What do sighted people want to know about vision impairment?

Many questions arise when the topic of my vision impairment comes up in a conversation. People are curious and want to know how it has an impact on my life, how things can be made accessible and what it’s like to live in a sighted world when you can’t see.

 

One of the reasons I started my blog in 2015 was to raise awareness and educate others on all things disability and vision impairment, it is a frequent topic on my blog. With this in mind, I took to social media to ask sighted people if they had any questions about living with a vision impairment or on vision impairment in general.

I thought writing this post was a way of answering some of the things that sighted people want to know about all things vision impairment.

 

Just a quick note before we get into the post, I’m speaking from my own personal experiences, and other blind and visually impaired people may have different answers so do keep that in mind. Nevertheless, I hope you learn something from this post and that it might be a helping hand to some of you.

 

What can we do in order to make the lives of blind or visually impaired people better or easier?

The main thing you can do is to be inclusive – this could be using inclusive language, making reasonable adjustments, avoiding assumptions, asking appropriate questions, educating yourself and most importantly, treating everyone equally.

Following on from this, making things accessible is key, this includes documents and printed materials. Accessibility makes life so much easier for us, meaning that we don’t have to go back and forth asking for reasonable adjustments.

 

There are many ways you can help blind or visually impaired people but something that I cannot say enough is just treat us like you would anyone else, and don’t exclude us from things.

 

What’s the most common mistake we make when encountering people with a visual impairment, such as people that mean well but get it wrong?

Sighted people often make assumptions such as assuming that we need help when we actually don’t, that we can’t be independent, we can’t speak for ourselves and simply can’t do everyday things. Please never assume as it can have consequences. For example, assuming that someone needs help and grabbing their arm to take them across a road or down some steps can leave a blind or visually impaired person feeling disorientated and quite shaken up, we then have to get ourselves back on track.

I know that people want to help which is absolutely fine, but it is important to offer to help or assist us, rather than assuming we need it.

 

Sighted people also make other assumptions such as that we can’t get good grades, be successful and achieve the things we want to, when this is not the case at all.

One thing I’m sure many blind and vision impaired people will tell you is that people often assume that we can’t speak for ourselves, just because we can’t see. We can and will speak for ourselves, you can interact with us directly.

 

What’s one thing you wish sighted people understood about having a vision impairment?

One of the things that I wish sighted people understood is that despite our visual impairment, we are just normal people. There is no need to treat us differently, interact with us in a different way to others or exclude us because of our visual impairment.

 

What do you get frustrated about having to explain all the time?

I always get frustrated having to explain that I can do things independently, and having to justify it. My visual impairment may mean that I might do things slightly differently, or I sometimes need adaptions, but these don’t stop me from doing something.

I often have to tell people that I can in fact complete the task and there’s no reason for them to think otherwise.

 

How does it make you feel when people say to you “I could never live like that” and how would you explain to them that it’s not the end of the world?

It makes me feel very frustrated and rather angry. It is never okay to say this, you have no idea what it is like to live with a visual impairment or any other disability, so assuming that you couldn’t deal with it isn’t fair on those that do, some may see it as quite rude.

I know that having a visual impairment may be difficult at times, and it comes with many challenges, everyone deals with it in their own way, but telling someone that you couldn’t deal with it if you were in their situation doesn’t help. You never know how someone is feeling so saying something like that could really affect them.

 

If faced with this situation, I would explain how having a visual impairment isn’t something negative, there are many positives and I’d give examples. I’d also make it clear that I’m happy with my life and that it is possible to adapt to life with a visual impairment, people are doing exactly that at this moment in time.

 

What’s the best way to describe what something looks like to a blind or partially sighted person?

Give a good, detailed description, describe the colours, the shape if it’s an object and describe exactly what it looks like.

 

How can I be a good ally to blind and visually impaired people?

There are a number of things that you can do to be a good ally to people with a visual impairment so I thought I’d list a few of them.

Listen to us: it sounds so simple, but listening to us makes such a huge difference. If people took the time to stop and listen to what we had to say, then there would be less stigmas and stereotypes, it would also help to create change.

educate yourself: it is important that you take the time to learn. Do some research, read our blog posts, watch our YouTube videos, listen to our podcasts and use social media for the greater good. If you have a question then ask us, but it is important you educate yourself.

be an advocate: Speak up and help us fight for rights. Share the content you find and encourage others to educate themselves as well.

think about the language you use: be conscious of the language you use, most of us are absolutely fine with the words blind, visually impaired or disabled, but if someone isn’t, then remember that. There’s also no reason for you to change your everyday vocabulary, it is completely fine for you to say words such as look, watch and see, we use those words as well.

If you’re unsure of something then ask: most of us are happy to answer questions as long as they’re sensible and appropriate.

 

How does a blind or partially sighted person live independently, do cooking, cleaning and make themselves look presentable?

Let’s clear something up here, blind and visually impaired people can and do live independently, having a visual impairment doesn’t stop us from doing so.

We make adaptions to enable us to do things like cooking and cleaning. For example, we may use talking scales, talking measuring jugs and use tactile markers on appliances such as ovens and microwaves.

In regards to cooking, we can prepare and cook food ourselves. We may organise our cupboard, fridge and freezer in a specific way so that we know where things are and may have ways of labelling products so we can identify them.

Some of us also use apps to read product information such as information on a packet or cooking instructions.

I’d like to point out that these methods aren’t standard amongst the visual impairment community, everyone has their own way of doing things.

 

There seems to be a common misconception that blind and visually impaired people don’t have an interest in beauty and fashion, this is not true at all, we can still appreciate these things.

