Simon Hayhoe

Simon Hayhoe
Born	UK
Residence	Kent, UK
Citizenship	British
Nationality	British
Fields	Education SEN Social Psychology History of Education Blindness Visual Arts
Institutions	Canterbury Christ Church University, UK Sharjah Women's College, UAE the Metropolitan Museum of Art, USA Institute of Education, University of London, UK Birkbeck, University of London, UK University of Toronto, Canada London School of Economics and Political Science, London University, UK
Alma mater	Birmingham University, UK (PhD) Leicester University, UK (MEd) University of Bath, UK (PGCE) Coventry School of Art & Design, Coventry University, UK (BA)
Doctoral advisor	Professor John Hull
Known for	Arts and Blindness Arts Education of the Blind Cultural/National Model of Disability Epistemological Model of Disability

Simon Hayhoe wrote the monographs, Grounded Theory and Disability Studies^[1] on the application of grounded theory in his study of blindness, Arts, Culture and Blindness^[2] on social and cultural factors affecting the arts education of blind adults and school children, and Philosophy as Disability & Exclusion^[3] and God, Money and Politics,^[4] the first books on the history of English education for the blind in England since Illingworth's History of the Education of the Blind in 1910.^[5] These and previous works on this topic have been cited in papers on subjects such as perceptual psychology^[6] and human geography.^[7]

Hayhoe's work on the history and the epistemology of blindness is the subject of Course PSYC54 Cognition and Representation at the University of Toronto (Canada),.^[8] In addition, his writing has been the topic of discussion on BBC Radio 4 in the UK and syndicated radio in the USA^[9] and a theatrical installation project in London by Extant and the Open University.

Early career

During his early work on blindness and arts education, Hayhoe was a student of Professor Maurice Galton, Leicester University (now Senior Research Fellow at Homerton College, Cambridge University); and then of John M Hull, Professor of Religious Education at Birmingham University (later Emeritus Professor, and Honorary Professor of Practical Theology at The Queen’s Foundation for Ecumenical Theological Education), author of the autobiographical book Touching the Rock: An Experience of Blindness. He also worked as a research officer on two major research projects in the field of social exclusion in England for Birkbeck, University of London and the Institute of Education, University of London. He then worked in Canada at Toronto University, Scarborough, during which time he developed the BART (Blindness in Art) project, studying cultural and social exclusion of blind students in visual arts education, and wrote on the development of an epistemological model of disability.

Current and recent work

Hayhoe is currently a senior lecturer and programme director of the MA Special Needs and Inclusion at Canterbury Christ Church University, and a centre research associate in the Centre for the Philosophy of Natural and Social Science, London School of Economics, where he is researching the epistemology of disability and ability, with special reference to education, inclusion, technology and the arts.
Whilst teaching in London, Hayhoe developed the Four Senses project in conjunction with the Royal London School for the Blind (part of the Royal London Society for the Blind) and the Victoria & Albert Museum, and the designed the Computing and Blindness in Education project, which was the first research of its type to investigate the cultural and social factors affecting blind adults and school children using visual programming languages. The COMBINE project was presented to BETT 2009 and 2011, at Kensington Olympia, London, in a lecture to the British Computer Society, and appears in books on Mulsemedia and IT in education. Its reports are also published in conjunction with the British Computer Association of the Blind^[10] (part of the RNIB).

Other posts and awards

Hayhoe's articles on disability and blindness appear in works such as the American Foundation for the Blind's Art Beyond Sight^[11] and, more recently, the Encyclopedia of American Disability History,^[12] Global Sustainable Communities Handbook,^[13] and Learning in a Digitalized Age,.^[14] In addition, his articles also appear in special issues of the Harvard Educational Review, the British Journal of Visual Impairment, the Society for Disability Studies' Disability Studies Quarterly, and the National Federation of the Blind's Journal of Blindness Innovation and Research. In addition, he is a consultant and chair of the Educational Psychology Research Group for Art Beyond Sight (New York, USA), the Beyond Sight Foundation (Mumbai, India) and the editor of the on-line knowledge base ECO: On Blindness and the Arts,^[15] which is contributed to by authors such as the neurologist Professor Oliver Sacks and the blind artist Eşref Armağan.

He has won a number of awards in his field, including a Fulbright All Disciplines Scholar's Award to conduct a fellowship at The Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York, USA) and he was a finalist in the London 2012's Great Briton's Prize. He has also delivered guest lectures at Harvard University, the London School of Economics, MIT, UC, Berkeley, Toronto University, The Province of Milan and the Vrije Universiteit Brussel.

References

1. Hayhoe S (2012). Grounded Theory and Disability Studies. Amherst, New York: Cambria Press
2. Hayhoe S (2008). Arts, Culture and Blindness. Youngstown, New York: Teneo Press
3. Hayhoe S (2016). Philosophy as Disability & Exclusion. Charlotte, North Carolina: IAP (Current Edition)
4. Hayhoe S (2008). God, Money and Politics. Charlotte, North Carolina: IAP
5. Illingworth W H (1910) History of the Education of the Blind. London: Sampson Low, Marston & Company, Ltd.
6. Kennedy J M (2008) Metaphoric pictures devised by an early-blind adult on her own initiative. Perception, 2008, volume 37, pages 1720-1728
7. De Coster K & Loots G in Devlieger P et. al (Eds.) Blindness and the Multi-Sensorial City. Brussels: Garant
8. for lecture notes see http://www.utsc.utoronto.ca/~psyc54/lecture-notes/mar1-hayhoe.html
9. for a transcript of this program see http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/factual/intouch_20080826.shtml, and for recorded program please see http://www.blindnessandarts.com/Horizons_SimonHayhoe&VSAArtsMass.mp3
10. articles available on http://www.bcab.org.uk/articles-papers
11. Axel E & Levent N (2003) Art Beyond Sight. New York: AFB Press
12. Burch S(Ed.) (2009) Encyclopedia of American Disability History. New York: Facts on File
13. Clark, W.W. (Ed.) (2014). Global Sustainable Communities Handbook. Oxford: Butterworth-Heinemann
14. Burke, L. (2014). Learning in a Digitalized Age. Melton, Suffolk: John Catt Publishers.
15. available through http://www.blindnessandarts.com