me back in July 2021, among many other bloggers, and while that was quite a while ago, I’ve been flattered to learn that the chat we had has helped to influence four of his articles. I’m only directly quoted in the first one of course, which was the core study he was conducting, but it’s fascinating to see the other three that have spun off from it as well. He’s very kindly sent me full copies of them so that I can write a bit about them here.

Contents

• Blindness Community Bloggers
• Qualitative Data Analysis Software
• USA Visually Impaired Bloggers
• Sharing Visual Impairment Identities

Blindness Community Bloggers (2023)

Article Link – “It’s weird for the people who aren’t used to it. And I want to make it less weird”: Blindness community bloggers as legitimate voices of their lived experiences (Requires journal service access or one-off payment to view the full article)

Ibrahim co-authored this article with the help of sighted researcher Beth Haller from Towson University in the USA. The quote in the title isn’t mine, it’s from one of the other bloggers involved, but it is a very good statement. It’s perhaps debatable whether “blindness community” is the best catch-all term, given that many of us are partially sighted rather than blind, but they also use the term “visual impairment” a lot during the article to be fair, which is what I tend to use. I also appreciate they had to pick something reasonably concise as a descriptor, and no single choice is going to please everyone, so I don’t have a major problem with it.

Introduction

The article asks why visually impaired people still find blogging important for communication (when many people have dropped it in favour of social media), how it helps them to shape their identity, how it allows them to share their experiences in order to raise awareness, and how they see the future of the format. And ultimately it concludes that it has a positive impact on visually impaired people and their allies.

It begins by reviewing other studies that have looked at disabled people in blogging and other mediums. It gives various examples of how visually impaired people have long been portrayed negatively in the media, and explains why the concept of “inspiration porn” is so patronising and problematic. But it also recognises that there are some signs of positive change, with visually impaired performers being cast in productions and having a say in how sight loss is portrayed, while visually impaired people are more able to be creators themselves thanks to technology becoming more accessible.

It goes on to say that disabled bloggers like myself are able to use our personal platforms to dispel myths and raise greater awareness, which is certainly one of the things I’m happy to be doing with my blog. It gives us a “sense of empowerment that comes from controlling one’s representation”, as the article nicely puts it, and we’re often seen as “authoritative sources” on visual impairment.

The article also observes how blogging brings us closer to other members of the visually impaired community, and that was certainly one of the reasons I started mine. I was preparing to move to London at the time, so figured that if I could become part of the online visually impaired community in some way, it might help me to get some information and support from my new connections. But as it turned out, it’s resulted in so much more than that, it’s been amazing.

Bloggers

The article then moves on to the 19 bloggers interviewed by Ibrahim. I was one of 11 with visual impairments, while 6 were editors from sight loss organisations and 2 were family members of visually impaired people. The majority of those interviewed were based in the USA, so I was one of 4 located elsewhere. Our actual blog posts weren’t analysed, as it was our lived experiences of blogging that were being studied.

We were all given pseudonyms to keep our responses anonymous, so you won’t see my name in the document. But I’m happy to be open and say that I was given the name Jack. I couldn’t remember what Ibrahim had called me after all this time, but I can recognise my responses instantly!

The study found that disabled people still use blogs for 8 main reasons, and I’m quoted within the analysis of three of them. The responses from all of the bloggers are interesting and well worth reading, but naturally I’m going to focus on what I’m quoted as saying.

Firstly, information about specific conditions, especially rare ones, can be hard to find or understand, so blogs by disabled people can help to bridge that knowledge gap. In my quoted example, therefore, I observe how parents of newly diagnosed children have found my blog when searching for details about my conditions (aniridia and nystagmus), and it’s given them vital information and reassurance. It’s one of the things I’m proudest about with this blog, knowing that it’s helped parents to feel a bit more confident and supported when they’ve been having a tough time.

And then beyond that, raising awareness amongst the general public about visual impairment by making it more understandable is what the article describes as “blindness gain”. For example, as I’m quoted as saying: “A lot of people aren’t very sure about how to talk to us, or help us, or interact with us in general. Some people are a bit nervous about it, or they get things wrong.” So these blogs can help to educate people in a friendly way. Incidentally, it’s hard to believe that this video of mine is nearly 10 years old now, being one of the very first I ever filmed – how my style’s changed since then!

