when interacting with someone who is blind or partially sighted.
1) When you say “Hello” to us, awesome things can happen! By just saying “Hello,” you’ve treated us like everyone else. Your “Hello” makes us feel included and seen as part of the community.
2) As people who are blind or who have low vision, we miss the daily interactions through physical gestures that people give each other throughout the day. For those of us who visually cannot see, your verbal “Hello” is taken as that smile, nod, wave, or friendly gesture.
3) Your “Hello” lets us know you are there – because we cannot always see you. By letting us know you are there, you’ve given us the opportunity to interact with you, ask for assistance, or ask a question if we need to.
4) Because we cannot see you, we don’t always know if you are talking to us. If you know my name and say, “Hi Gina”, I’ll know for sure that you are talking to me.
5) For a person with blindness or limited vision, surrounding ambient noises such as conversations, traffic, music playing, etc., combine to prevent us from identifying someone by voice alone. So, it’s helpful if you say, “Hi Gina, it’s me, Mary.” We can then be certain that you are addressing us, and whom we’re talking with.
6) Please never grab, push, or pull us. We visually cannot see your intentions, so being grabbed is often very terrifying. When people with good intentions physically try to move us, it takes away our ability to effectively use our cane to detect obstacles in our path, it’s disorienting, and at the very least, it disrupts our ability to directionally orient ourselves. Grabbing, pushing, or pulling can also cause us injury.
If you are concerned about our safety, yelling “Lady with the white cane STOP there is a bike approaching on your left” is immensely helpful. No one appreciates being touched by strangers, especially when you are unable to see someone’s intentions.
7) If you want to help, always ask first. “Would you like some assistance?” If we say no, then please don’t be offended. Not everyone will need help, even when it is kindly offered. Being told “No thank you” today does not mean your offer of help won’t be appreciated another time.
If we say yes, your next question needs to be: “How can I help?” as no two people need help the same way.
8) Vision loss occurs on a spectrum and it’s different for everyone. It’s best to never guess what someone can or cannot see, just know it is much less than you.
Losing my sight has not changed who I am, but it has changed how I interact with the world.
Gina Martin
Owner/Consultant
Diverse Abilities
Programs and Training Inc.
778-533-9876
www.DiverseAbilities.ca
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