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Helpful Hints INFORMATIONAL TIPS · Always ask a person who is blind or visually impaired if he/she needs assistance; don’t assume this person does. Ask how you can assist, but if he/she says no, don’t be offended. · When being the sighted guide, let the person who is blind or visually impaired hold your arm above the elbow; don’t push or pull.
MISCONCEPTIONS AND MYTHS ABOUT BLINDNESS · Most people think that all blind people live in total darkness, but actually blindness ranges from legal blindness with 20/200 acuity or severely restricted fields to total blindness, with many varying degrees in between. · When talking to a person who is blind, you should use words like “see”, “look” and “blind” as you would in ordinary conversation with a sighted person. · A person who is blind or visually impaired may have interests similar to yours. Speak directly to him or her, not through another person. Click here for the complete list of Misconceptions and Myths about Blindness
WHAT DO I DO IF SOMEONE WHO IS BLIND WALKS INTO MY STORE? It is really very easy to assist your customers who are blind or visually impaired in making a selection with which they will be happy. Just follow these simple tips, but when in doubt about what to do, ask your customer. They know best what works for them. Remember that each person is an individual, and that common sense is always your best guide.
If you have a patient who is blind or visually impaired…. · Always identify yourself when entering a room by name and position. Before manipulating or treating the patient, tell them what you are going to do. · Orient a person to their surroundings by showing them where the bathroom, door to hallway, phone and call button are using their bed as the reference point. · If you need to move furniture, water pitcher, personal belongings, always put the object back where it was. If you can’t, be sure the patient knows what you have done.
A group of customers that have a unique perspective on grocery shopping are people who are vision impaired or blind. It is difficult to say just what their perspective is but, it is safe to say that it is completely different than the perspective of someone with normal vision. A person with a vision impairment depends on their sense of hearing, smell and touch to gather the information they need to do their shopping. These senses alone are often not enough to get the job done and additional assistance is often required. Close your eyes and attempt to positively identify three different kinds of canned soup. This will give you a little idea of the perspective that a vision impaired person has in the grocery store. Click here for tips on how to assist someone who is blind in a grocery store WHY CAN’T I PLAY WITH THAT DOG? Because he’s working. Doing one of the hardest jobs a dog can do. Seeing for his owner who can’t. To a kid, the world is a playground, a happy-go-lucky place where you leap over streams, and scramble down hills. But to a blind person, the world is a lot less friendly. Walk down a sidewalk with your eyes closed. There are people to scurry around, bicycles to avoid. And what do you do when you reach the corner? We all need our eyes to get around. For a blind person, those eyes are often his dog. And not just any dog. A guide dog is special. It takes him almost six months to learn his job. And another month of just working with his new master. There are curbs and revolving doors, sidewalk hazards and traffic signals to deal with. He even has to judge whether his master can fit through a narrow doorway or underneath a low bridge.
…………….Written by Health-tex. Handy answers to hard questions asked by children in the Heath-tex years. SIGHTED
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