How to be a good ally to the blind and visually impaired | Back to Basics
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WSB client and instructor walking down the WSB hallway, smiling, with white text overlay “How to be a good ally to the blind and visually impaired” with blue WSB globe logo in the top left corner
How to be an ally to those who are blind and visually impaired | Back to Basics
With our Back to Basics series, we’ve focused on conditions of the eyes, but today we wanted to focus on a topic for those who are not blind and visually impaired, but how you can support those who are in your life. In our second installment of Back to Basics, we’re sharing some ways you can be a great ally to those who are blind or visually impaired.
1. Learn about the condition and its implications
It is not the person with the disability’s job to constantly educate those who do not have a disability. This is where learning about the specific condition or even learning about the implications of being blind or visually impaired can make a huge impact. Simply understanding what it means to have a specific condition or how it might affect someone can really help in being a good ally.
2. Make your social media accessible
While it might not seem like a big deal if you don’t add image descriptions or make your social media accessible, it is to those who have a disability! By adding the small tweaks to your social media that make them accessible, like image descriptions, it shows that you care about accessibility. We even have a post on how to make your social media accessible to those who are blind or visually impaired.
3. Ask before helping
A big one is to ask before helping! This might be seen in a lot of different ways from crossing the street to carrying something. But you want to make sure you ask and not assume that someone with a disability automatically needs your assistance.
4. Empathy, not Sympathy!
One of the biggest impacts able bodied people can have for someone with a disability is to respond with empathy instead of sympathy. Those with disabilities cannot tell you the amount of times we’ve been stopped in the street because of sympathy, but responding with empathy is a much more genuine response and allows you to see that those with disabilities may have struggles, but it does not mean their lives are not worth living!
5. Avoid Microaggressions
Microaggressions are daily occurrences for those in marginalized groups. They are small intentional and sometimes unintentional comments that can be hurtful to those in a marginalized community. Some that those in the blind and visually impaired might hear are: “Oh, you don’t look blind”, using outdated terminology (another reason education is so important!), or even speaking to those in the disability community as if they are children (no matter their age). Those in the disability community also come from varied culture backgrounds and hold a myriad of identities including their disability. It is important to think about how your words will affect others and how you can change the narrative.
Being a good ally really is about the small, simple steps able bodied individuals can take to help those with disabilities feel accepted in society. We hope these tips helped and feel free to send them to anyone who might need them!