Visible Braille, Invisible Blindness

The chapter analyzes the use of Braille and other tactile features in public spaces, such as elevators, and in such sites as the Franklin D. Roosevelt Memorial in Washington DC, and in the work of such artists as Ann Hamilton and Robert Graham. The chapter also does some close readings of tactile books that are intended to explain visual art to blind children and adults. The over-determined analogy that links the eyes of the sighted to the hands of the blind makes Braille in these sites more of a signifier of blindness than a true access tool. The chapter also includes some works by blind artists that seem to comment on how Braille is typically understood.