I’ve come across people that have never met a blind or visually impaired person and others who just don’t know how to interact with a person with a vision impairment. Some people may feel awkward when interacting with us, despite us telling them that there’s no need to be. I completely understand that people may be sceptical, or scared of saying the wrong things, but there is nothing to be scared of when interacting with a blind or visually impaired person.
I could sum this post up in one sentence: ‘just interact with us in the same way you would with any sighted person’, but I know that it’s not that easy for some people.
Disability isn’t something that everyone comes across on a daily basis so it’s understandable that some people may feel a bit awkward around a disabled person. I’m here to tell you that you don’t need to feel awkward around us, we’re not superhuman, you don’t need to talk to us any differently or be afraid of interacting with us.
It may be a bit worrying when we talk about things you shouldn’t say or do when interacting with a blind or visually impaired person, you may be thinking ‘well what do I say/do?’
Instead of listing what not to do, I also thought I’d give you some pointers on exactly what to do, and share some handy hints and tips.
This post is not meant to cause offence, it is for educational/advice purposes. I don’t want to dictate what you should/shouldn’t do as everyone is different, but the main thing to remember is to just be yourself.
I’m hoping that this post may help in bridging the gap when you are interacting with a blind or visually impaired person.
Awkwardness can often arise when sighted people interact with blind or visually impaired people, so I want to give a bit of a helping hand to stop that from happening.
DO include us in conversations
The most important thing is that you actually include us in conversations. It’s not a nice feeling to be excluded from a conversation or a certain situation whilst everyone around you is having fun and chatting away.
There have been times when I have felt excluded, this happened rather a lot in school because people didn’t know what to say to me because to them, I was ‘the blind girl’.
There’s no denying that certain situations can be harder for blind and visually impaired people as many of us can’t see non-verbal cues or facial expressions, but naturally including us in conversations includes us, rather than excluding us.
DON’T ask ‘do you know who this is?’
Ok so I’m going to say it, this is certainly not funny and it’s very very annoying!
It can lead to blind or visually impaired people feeling uncomfortable and awkward.
Having a vision impairment isn’t some sort of game and it’s not a joke, we don’t want to play guess who.
If I’ve met you before then I can probably tell who you are by the sound of your voice, just because I can’t see you, it doesn’t mean that I don’t know who you are.
DO introduce yourself
If you are meeting us for the first time or we haven’t spoken much before then just introduce yourself and say who you are. You can simply greet us in the same way you would anyone else and say who you are, this can take any awkwardness away and then we don’t have to ask who you are.
If we are in a group conversation, then let me know that you’re talking to me by saying my name, this can be a huge help. Many of us can’t see who you’re looking at so this makes things a lot easier for everyone.
I can sometimes be left rather confused as I don’t actually know it’s me you’re talking to.
Simple things like this can make such a difference.
DON’T avoid using everyday language
Using words such as ‘look’ or ‘see’ is absolutely fine. I might not be able to see, but I still say things such as ‘I’m watching the tv’, ‘it’s nice to see you’ or ‘see you later’, so don’t be afraid of saying these things either.
DO talk to us directly
Nothing frustrates me more than when someone talks to the person I’m with, rather than talking to me directly.
When I’m out with a friend or family member, people will often talk to the person I’m with, rather than talking to me. Just because we can’t see, it doesn’t mean that we can’t have a conversation with you.
DON’T assume
If you see a blind or visually impaired person whilst out and about, don’t assume that they need help, that they are lost or don’t know where they are going.
Rather than assuming, ask us.
You should never grab or touch us in an attempt to help us, this can be scary and make us feel disorientated, it isn’t helpful at all.
Having a vision impairment doesn’t take away our ability to do things independently and we don’t always need help. There are times when we may need a bit of help so it’s better to ask before diving in and assuming we need help. If we’re ok then we will politely decline your offer.
DO say the words blind, visually impaired or…disabled
There you go, I’VE SAID IT.
Society needs to learn and realise that these words are not bad in any way, shape or form, so people shouldn’t be afraid to use them. Using vocabulary such as ‘differently abled’ is skirting around the matter in a way, these are not negative words so why don’t people use them?
Yes, there may be cultural differences, but these words are known across the world.
We won’t be offended if you say these things.
DON’T sympathise
Feeling sorry for a blind or visually impaired person is often a sighted person’s first reaction whenever they see us, but why? Sighted people often automatically feel sorry for us, they think that having a vision impairment must be terrible. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, having a vision impairment has so many positives.
The people that automatically feel sorry for me don’t know anything about me, they see my long cane and just assume that I have a bad life.
Someone may have a real reason to need sympathy, but otherwise, don’t feel sorry for a person based on the fact that they’re disabled, you don’t know them as a person so there’s no reason for you to make those preconceived assumptions.
