Rethinking Human Rights and Citizenship for Blind People in Zimbabwe: The Struggle for Social Inclusion

This study extensively explores blind people’s utilization of their knowledge, beliefs and experiences in formulating activism and advocacy strategies for combatting social exclusion and discrimination in Zimbabwe. Using qualitative methods that involved collecting data through in-depth interviews of 20 blind participants and an autoethnography, the study revealed that blind people were engaged in ongoing activism for social inclusion and human rights which has so far yielded mixed results. Success has been notable in government programs/initiatives but has not yet meaningfully generalized to the private sector and society at large. Failure to generalize is predominantly attributable to deeply-entrenched societal negative attitudes towards blind people, and government’s inaction on effective implementation and enforcement of disability-inclusive policies on equal access to education, employment, health and other services. Despite the setbacks, the study also revealed that the activism efforts of blind people themselves provide a potent empowerment-oriented vehicle through which they as individuals, and their organizations can collectively advocate for inclusive social policy formulation and implementation that may eventually enable their full participation in the Zimbabwean society, and their enjoyment of human rights and equal citizenship. Overall, the findings of the study contribute to the growing body of knowledge on disability activism in Global South settings. This knowledge can be utilized globally to further understand disability activism from an ‘Afrocentric’ perspective, and its impact on the collective and sustainable ‘emancipation’ of not only the visually impaired community, but also other disabled people.