Seeing into the air: Media practices of blind vloggers and the visual paradox of mediated visibility

Although discussions of visibility often presuppose that it transcends the visual dimension, within short-video platforms, the realization of visibility is in fact highly dependent on a visually dominant communication environment. Through in-depth interviews with Douyin blind vloggers, this study reveals three layers of invisibility they encounter: operational, presentational, and algorithmic. To share their unique sensory experiences, blind vloggers have to adapt to the ocularcentric structure of the platform through strategies such as repetition, imitation, and compensation, reflecting the ableist pre-assumptions in today’s digital media landscape. Drawing from this “visibility paradox,” the study proposes a perceptual model of mediated visibility for future theoretical analysis and practical applications.