DO be mindful of questions you’re asking
I’m all for encouraging people to ask questions and I’m more than happy to answer questions that I receive in order for people to gain a better understanding about vision impairment or disability, however, there are some questions that are way too personal for me to answer.
If you wouldn’t feel comfortable answering it yourself then don’t ask someone else.
I’m very open about my disability and I choose to talk about it, but not everyone is that way. Remember that some people don’t feel comfortable talking about their disability and that’s ok. I wrote a post about some of the frequently asked questions that I receive as a blind person which may give you a better understanding.
DON’T change the way you talk to us
Just because we have a vision impairment, it doesn’t mean that you have to talk to us any differently to anyone else. Please don’t shout or raise your voice at us.
DO talk to us about other stuff
I talk about disability a lot, but sometimes, I just want to talk about other stuff such as my favourite bands and artists, where I got an outfit from, the latest Netflix series or what I’m doing at the weekend. Just because I’m disabled, it doesn’t mean that I constantly want to talk about my disability.
Remember that not all disabled people want to talk about their disability. I share a lot about my disability but sometimes I just want to talk about other things. When people meet me, they will often want to talk about my vision impairment and that’s fine, but it isn’t the only thing we can talk about.
DON’T panic!
Some people get into a big fluster when the words ‘blindness’, ‘vision impairment’, or ‘disability’ are mentioned, they also may panic when they see a person with a guide dog or using a cane walking down the street but there really is no reason to do so.
The fact that we are using a cane or have a guide dog isn’t a barrier, it’s our key to independence.
DO give detailed descriptions/directions
Saying ‘it’s over there’ isn’t any help to me at all because I can’t see where ‘over there’ is.
Giving detailed descriptions of where an object is or directions to a specific place means that chances are we are able to find it ourselves.
The more detail you give, the better.
DON’T be anyone but yourself
You don’t need to act differently around us.
If you talk to us like you would anyone else and just be yourself then there’s no reason for things to be awkward. If you’re unsure of something then just ask, there’s no harm in asking.
It’s important that you see us like you would anyone else regardless of our vision impairment.
We might have to do things a bit differently to your average sighted person, but that doesn’t have to be a barrier or change the way you interact with us.
What advice would you give to people on interacting with a blind or vision impaired person? Do you have any awkward stories or interactions to share? Let me know in the comments as I’d love to hear from you.
Holly x
![Not only did I attend the 7 goal thriller between @arsenalwfc and @manutdwomen on the final day of the 2024/25 @barclayswsl season over the weekend, I was also provided with the most amazing audio descriptive commentary.
It’s no secret my love of Manchester United. I’m going to make it known now that I have a pretty big soft spot for Arsenal too.
Many of the Arsenal team are some of my favourites. It’s also clear that the club care about accessibility and inclusion for disabled supporters, something that’s extremely important to me.
And their commitment to accessibility was clear from the call I made to book tickets, right through to the match itself.
But the audio descriptive commentary scored an extra goal or two for me. Audio descriptive commentary is a rarity in the women’s game. It’s something I’ve been desperate to experience for the last few years. Now that I’ve had that experience, I can wholeheartedly say that it completely transforms the experience of the match as a blind fan. I don’t have the words to explain the feeling of inclusion it gave me.
I tried to sum it up, documenting my experience of the match over on the blog. If you’d like to give it a read, head over to lifeofablindgirl.com – a link to my blog is also in my bio.
Thanks to an epic game on the pitch and the accessibility off it, the Arsenal versus United match is by far my favourite game I’ve ever attended. I hope to be returning to the Emirates soon!
@arsenal @manchesterunited @alanmarchsport
[Image descriptions:
Image 1: Holly stood in the Emirates Stadium with a view of the pitch behind her. She’s wearing a light blue denim jacket and is smiling at the camera.
Image 2: A Manchester United player running towards the Arsenal goal in the semicircle of the penalty area. Arsenal players can be seen positioned around her.
Image 3: Two Arsenal players hugging each other after celebrating a goal. Other Arsenal players can be seen running towards them to join in the celebrations, whilst Manchester United players are walking away. The Arsenal players are wearing their red home shirts, and the Manchester United players are wearing their blue away shirts.]](https://lifeofablindgirl.com/wp-content/plugins/instagram-feed/img/placeholder.png)
I think the thing that bugs me most, well two things actually. 1. Being talked to via my wife 2. Being told look there, do you see it etc
Aargh!
https://andintheend.blog/
Haha, yes me too with the second one!
Thanks for this blog post! My father is going blind and I’m deaf so I am learning how to adjust my habits
No problem, hope it helps
Hi Holly your latest blog is very interesting & very realistic! Our children ( despite them being 41 & 44!) have talked about their experiences in life. One of them saying they found themselves in the awkward situation of the ‘ Does she take sugar in her tea?’ Scenario when she was out with friends a few years ago, where somebody directed a question to one of her friends instead of her.
