Claudette Davis-Bonnick.

Claudette Davis-Bonnick specialises in teaching design realisation and garment construction. They have been teaching for a number of years at the UAL, LCF and would like to share some of the sewing skills that her students have mastered.

Seeing is Believing is a strand of activity led by Claudette Davis-Bonnick, a pattern cutting tutor at the London College of Fashion, which seeks to overturn barriers to learning to cut out and create garments experienced by the visually impaired. This short paper Seeing is Believing gives the background Claudette’s ground-breaking project and shares her students’ reflections on what it has meant to participate in it, often after dispiriting experiences of formal education and prejudice.

To access more resources, visit www.davis-bonnick.com

“It is understanding the disability we are challenged with, not the person with the disability…”

Fashion today is a major production industry-valued for its contribution to Gross Domestic Product (GDP) worldwide and is a major source of employment for millions of people. However, for some sections of the population, such as those with visual impairment (VI), it has always been considered an impossible task for them to contribute to the industry in any way. Inclusivity of students with visual impairment (SVI) goes beyond the educational environment. It also means gaining an understanding of the disability, which does not define the student.

I conducted a research study to explore successful inclusive teaching and learning for SVI attending creative arts courses at mainstream universities. The study led to uncovering and creating reasonable adjustments and the use of assistive technologies. It also highlighted the necessity to adopt a holistic approach and a greater understanding of sight-deficiency and sight-loss. Whilst the study was mainly student-centred it investigated the effects on the curriculum, as well as the physical inclusion upon practitioners, mainstream and the university structure. The research further considers the challenges faced for people with VI and the processes needed to encourage SVI to join mainstream courses in a high-profile, creative arts university.

In 2013, the University of the Arts, London (UAL) reported that approximately 20 SVI were registered, although it was unclear which courses they attended. Barer’s (2007) research on behalf of the Mayor of London predicted there will be a steady increase of SVI attending the UAL, many of whom self-select out of studying fashion and go to great lengths to hide their disability or attend and declare their sight-loss, seek reasonable adjustments and Disabled Student Allowance (DSA) as students are under no obligation to disclose their sight condition (RNIB).

Preconceptions of Visual Impairment:

I was often asked ‘If they can’t see, how can they understand what beauty is?’

That statement appeared to me to be based on sight-impairment being equal to total sight-loss, visual aesthetics and an underlying assumption that beauty is purely ocular, and therefore the privilege of people with full functioning eyesight.

The question of beauty is a study in itself. People with low vision and blindness are not excluded from the world in which we all co-exist and make connections. They too have new experiences and lead normal lives. Kathleen Huebner (2000, p.56) argues that ‘an understanding of visual impairment is rooted in individual life-experiences’.

Similarly, Fougeyrollas & Beauregard (2001) discuss the ‘reductionist representation of disability and emphasised the role of environmental factors in the disability process’ (p.171-172) in which legislation has contributed to improving the public’s attitude towards disabilities. ‘[whilst] on one hand, there is the Social Model that attributes the disability entirely to the environment, ignoring factors relevant to the person [,] there is the Biomedical Model that mainly focuses on the person, and resists consideration of environmental factors (ibid. WHO, 1980)

The numerous categories of visual impairment/low vision which prevent a person from seeing clearly and how they react with the world can also affect the way that they are perceived by society and educational provisions. Understanding the range of sight deficiency, why it occurs, and each individual’s responsibility to look after their sight is to become informed – which allows the opportunity to question, to change one’s perceptions and to bring about effective change.