emotional inclusiveness
Social integration of the blind can’t focus solely on functional accessibility but needs emotional inclusiveness as well. Many of the sighted still feel embarrassed or sorry when they see a blind person. But the Blind thank them, don’t need that sorry. Sorry only creates distance. These walls must be torn down. Social integration isn't necessary so that sighted people can have a relieved conscience but because we simply need each other – that’s why we live together in a society. The Beyond collection act as a symbol: Seeing beyond prejudice and sorry. Seeing beyond the dark glasses. Beyond all these you will meet someone.
The most exciting lesson of this project was to understand the complexity of a blind person's self image and self expression in a sighted society. It is a common attitude of blind people that they don’t want anyone to feel sorry for them, they don’t want to show vulnerability or sadness of being blind, because it is simply not true. Most of them feel great, live a fully rich life and have fully accepted their condition – and this is what they want to express.
There is a consensus that wearing sunglasses is useful in protecting their eyes against impacts and in communicating their condition, but there is so much more potential in self expression with it. Beyond is a different approach to glasses and jewelery for blind people.
We launched this project with the help of the National Institute for the Blind in Hungary to torn down the walls between the Blind and the Sighted.
The second lesson was to accept during the project that there is no universal way to express positive feelings and self image.
People communicate being ok in great many different ways. As the sighted has many different types of attitude, the blind have as well. Someone is more extroverted and someone isn’t. Appearance and fashion can be important to some and it isn’t to others. For some people it may only be important in special ocasions like going to the theatre and it may not when they just go for shopping nearby.
So in any case for those to whom physical self expression is important and represents an extravagant character in life or just wants to wear something special on a special event, Collection Beyond are something more exciting than general sunglasses: a jewelery that only can be worn blindly and are designed by such freedom of form and material usage. An object of freedom, extravagantness, and happiness.
Designers: Alberto Vasquez, Dorottya Féja, Zsófia Mezo, Eszter Mátyás
Photo: Bálint Schneider
