The lived experience of blind street musicians in Thailand

Abstract

Although many visually impaired people in Thailand have long time undertaken street music for their everyday livelihood, little is known about them. They tend to have experienced unprecedented economic and social exclusion across their lives. Through an examination of the lived experience of blind street musicians in Thailand, this thesis explores the social, cultural, economic and political influences specific to disability in contemporary Thai society that affect their lives, and indicates possible policy directions that could assist them. Applying a social constructionist and socio-economic approach, this qualitative study involves semi-structured and unstructured interviews (nineteen men and thirteen women) and three group discussions (six to ten per group) with blind street musicians, and interviews with eleven disabled activists. Most of the blind street musicians had migrated from rural regions, and shared considerable socio-economic similarities, notably living with poverty and inadequate social protection. Their life trajectories were limited by the structural constraints derived from societal negative views of disability, based on Buddhist beliefs and Thai customs. This created a cumulative impact of disablement over their life course: family neglect, poor access to education and skill training, limited employment opportunities and brittle social support networks. Ultimately, performing street music proved to be their best income choice. These street musicians can be separated into two groups. First, most in the older age group with lower levels of education chose to be street musicians due to economic necessities and employment restrictions. Second, those in the younger age group with a long-standing love of music chose to undertake street music because they believed this might be a path to mainstream work as a street musician. Both groups, however, failed to gain stable income and suffered social stigma—being perceived as pitied beggars, rather than genuine musicians. This caused them to struggle for economic fulfilment and social acceptance. The thesis concludes that the current and prospective employment promotion and social protection systems for people with disabilities should enable visually impaired people to achieve income security, a better quality of life, increase their income choices and recognise their human rights and dignity, despite their work as street musicians.