My first impressions are of a group of men in luxurious robes set against a less detailed and simplistic back drop-it feels very theatrical. I then noticed the figure clasping the kneeling mans head-it becomes obvious that the hand is that of Jesus healing the blind man as the title depicts.

I start to feel an unease about the image and become deeply concerned about the messages within the painting. In particular the healing part and making ‘the’ blind better, it starts to resonate with my own experience of losing my sight and the obsession of the people around me to fix me and find a medical miracle to retain my vision.

The reality of the picture and the connection to modern day imagery is what concerns me. Looking at the picture it seems that modern day society has not moved on from this image of ‘healing the blind’. Therefore impairment and blindness is still about the individual. I naively live in this age thinking that we don’t have these prejudices anymore because we have moved on. However I know that society struggles with acceptance and equal rights for blind and partially sighted and disabled people because we are conditioned historically to deal with impairment as something that we need to fix and modern day images still define disabled people as tragic or brave or heroic! You can’t just be Zoe from next door you are defined as the blind woman or one legged man.

I then stand back and see the set up and arrangement in a different light it makes me laugh-these men lined up ready to see the great one –this is my annual experience to visit the eye clinic in Manchester a place with very unattractive carpets and seating that don’t reflect modern day decor. Blind and partially sighted people looking desperate and very grey in a depressing setting that is over subscribed. We are lined up in rows wanting to see the guru who will repair you and save your sight and give you independence. The nurses stand like the disciples and chat amongst themselves. On one visit to the clinic my dad was asked to have his eyes tested as he wears glasses I don’t so often to professionals I seem either to young or maybe it’s because I am fiercely independent.

I won’t ever be able to attend my clinic without the image of the blind man of Jericho imprinted on my mind. I feel a personal connection to these men and a frustration that modern day imagery still depicts blind and partially sighted people as tragic, heroic, bad or unattractive. The latest charity adverts about smoking tries to use shock techniques but continues to reinforce the stereotypes that blind people are unattractive I don’t think they even realise the significance of the iconography and messages in their own advertising campaigns and the negative stereotyping this reinforces.