The article also notes that I “consciously focus on posting blog content that corrects misinformation about blindness”, which is fair. I do like to show that it’s possible to live independently and have an enjoyable life with sight loss, which many people automatically assume can’t be done.

Finally, I’m also quoted during the section about us having “authentic voices”, because as members of the visually impaired community we’re naturally more capable of writing about it. I’m quoted as saying that it gives me more range and emotional depth when writing about visual impairment compared to a sighted blogger, because I can approach it from angles that they’re unable to. I also say that people consider us accurate and authentic voices because of our first-hand experience.

Apart from all that, the other reasons for blogging about sight loss discussed in the article include promoting positivity among visually impaired people, the ease at which readers can communicate with us, inspiring other visually impaired people by showing how we can be high achievers, the fact that allies of visually impaired people are also considered to have authentic voices, and the belief that blogging will continue to have importance and be able to coexist with social media in the future. And I agree with all of those.

The authors therefore conclude, quite accurately, that “blogs are a significant form of communication and awareness-raising for the blindness community, as well as enhancing the identity of members of the blindness community.” I’ve certainly discovered that through my own writing. I didn’t know how much I would get out of it, and certainly didn’t expect to be doing it for very long. But it’s become a big part of my life over a period of nearly 10 years, and I’m delighted about that.

So I’m very happy with the article, as it clearly shows the benefits of blogging in relation to disability. It’s also very interesting to read the perspectives of other bloggers, as we all have our own individual approaches to it, which is one of the things that makes this community so lovely to be part of.

Qualitative Data Analysis Software (2023)

Article Link – Evaluation of qualitative data analysis software by a visually impaired researcher: An autoethnographic study (Full article is free to access)

In order to write the previous article on visually impaired bloggers, Ibrahim had to analyse the data he’d compiled from all the interviews he’d conducted. So that inspired him to put together this article, in which he reflects on that experience as a visually impaired researcher.

Computer software is often partly or wholly inaccessible to visually impaired people, and products used for research studies are no exception. So here Ibrahim looks at qualitative data analysis software (Q-DAS), which helps researchers to organise and analyse data in text and multimedia formats. He wanted to see what visually impaired researchers like himself could get out of such software, what the main limitations were, and what suggestions there could be for improvement.

The paper notes that the actual act of collecting data is relatively easy, as visually impaired researchers can use remote methods to interview people, and sort out ways to record and assemble the information in ways that are accessible to them. But when it comes to actually analysing it all, that’s where it gets particularly difficult. The paper makes clear that this isn’t the fault of visually impaired people, and instead rightly asserts that “companies, programmers, and research institutions are to be held accountable for not offering accessible tools and software that allow researchers with visual impairment to perform their qualitative research at the same speed, comfort, and quality as their sighted peers.” Researchers therefore have to develop their own workarounds where necessary, if it’s even possible to do so.

Similar could be said of many other professions of course. The lack of accessibility in software and websites is the reason that I’m a support worker for my blind journalist friend Emily. I basically fill the gaps where necessary, in terms of finding and distilling information, and checking and uploading her articles, so that she can do her job to the same speed and standard as her sighted colleagues. AI can help a little bit in one or two areas, but it can’t be relied on for many things, especially in a job where accuracy is vital.

The paper also notes how difficult it is for visually impaired people to get jobs in research institutions in the first place, and the discriminatory ways they may be treated once they are employed. The use of software is just one of many issues of course.

The paper then discusses the many ways in which visually impaired people explore and analyse data, from the way they think about it to the assistive technology they use, compared to normal-sighted researchers. And from there it goes on to talk specifically about QDAS software, and it’s both interesting and disappointing, though also totally unsurprising, to learn just how inaccessible it is, including the product Ibrahim attempted to use for his blogging study. He investigates whether it’s feasible to use alternatives like Microsoft Word and Excel, which have more limited functionality and their own accessibility issues, and has some interesting suggestions for how sighted and non-sighted researchers could collaborate in more accessible ways.