Both of our children have the genetic condition Albinism which is associated with their visual impairment. I hope you don’t mind me telling you a funny little story. When our daughter was about 20 years old she became friends/ mentor with other young people with Albinism through the Albino Fellowship. I believe there was a group meeting in our locality in connection with Albinism & we had about 5 or 6 young people staying at our house overnight all with varying degrees of Albinism. They all decided to walk 10 minutes to the local beach in the evening, they walked along the beach then sat chatting until quite late. As they decided to walk back to our place our daughter realised she’d lost the front door key! It was somewhere on the pebbly beach. It was late & dark. However, somehow, between them & working as a team they managed to find the front door key – unbelievable! They all returned back to our place at some ungodly hour in fits of giggles. My husband & I were in bed asleep when they returned but they proudly told us about it all the next day. Talk about determination!
Thank you so much. Amazing, that’s definitely determination
As a visually impaired/blind person, I find it incredibly frustrating when people with whom I am communication move away without letting me know. I have lost count of the amount of times I’ve ended up talking to an empty chair. Obviously people sometimes need to end a conversation abruptly (for example in an office if something urgent comes in or tthey need to answer the telephone), but whether in the office or in social situations people should always let a blind person know when they are moving away. I agree with you entirely about not getting hung up on not saying the right thing. I say “see you later”, or “see you around” all the time, and I won’t be upset if sighted people say such things. Best wishes – Kevin
Ahh yes, completely agree with you
Oh Kevin, I have had that too. Duh! I guess we just have to try and live with it but I get mad lol
Excellent blog. I do feel awkward about using the word blind but note your matter-of-fact comment that it’s an acceptable word. I think it might be because I dislike the word ‘deaf’ and rather use “hearing impaired”. But it doesn’t matter how awkward I might feel it is all about making connections with everyone.
Thank you! Completely get what you mean, it’s not for everyone
This is a fantastic post. I’ve encountered many of those situations myself, and completely agree with what you say about handling them. I really hate the ones where people talk to someone else who’s with me, and hate that people feel they need to apologize if they use words like “see” or “watch” when I’m around. I know someone who, no matter how many times I tell her otherwise, insists on saying, “You should see… Of course, I know you can’t… Sorry love. But if you could you’d love seeing how…” and then proceeds to finally tell me what it is. I also saw someone mention in the comments about people getting up and leaving in the middle of a conversation without letting a blind person know, and agree that one is frustrating to say the least too.
Thank you so much! Oh that must be so annoying! Completely agree
You’re welcome, and yes it is very annoying.
Thankyou so much for this. I am newly blind after cancer, plus in a wheelchair for permanent. I have no feeling in my hands and feet either. People run away from me. Yes, it is so lonely to get left out of conversations. I am left out all the time. Actually I am still learning to recognise voices. I don’t find that bit easy at all. It was my cancer drugs that did this to me, so the “cure” actually produced something else as well! I am following your blog now. Thankyou so much for this. And thankyou to Kevin for pointing us to it. I am going to try and Reblog this if I can. Only problem I have found with Reblogging is that people put the “likes” on my own blog when they should go onto the page of the person who originally made the post. Sigh. Many thanks anyway.
Thank you so much, really hope you find my posts helpful 🙂
I will read more of them. I have a little difficulty keeping up though, as only just learning things 😊
That’s great, keep going, you can do it 😊
You’ve explained these things very well. You’re much nicer about it than I am. I get VERY angry when not spoken to directly and even angrier when it happens to my friends. You’ve written about these issues in n a very clear and accessible way.
LM
Thank you so much
I learned so much from this post, Holly. I plan to come back to learn more about accessibility issues for blogs. Thank you for sharing this.
I’m so glad you found it helpful and learned a lot
Excellent post Holly.
Thank you so much
You are most welcome.
Good post. It seems like the need for this sort of thing never goes out of style. Very well done.
Thank you so much!
All of your dues and don’ts are excellent, as well as some of the ones suggested in the comments. One situation I would add to the list, is to actually realize that in a larger social gathering, we may not know that a specific person is present. I cannot tell you how many large events, such as attending Sunday worship, a social gathering, a concert, a play, or a sporting event, where someone will mention that they saw me there, but they never came up and spoke to me. All too often in large gatherings people with blindness end up sitting alone or only conversing with those they attended the event with. We would love to know that you are sharing an event with us by having you come up and talking to us or introducing yourself to us. We certainly are not intending to avoid you on purpose, we simply do not know you are there. It is often difficult to move around in a large gathering as we are not only avoiding the furniture and objects we know are there, but also need to navigate groups of individuals standing around, or who have relocated the furniture to converse in a group. This is made more difficult when individuals may be standing around holding beverages or plates of food. So, please take a moment and come over and introduce yourself, and if you have time to chat, feel free to pull up a chair, and enjoy some conversation with us.
