The Sighted Perspective

Four aspects to keep in mind while interacting with persons with vision impairment

In the last few years, I have had several opportunities to work with persons with vision impairment. Based on these experiences, here’s an attempt to put together 4 aspects for a sighted person to keep in mind while interacting with those who are visually impaired.

#1 Mobility: The sight of a visually impaired person walking by the road and navigating public spaces independently is a fairly common one. Another sight that is equally common is of sighted individuals grabbing onto the arm of the visually impaired person and pulling them towards the footpath to ensure they maintain a distance from the traffic. While this is done to ensure the latter stays safe, holding onto them without prior permission could be interpreted as a violation of personal space.

So, if you are ever in a situation where you find a visually impaired standing by the road, you could ask if they need assistance with directions. Alternatively, if you have been approached for sighted guidance, you can ask before you hold their elbow or tell them to hold your elbow. This is a gender-neutral action that respects the personal space of both individuals. Remember, even when a visually impaired person holds your elbow, they are likely to continue using their white cane. As a sighted guide, while you will be focusing on what is in front, the white cane will help the visually impaired person focus on what is under their feet.

#2 Eating: When we sit down with a plate of food, different senses get activated. When we see what is in our plate, the visual cues of what to pick up first and pair it with another dish on the plate comes to us naturally. For someone who is visually impaired, they may be aware of what is on their plate based on the smells and the feel of the different items. However, before starting to eat, it is useful for the sighted person to do a quick clockwise orientation of what is on the plate starting from 12 o’clock. This helps the visually impaired person to visualize one’s plate and eat accordingly.

#3 Audio Description: Think of the last movie or TV show you watched. During the silences, you would have picked up and relied on the body language and non-verbal cues of the characters to keep up with the storyline. To ensure viewers who are visually impaired don’t miss out on these visual elements, audio description is a feature that verbally describes the same.

My limited experience of providing audio description has given me a glimpse of how building this skill set can help one be more creative while including others to visualize what is happening around them. While this is a niche skill that requires lots of practice, it’s definitely one worth exploring. To start off, you could watch a scene from the movie Lion King as a good example of what audio description entails:

Remember, audio description isn’t just about viewing videos or movies. Going back to the 1st aspect on mobility, while guiding a visually impaired person in a public space, an audio description of the landmarks along the route and other sights can also help in visualizing the place and making it feel more familiar.

#4 Language: Initially, I used to be extremely conscious of the language I used while speaking to a person with vision impairment. For instance, I would feel awkward to say phrases such as “I’ll see you later!” “I see” or “That was an eye-opener” because of its focus on sight. The typical train of thought in my mind would be, “If I say see you later to her, will she feel offended because she won’t actually see me? Am I reminding her of the fact that I will be the one who sees her and not the other way round?” …You get the drift!

For a long time, I would substitute “I’ll see you later” with “I’ll meet you later” or “I’ll talk to you later”. However, when a visually impaired friend at work once told me he would see me later, we had a conversation about what it meant to use those words. Talking to him made me realize the importance of looking past the literal meaning of the words and focusing on its intent instead.

While this list isn’t all encompassing, it could serve as a starting point on what a sighted individual must keep in mind when they interact with persons with vision impairment. However, it is extremely important to remember the underlying principle of ‘Ask and don’t assume’. This applies to everyone, regardless of whether they have the right intent and are aware of what needs to be done to ensure the other person’s dignity is maintained.

Here’s to making this world a more inclusive place, one step at a time.