1. Research Topic, Projected Value
My research topic for this project is about visually disabled people and their food experiences. I will be mostly searching for information about the difficulties blind people face when dealing with food. I want to find how blind people choose their menu, ingredients, how they find where forks, knifes, spoons, plates, or cups, how they know if the plate is hot or cold, how they find if the food is in good condition or not, how they find certain food from refrigerator, how they locate where and what is on the table when they go to restaurant, how do servers treat blind people different, will there be restaurants for blind people, and so forth. I hope I can discover as many information as possible about the challenges blind people when with food and I want to prove that there is lack of tools or public amenities that are designed or made in purpose to help increase their food experience to be enriched. Hopefully, due to my research many people will acknowledge the lack of facilities for blind people beside from many difficulties that blind people face with food. For result, big organization or individuals would work to improve this problem.
2. Leading Research Questions and Hypothesis
a. What are the difficulties blind people face with food?
b. There will be numerous number of difficulties blind people face with food and the number of facilities that serve purpose to help improve the food experience for blind people lacks
3. Research Strategy
a. I want to find how blind people choose their menu, ingredients, how they find where forks, knifes, spoons, plates, or cups, how they know if the plate is hot or cold, how they find if the food is in good condition or not, how they find certain food from refrigerator, how they locate where and what is on the table when they go to restaurant, how do servers treat blind people different, will there be restaurants for blind people,
b. What assumptions are you bringing to your research? I quite not understand this question 🙁
c. What do you know so far?
d. How do you intend to find the information you need to answer each of your questions and test each of your assumptions?
I will try to contact the lighthouse, where they provide a full spectrum of integrated vision + healthcare services helping people who are blind or visually impaired, including those with multiple disabilities or chronic medical conditions lead productive, dignified and fulfilling lives, and try to have some interviews to answer specific questions. I will be also visiting store that sell products for blind people and see if there are actualproducts to help increase food experiences.
4. Reading list for further research:
1. Deshen, Shlomo “The Body in Culture, History, and Religion : Blind People : The Private and Public Life of Sightless Israelis.” SUNY Series. The order of the topics of this book aims to present an unfolding of the life experience of blind people, starting from the most personal and private, and leading onto broad public concerns. The book is composed of four chapters in which the live of sightless people are studies, which will be very helpful. This is a peer reviewed journal that I found using Parsons’ library therefore it is reliable.
2. Bilyk, Marie Claire, Jessica M Sontrop, Gwen E Chapman, Susan I Barr, and Linda Mamer. “Food experiences and eating patterns of visually impaired and blind people.” Medline 2009: 13-18. This article contains researched about the impact of blindness on the experience of food and eating. In this qualitative study, the food experiences and eating patterns of visually impaired and blind people were examined. Influencing factors were also explored. This book exactly states my research topic which was the relationship between blind people and food. Very helpful and also reliable since it is found from library website. Also the work cited references, at the end, looked proper.
3. “Americans with Disabilities Act. Guide for places of lodging: sensing guests who are blind or who have low vision,” US Department of justice. Last modified January 2001. http://www.ada.gov/lodblind.htm. This article is about the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Places of public accommodation, including hotels, motels, and other places of transient lodging, to ensure that everyone regardless of disability has an equal opportunity to enjoy their services and facilities. By reading this articles it will help me to found more about the possible difficulties blind people face in restaurants. This source was one of the work cited reference from the previous source (number2)
4. Julie Garden-Robinson, Sherri Stastny, Casey Kjera, Krystle McNeal, Stacy Wang. “Cooking and Eating with Low Vision.” Presentation at the NDSU Extension Service, Fargo, ND, March 2013. This presentation is provided to help participants to understand the effects of low vision on health and nutrition. It also provides low vision food preparation tips and strategies to use when eating out. This source is reliable since this is a presentation from North Dakota State University and the lesson planers are possessing Ph.D., R.D., L.R.D. This information will help to gather more information about blind people and food
5. “Tips for Living with Low Vision,” Department of Health Services
Division of Long Term Care Office for the Blind and Visually Impaired. Last modified October 2013. https://www.dhs.wisconsin.gov/publications/p2/p23201.pdf. This article generally is about list of suggestions to help simplify the activities blind people perform in their daily livings. Looking at all these lists I found out how much extra steps blind people have to take just to place toothpaste on toothbrush. These information is a useful sources for blind people but it also helps me in collecting information about the difficulties blind people face in living
6. Fraser, C. F.. 1917. “Psychology of the Blind”. The American Journal of Psychology 28 (2). University of Illinois Press: 229–37. doi:10.2307/1413723. This part of the book is about the research of the relationship between 5 senses. For example, the experiment as to comparative delicacy of touch in persons with and without sight. At the same time testing the senses of hearing and smell. This is a reliable source because it is published by University of Illinois.
7. Tadić, V., G. Lewando Hundt, S. Keeley, and J. S. Rahi. 2015. “Seeing it my way: living with childhood onset visual disability.” Child: Care, Health & Development 41, no. 2: 239-248 10p. CINAHL Plus with Full Text, EBSCOhost (accessed March 15, 2016). Children’s own perspectives of living with a visual impairment have not been considered. This book report the experiences of visually impaired children and young people aged 10-15 years about growing up with impaired sight. I might not be using this source but incase I want to write small portion about childhood blind for later
8. Page, Lawrence. 1989. “Visual Disability and the Elderly”. BMJ: British Medical Journal 298 (6686). BMJ: 1519–19. http://www.jstor.org/stable/29704228. This journal is about the elder blind people. I might also not use this. But incase I need information about elder blind people.
9. Dorman, David. 1995. “Technically speaking.” American Libraries 26, no. 11: 1143. Professional Development Collection, EBSCOhost (accessed March 15, 2016). This article presents information on products for the blind and visually impaired. Xerox Imaging Systems, TeleSensory, etc; Distributors; Specialty products; Internet resources; More. This will help in my conclusion providing evidence to my hypothesis which is there are not enough product or amenities for blind people.
10. Manis, Debbie. “‘Dining in the Dark’ to Raise Awareness about Visually Impaired ‘.” McClatchy – Tribune Business News Apr 08 2014 ProQuest. 15 Mar. 2016 . This article is about the event is designed to create awareness about the challenges of being blind and to raise funds for New Vision for Independence, a nonprofit that provides assistance and training for blind and visually impaired adults in Lake and Sumter counties.