Thank you! Yes definitely, completely agree with you
I just stumbled across your blog and when I saw this I thought I should follow you on twitter as I don’t just enjoy commenting on people’s blog posts that I can relate to, I also enjoy tweeting or direct messaging those whose blogs I like so I can talk through what I might want to say on any comment I want to leave. I love this post and a lot of these I agree with. My mother would sometimes allow me to go into certain shops on my own and if somebody asked if I was being served inicially I would ask if they were talking to me then once I’d been going into some of these shops for a while we got to know each other I got to know the staff and the staff got to know me so it wasn’t an issue. I’m in my local lions club and have been for almost 5 years now. We have dinner meetings at the same venue each fortnight and I’m never sitting by myself. I’ve fixed it now that somebody takes me to the lions meetings and brings me home again although if the person taking me to and from lions meetings can’t take me home because of a board meeting I find somebody else to do it. it saves my parents coming out to take me to the dinner or admin committee meetings. Years ago, when I was out with my parents or my mother in particular toddlers would walk past and wonder why my eyes were closed and it was often up to my mother to answer in a way that the child would understand such as my eyes were broken. I was encouraged to wear sunglasses to combat this and I’ve done this ever since although I was never one for wearing sunglasses. A name badge and vision impaired person’s badge were encouraged although not everybody is going to agree with this although things may be different in Australia and if you don’t agree with this I will understand your view. Funny story. My mother and a friend of ours and myself were heading out for lunch one day and a police officer pulled mum up as it was just a random breathtest and the officer wondered if I was asleep in the back seat due to the fact my eyes were closed. I find this funny now but to some this may not be funny and they might think it was the ignorance of a police officer but these are my views here.
Thank you. Thank you for sharing your views and experiences
I’m not sure if this is a don’t or not but I’m thinking it may be either a lack of awareness or sometimes that’s just an innocent mistake but in the case of a medical emergency, particularly if the person is unconscious it’s common for a by stander or a good summariton will ask one to open their eyes. For some of us who are blind we may be unable to open our eyes not sure how you should take this but it’s something I just happened to overlook when posting my previous comment
I have both positive and negative feedback from the general public when I have my white cane out. I have gotten some great help from people who wanted to make sure I was doing okay. Some people claimed that i was faking my visual impairment. When this happens, I try to educate them on my eye condition.
That’s great that you educate people to raise awareness. It baffles me why people think we would want to fake having a visual impairment, I hear quite a few stories about this
I completely agree with your post yet am unable to do some of the things suggested. One of the suggestions was to call you by name so you know I am talking to you. I am unable to remember people’s names unless they totally stand out. I went through an entire semester in college and can not tell you a quarter of the people in my classes names. A gal I dated got upset with me because when during our 4th date a friend of mine came up and I could not introduce them because I could not remember either of their names. I used to run my own repair shop and could not remember the customer’s name but could tell you their equipment types and problems. I used to hand the customer a tag for their equipment and tell them to write down their names and contact info and then hand the tag to me. I also used to work with several totally blind people and gave them nicknames that I could remember so when I said Dude, Honey, Sweetheart, or Idiot, they knew who I was talking to. The other pet peeve I have is candle light dinners. I either stay away, turn on the lights or bring my own lantern.
Thanks for sharing
So helpful, Carol Anne – Thank you so much.
I have learned, living in a very busy New York City, that if I see someone with a white cane, standing at a crossing, one must NOT just grab their arm to help them cross – because having your arm grabbed in NYC is darn scary – instead, I say something, as I approach them (before I get right next to them, which might also be scary), like “Good Morning, my name is TS: Can I help you in any way?” Then, if they tell me they are wanting to get to the other side of Fifth Avenue, I say – oh, you are just in the right spot, and I am crossing here too – would you like to cross together?” If they say “Yes” (Oh they usually say “Yes Please” – I have found them all to be most pleasant and a pleasure to talk with.) So then I ask if I may hold their arm, and which arm they might prefer. And then I tell them what’s going on – “Oh, the light just changed – let’s wait until we get the green light again. Also, there is a step here, so first we’ll make one step forward and then one step down…” And then we cross, with me describing anything interesting around, like a bus full of tourists! We often hug goodbye when we are over the street, and I explain whether they should now go left or right, depending where they are headed.
Then I run off to my destination, with a nice warm hug to help me through the day! TS
Thank you, really glad you found it helpful. Yes exactly!
Completely agree with everything you said in this post, I’m sure a lot of people will find it helpful xxx
Thank you lovely! Xxx