Kulturmiljövärden utan synintryck, en studie med synskadade

Abstract

This graduate thesis takes its hold in an idea that many values, in cultural heritage environments, other than the ones that can be seen with the eyes are as important for the experience of the environment as the visual ones; however the environments are usually defined by values that can be experienced visually! Interviews were held with four visually impaired persons. This to get a better understanding for how big part other sense modalities play in the experience of the cultural heritage environments. Questions were asked about what the visually impaired especially value in cultural heritage environments and what is of value for preservation. Also what can be done to make the environments more impressive for them, how they experience the material part of the heritage, architecture, shape and color and with what senses they primarily remember. Furthermore the thesis aims to draw attention to how value definitions made by the conservation field affects the experience of the environments and therefore the accessibility for visually impaired. Through the interviews many similarities between what visually impaired and sighted people values have been shown. Visually impaired people stand a somewhat less of a chance experiencing visually oriented objects but can often make a picture based on information and memory in their mind, therefore the esthetical values can be appreciated even by the blind. The senses seem to be widely connected and a person, sighted or blind, can visualize forms through touching them. The visually impaired many times wish to touch and learn about the environments through descriptions – and they do want to visit the environments! Models are shown to be a good way of learning what shape an environment has. Interesting enough color information was sometimes of great value. An important factor to consider is that preservation should contain preservation for all senses. What is preserved should be preserved so that it can be experienced with other senses than the visual sense. If an environment is easy and logical to understand and has good accessibility, from a visual impairment point of view, the existential experience becomes much stronger.