So it’s an interesting article, giving a behind the scenes insight into how he processed the data from the blogging study. I hope that it inspires some kind of improvement in the accessibility of research tools and methods, and helps to encourage more visually impaired people to get involved in research.

USA Visually Impaired Bloggers (2025)

Article Link – Knocking on doors: The use of blogging sites by visually impaired people in the USA – A preliminary study (Requires journal service access or one-off payment to view the full article)

This study focuses on bloggers from the USA, so naturally it doesn’t include me. But it’s nice to know that the earlier study I took part in helped to influence this one.

In the introduction, the article talks about how visually impaired people are able to access the internet using assistive technology, how it contains a lot of information that is of use to them, and how it’s an important way for them to communicate with others. But importantly it also talks about the accessibility issues that they continue to face, including with blogging sites. This is all considered in line with the Technology Acceptance Model, which says that the adoption of new technology depends upon both its usefulness and ease of use.

The opening section also reflects on how beneficial blogging is to people with visual impairments and other disabilities, and how they make use of social media in a variety of ways. It notes that a lot of studies have been done on the use of social media by visually impaired people, but much less attention has been paid to their use of blogs, hence this study in addition to the earlier one discussed above.

It then goes on to analyse the results of the 10 bloggers who were surveyed, 6 of whom are from sight loss organisations while 4 are independent bloggers. The article acknowledges that it’s only a small sample for this pilot study, but it still produces a variety of responses and raises plenty of good points. It looks at their use of images and videos (including Alt Text descriptions), how they incorporate hyperlinks, the accessibility of their blogs and the platforms they use to produce them, and the different ways that readers communicate with them. As a blogger myself, none of it comes as a surprise particularly, but it still makes for very insightful reading.

Sharing Visual Impairment Identities (2025)

Article Link – “Talking the Same Language”: The Influence of Sharing a Visual Impairment Identity Between Researchers and Participants on Enhancing Participant Recruitment and Fostering Rapport During Interviews with Blind Individuals. (Full article is free to access)

This study raises the interesting question of whether researchers should be in the same situation as the people they’re interviewing – in this case whether visually impaired people should be interviewed by a visually impaired researcher. Does this influence whether the subjects are willing to be interviewed, does it help to establish a rapport, and are there guidelines for establishing that rapport?

The report observes that most studies of visually impaired people have been conducted by sighted researchers, whose lack of awareness has sometimes caused difficulties for the interviewees. And there have been very few studies looking at how to form comfortable and accessible connections with visually impaired participants.

Ibrahim therefore looks into this by reflecting on his own experience interviewing disabled bloggers and the experiences of other researchers. He asserts that being part of the same community helps to increase the number of study participants and enhances the rapport significantly. It sounds obvious really, and he points out that disability scholars have argued that people with disabilities should be interviewed by members of that community. But as in many walks of life, disability researchers have faced many discriminatory barriers over the years.

Ibrahim describes how, before entering academia, he refused to take part in interviews as a blind subject because of the way researchers treated him, and he talks about some of the practices that put visually impaired people off taking part in studies. When conducting his own research, therefore, he carefully looked at the best ways of recruiting visually impaired participants, obtaining their consent and collecting data from them, as well as the ethical considerations and the right terminology to use with them.

He then gets into the discussion of whether it’s best to have sighted or visually impaired researchers conducting interviews with visually impaired people, how best to establish a rapport with such participants, how to communicate effectively with them, and the negative practices to avoid. He goes into a lot of interesting and well considered detail about it all, so it’s another very nice article.

Conclusion

Blogging has been a great experience for me, because of the support and entertainment it’s given other people and myself, and the many connections, experiences and opportunities that I’ve got out of it. It’s been so much more rewarding than I anticipated when I made my first post nearly 10 years ago.

It was therefore a pleasure to share my experiences with Ibrahim for his research, and it’s been very interesting to look through the articles that have resulted from it. So thank you to Ibrahim for getting back in touch and sharing them with me. It’s great to know that my input, along with the other bloggers he interviewed, has been so helpful.