Every blind or visually impaired person has their own ways of making themselves look presentable, it could be organising your clothes in a specific way, using colour detectors, labelling them or asking sighted people for opinions.

In terms of hair and beauty, we just do these things in a different way, rather than relying on our sight, it is more of a tactile experience for some of us. For example, I apply my make-up using sense of touch and my memory.

Blind and visually impaired people do care about our appearance and we find ways that work for us.

 

How should sighted people interact with guide dogs?

Don’t distract a guide dog whilst it is working, this can put both the blind or visually impaired person and the guide dog in danger, I cannot stress this enough.

Don’t pet them or give them treats unless the handler says that it’s okay to do so.

 

How do younger blind and visually impaired people tend to refer to themselves when discussing their visual impairment?

I can only speak from my own personal experiences and those that I know, but I will refer to my vision impairment exactly as it is. If discussing my vision then I’ll say that I’m registered as blind. I never shy away from the terms blind, visually impaired or disabled.

 

What support do blind and visually impaired people receive?

Support is unique and different for every blind or visually impaired person. Some people might enlist the help of personal assistants or support workers, whereas others might not.

There is specialist support that is available for blind and visually impaired people, this includes mobility training and learning independent living skills.

There are also many schemes and grants that can help with various things, as well as support from charities and organisations that offer a range of services.

 

To give a bit of an insight, I’ll discuss the support that I received when I was a child, right through to today.

AT school, I had Teaching Assistants who put my work into an accessible format which was either in braille or electronically, they were also with me in lessons. As I got older, they weren’t in as many lessons with me as they spent this time preparing my work and I wanted to be more independent.

I also had support from a Qualified Teacher of Vision Impairment (QTVI) who came into school to teach me braille and touch typing.

I had mobility training by a specialist mobility officer during my time at school, where I learned how to use a long cane and the various cane techniques.

 

Moving onto University, the main support that I received was through a scheme called Disabled Students Allowance (DSA) which provided software and equipment, as well as non-medical support. The assistive technology software and equipment that I received was a screen-reader and a braille display. The non-medical support that was funded was a notetaker in lectures which was someone that made written notes for me, library support where someone helped me find relevant books and journals and request these in an accessible format, as well as mobility training in order to learn the layout of the campus and go through routes that I would need to do independently.

 

In my current job as an Assistive Technology Advisor, I receive support from a government scheme called Access to Work which funds my taxi costs for travel too and from work, a few hours of mobility training and assistive technology and equipment.

 

There is more support out there, but I currently don’t feel the need for a support worker or PA.

I have a great network around me, my family and friends are also willing to help me in any way they can whenever I need it.

 

Blind and visually impaired people don’t rely on support, we can be independent but support is available if we need it.

 

Do you have a piece of assistive technology you find most useful? If so, why is it helpful to you?

There are a few pieces of assistive tech that I couldn’t be without – my screen-reader, my iPhone, Amazon Echo and braille display just to name a few.

If I had to pick one though, I’d pick my iPhone. It enables me to do so many things – keep in touch with family and friends, carry out daily tasks, checking emails, help with getting to where I need to be, blogging, checking social media and so much more. The built-in accessibility features and thousands of apps give me freedom and independence.

 

What do I write in my alt text on social media?

For anyone that isn’t familiar with alt text, it stands for alternative text and is an invisible image description. Alt text is read out by screen-readers, informing users what’s in a photo.

If there is no alt text, screen-readers will just say “image”. Not everyone can see images, so alt text is extremely important.

 

Alt text should be one or two sentences, with specific information. Think about the relevant information, rather than what a photo looks like.

When writing alt text, try to think about what you’d say if you were giving a verbal description to someone.

The Scope Big Hack put together a brilliant article on writing good alt text which is worth a read.

 

What are some spaces online that are lacking in accommodations where sighted people can take an extra step to provide descriptions or alt text that we might not be aware of?

If sighted people made all of their content on social media accessible, then this would make a significant difference for people with a visual impairment.

The image description feature can be turned on on all social media platforms – Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

 

Facebook:

, Facebook uses artificial intelligence (AI) to describe photos to screen-reader users. These are not always accurate though, but it’s a very good start, so it is a good idea to add alt text to your posts.

 

Once you’ve uploaded a photo, navigate to the post, and select the photo, tap the top right (or the ‘more’ button for screen-reader users), select the edit alt text button and then right your own description and press the save button.

 

Instagram:

Instagram introduced a similar feature to Facebook which uses Artificial Intelligence (AI) to tell screen-reader users exactly what’s in the photo. Instagram also introduced an alt text feature where users can add descriptions to images that they post.

Before pressing ‘share’ and uploading your Instagram post, press on ‘advanced settings’, there is then an option to add alt text to your image.

 

Twitter:

The ‘compose image descriptions’ feature isn’t automatically enabled for all users.

To turn it on, go to settings then accessibility, and turn on the ‘compose image descriptions’ button.

Every time you upload a photo it will then prompt you to add an image description to that photo.

 

Alternatively, you can also add image descriptions in the body of the posts on Facebook and Instagram, and in a tweet on Twitter.

 

Stories are a popular part of social media, but these aren’t always accessible for people with a vision impairment, especially for people who have no useful vision and rely on screen-readers.

 

Websites should also be accessible, and every image should have good alt text.

 

If you are sighted, what do you want to know about living with a vision impairment? If you have a vision impairment, what are some of the most common questions that sighted people ask you? Let me know in the comments.

I hope some of you found this post useful, and possibly learnt a thing or two.

 

Holly x