COVID-19 and Blind Spaces: Responding to Digital (In)Accessibility and Social Isolation During Lockdown for Blind, Deafblind, Low Vision, and Vision Impaired Persons in Aotearoa New Zealand

This chapter examines how digital and urban spaces excluded blind, deafblind, low-vision, and vision impaired (BLV) persons during the initial lockdown in New Zealand. It focuses on how New Zealanders with disabilities and/or Māori are over-represented within the digital exclusion. It also implies that the spaces inhabited during the lockdown prioritize the needs of a fully able citizenry. The chapter discusses digital and associated technologies that extended the interpersonal space of the home beyond the physical confines of the domestic dwelling, drawing people together in digital spaces. It looks at everyday space that is typically designed by and for non-disabled people.