by Simin Zhu
According to the World Report on Vision released by the World Health Organization (2019), more than 2.2 billion people worldwide have visual impairments. Visual impairments require them to put in more effort to use media, thereby affecting their social participation and expression–key aspects of their communication rights. With the development of short-video platforms in China, such as Douyin and Kuaishou, and the network accessibility settings such as screen reader, the visually impaired people can fulfill their communication rights to some extent. Many of them, especially the young ones, are able to present and express themselves on these platforms as bloggers.
“失明看不见怎么操作手机” (How to operate the mobile phone when blind and unable to see?”)
“肯定能看见啊，不然能玩抖音吗” (Sure she can see it. Otherwise, could she play Douyin?)
“发一个真诚的疑问他是盲人，他怎么给咱们回复的消息” (Asking a sincere question: He is blind, how did he reply to our message?)
— comments on the video of a visually impaired blogger
However, many people assume that visually impaired individuals are unable to use smartphones and participate online for instance consuming short videos or replying to comments. Their communication skills are underestimated by many people, just as many disabled people were once regarded as having no ability at all (Brocco & Mauksch, 2025).
The currently popular short-video platforms have provided the visually impaired people with a new field of visibility in the sense of representation. Yet, the issue of visibility raises the question of what is worth being seen at which price (Brighenti, 2007). Specifically, social visibility is a fundamentally enabling resource, linked to recognition (Brighenti, 2007).
Based on the above content, the study supposes that the visibility of visually impaired people does not only refer to their media representation, but also to the social recognition of their abilities and other aspects. Their visibility needs to be improved, that is we need to see them and reasonably understand their skills and their agency.
By participatory observation and interviews with visually impaired bloggers and the comments on their videos, the study investigates the social visibility of visually impaired people, namely the emotions and imagination of non-visually impaired people towards visually impaired people, as well as how visually impaired people present themselves for stigma management.
“真的好辛苦，宝哥加油啊！超棒的！” (It’s really hard work. Come on, Brother Bao! Fantastic!)
“我的国！我很骄傲！” (My country! I’m so proud!)
“我不是盲人，我挺健全的，但我不热爱生活了，有点小抑郁，小焦虑，up鼓舞了我” (I’m not blind. I’m quite healthy, but I don’t love life anymore. I’m a little depressed and anxious, up has inspired me.)
— some comments on the videos of visually impaired bloggers
Analysing the comments under those videos, it becomes clear that although society also shows respect and understanding towards the visually impaired, it mainly expresses emotions such as sympathy and pity, care and relief, admiration and healing, which tend to be compassionate. Beyond regarding them as the ordinary “us”, many people in society also view visually impaired individuals as “the weak” in technology and life, “children” of the country, and “others” in society.
Society’s emotions and imagination towards visually impaired people are shaped by factors such as visually impaired individuals, non-visually impaired people, and platforms, including the topic settings of visually impaired bloggers, the “normalization” imagination of non-visually impaired people, and the review and traffic systems of platforms. Essentially, society views the visually impaired through an emotion and imagination constructed by the matrix of “society-culture-technology”. Social and cultural discourses such as Social Darwinism, adult-centeredness and ableism have influenced people’s views and attitudes towards the disabled group. Technology, as a regulatory factor, has strengthened the constructive role of social culture.
“就是觉得视障还不够被大家所了解，还是会有很多的误解或误会，然后想让大家更了解视障吧，我感觉大家基本上都是这个初衷。”(It’s just I think that the visually impaired are not yet well understood by everyone, and there are still many misunderstandings or misinterpretations. Then I want to make people understand us better. I feel that most people have this original purpose.) (Visually impaired blogger B10, 2025, January 14)
“我做了这么多年，我观察这么多个号，但是起号基本上就是一个套路（比如卖惨、占用盲道类视频），我开始就真的是不屑于这么做，但是人家一个一个号儿到后来就居上了”，“现在我也慢慢也有在拍了”，“我现在可能更倾向于做一些先能把粉丝量先涨上来的东西，然后慢慢地可能那可能再夹杂一些你自己真实想表达的”。[I’ve been doing this for so many years and observing so many accounts, but starting up an account basically follows the same pattern (like playing the victim or occupying the blind path videos). I really didn’t care about doing this at the beginning, but one account after another gradually rose to the top. Now I’m gradually starting to shoot as well. I might be more inclined to do something that can increase my fan base first. Then gradually, I might add some of what I truly want to express.](Visually impaired blogger B13, 2025, March 14)
“（在做视频对身份的认知的影响方面，）就以前我还是有点拘谨，在公开场合就去表达我是一个视障者，包括我是一个有障碍的。那现在的话，我也敢于说去公开表达这个自己是一个视障，是一个有障碍的。”[(In terms of the impact of making videos on identity perception,) I used to be a bit reserved to express in public that I am visually impaired and I have a disability. Now, I also dare to openly express that I am visually impaired and have a disability. ](Visually impaired blogger B18, 2025, April 15)
As a new platform for self-presentation for visually impaired people, short-video platforms have also provided them with a new field for managing stigma. Based on the perception of social beliefs, stereotypes and attitudes towards them, the visually impaired hope to be able to use these platforms to be seen. On the one hand, in order to capture traffic and achieve visibility, some of them have no choice but to take advantage of stigma, especially in a positive way that aligns with people’s biases. On the other hand, the production practice of them also provides them with another way to understand themselves, relationships and society.
Whether visually impaired bloggers use video production to dissolve, exploit or transcend stigma, it all reflects their efforts to make themselves visible. Nevertheless, the outcome remains unknown. The first thing that restricts visually impaired bloggers is the technical limitations itself. Through the practice of video production, visually impaired people have more clearly perceived that there are still many accessibility problems in video technology. In terms of the attention paid to visually impaired bloggers, the “long-tail phenomenon” still exists: Only a small number of visually impaired bloggers can gain followers and be seen by more people. Even if they are seen, how they are seen and whether they are seen as they intend remain open questions.
Society’s emotions and imagination towards visually impaired people reflect the limited substantive social visibility of them. At the same time, according to the visually impaired, although people’s view on them have improved to some extent, some stigma attached to people with disabilities by society is deeply rooted. How to view visually impaired people and even the disabled and disability reasonably, remains a critical issue.
References
Brighenti, A. (2007). Visibility: A category for the social sciences. Current Sociology, 55(3), 323-342. https://doi.org/10.1177/0011392107076079
Brocco, G., & Mauksch, S. (2025). Introduction to “Laboring from ex‐centric Sites: Disability, chronicity, and work”. Anthropology of Work Review, e70007. https://doi.org/10.1111/awr.70007
World Health Organization (2019, October 8). World report on vision. https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/world-report-on-vision
Simin Zhu is a PhD candidate at the School of Journalism and Communication, Renmin University of China, visiting and studying at the Department of Communication, University of Vienna in the Winter semester of 2025.
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