Participatory photography with visually impaired people: A sensory, vindictive and dialogic initiative

Abstract

The article shows the experience of a participatory photography initiative with people with visual disabilities carried out in the city of Bucaramanga-Colombia. This work sought to contribute to the vindication of the subjects through the experience of participatory photography, with the aim of approaching the phenomenon from different shores that allow de-constructing the category of visual disability, recognizing the person in their multidimensionality. This study recognizes that visual impairment should not be considered an obstacle to the creation of photographic images, since people with this condition perceive reality through other senses and, based on their association, create mental images of their perceptions of reality and represent them through a photograph. The images designed and produced by the participants with visual disabilities showed that photography is not only an activity limited to sighted people, but that if the appropriate technique is applied and the perception that comes from the other senses is used, this activity can be successfully executed.