I’ve been surrounded by blind or partially sighted people my whole life, my family have a very rare (so rare most doctors haven’t heard of it!) eye condition called Wagner’s Syndrome. Eleven members of our extended family have the condition and have varying degrees of sight loss, with the older generation all having the most severe sight loss due to lack of knowledge and bodged operations in the 80’s and 90’s. My cousin is the only one of my generation that is blind.

I, myself have the condition but I consider myself one of the lucky ones. Although I can’t legally drive, see in the dark, see much at a distance or read small text, and I have little peripheral vision, I do lead a fairly independent life compared to other members of my family. And my eyes have been very stable for the most part, I had cataract in both eyes but had those operated on in 2018 and 2021. I also had a retinal detachment in 1994 and this was the first successful operation of it’s kind in our family, everybody previously had lost their sight.

So because of my family having this condition, I’ve spent a lot of time around visually impaired people, whether that’s family members, family friends or even in some cases people I didn’t really know. My mum went to Loughborough College for the Blind (what is now known as Sense College Loughborough) for a year back in the 90’s so I came into contact with a lot of blind or partially sighted people then and as I am so good at guiding people, I would always be volunteered to help! This blog post is just my experience of being around blind people, and I hope you find it interesting and useful.

How you should interact with a visually impaired person

My mum is completely blind, she has no vision at all and because of that, I was one of her carers up until the age of 23 when she moved away and I now only see her a few times a year. Up until that point though, I took her shopping, I took her to appointments, I took her on days out etc.

So I’ve seen how people interact with visually impaired people and let me tell you, there’s work to be done. And I’m not just referring to occasions from many years ago, these are the recent ones.

What tends to happen is that (some) people forget the visually impaired person has ears, a voice and a mind of their own, so they often talk to the person who is with them and doctors are usually the worst for this. There’s been times when we’ve had to remind them multiple times to direct their questions to my mum and not myself. It can be very upsetting and demeaning for the visually impaired person.

And on a recent visit to an urgent care centre, my mum had gone in to discuss a very private matter and my 26 year old nephew, who’s now her main carer, waited outside while she was examined. The doctor came out and before my nephew could object, he told him everything, in graphic detail. My mum and my nephew were absolutely mortified and furious. That would not have happened had the patient not been disabled.

So when discussing anything with a visually impaired person, talk to them directly, ask them questions directly, don’t speak to the person who is assisting them unless you’ve been asked to.

If you’re in a group setting with a visually impaired person, it’s important to get their attention before you speak to them directly so they know you’re talking to them. This doesn’t mean yelling at them, it could just be gently touching their arm if they’d be okay with this, or saying their name before you speak.

How you should interact with a visually impaired person

My mum is completely blind, she has no vision at all and because of that, I was one of her carers up until the age of 23 when she moved away and I now only see her a few times a year. Up until that point though, I took her shopping, I took her to appointments, I took her on days out etc.

So I’ve seen how people interact with visually impaired people and let me tell you, there’s work to be done. And I’m not just referring to occasions from many years ago, these are the recent ones.

What tends to happen is that (some) people forget the visually impaired person has ears, a voice and a mind of their own, so they often talk to the person who is with them and doctors are usually the worst for this. There’s been times when we’ve had to remind them multiple times to direct their questions to my mum and not myself. It can be very upsetting and demeaning for the visually impaired person.

And on a recent visit to an urgent care centre, my mum had gone in to discuss a very private matter and my 26 year old nephew, who’s now her main carer, waited outside while she was examined. The doctor came out and before my nephew could object, he told him everything, in graphic detail. My mum and my nephew were absolutely mortified and furious. That would not have happened had the patient not been disabled.

So when discussing anything with a visually impaired person, talk to them directly, ask them questions directly, don’t speak to the person who is assisting them unless you’ve been asked to.

If you’re in a group setting with a visually impaired person, it’s important to get their attention before you speak to them directly so they know you’re talking to them. This doesn’t mean yelling at them, it could just be gently touching their arm if they’d be okay with this, or saying their name before you speak. 

How to assist a visually impaired person

I’ve been guiding my mum, relatives and other blind and partially sighted people since I was tall enough so I have had many years of experience. Let me give you some tips on the best way.

The first thing to do before we start guiding them, is to introduce yourself if you’ve never met them before and explain what you’re there for. And then ask the following:

Left or right side

• Them linking you or you linking them

• Or would they prefer to place their arm on your shoulder

• Or would they prefer to just stand at the side of you but not touching

• Would they prefer to use a wheelchair (if it’s a busy airport for example)

Always walk at their speed, they may have mobility issues that aren’t immediately obvious and if they’re in a strange place and being guided by somebody they’ve never met, they might not be feeling very confident and may want to go slower than usual.

Remember to explain what is going on and what you’re doing, for example, we’re now going through a door, we’re going down two steps (always pause at the top and bottom of steps), we’re going into a lift, we have to duck under something, we have to squeeze passed something etc.

Be mindful of things around you, are there branches hanging over the payment that could scratch their face? Is there a big puddle you need to walk them round?

Alert them if an emergency vehicle is approaching in case they turn the sirens on and startle them (obviously you can’t do this if it comes from behind, you’ll just be startled together!)

If you’re assisting them on to a train or an aeroplane for example, put their hand on the back of the seat so they know how to get down into it.

If helping somebody into a taxi, place their hand on the open door, ask them if they’d like you to close the door or will they do it themselves.

When you’ve assisted them, tell them you’re leaving and advise them of how they can gain further assistance if necessary, from a nurse for example, if you’ve taken them to the hospital for an appointment.

All these tips have come from my own extensive experience of guiding visually impaired people but if you’d like more information or to watch a demonstration video, check out the RNIB website here.

Dos and Don’ts with Guide Dogs

Guide dogs (or assistance dogs/service dogs) are just amazingly clever. My mum got her first guide dog when I was around 6/7 and she was my absolute best friend in the whole world and although the Guide Dogs Association do name all their dogs, I gave her her real name: Hannah Bannah Piglet! She had a pink nose so it made sense to a 6 year old! The day we had to give her up because they retired her due to ill health, and my mum needed to get a new guide dog was heart-breaking, I remember lying on the sofa in floods of tears and furious at my mum, she wasn’t just a guide dog to me, or any of the family for that matter, she was family, she was my best friend. Must not cry writing this, must not cry. *sobs!*

My mum was just as upset as me though, but she needed a new guide dog and we didn’t really have space for two dogs.

Over the years my mum’s had around 5 or 6 dogs from what I can remember, some didn’t last long for different reasons, we had Lydia who used to eat her own poop; Bramble who was insane and jumped out of the downstairs window to chase a car (she was fine); and Fable that had something wrong with her feet so she had to wear these little booties. None lasted as long as Hannah and in my opinion, none were ever quite as good, except maybe the last one, Bee, she was really good, very clever, but she did beg for food an awful lot. My mum doesn’t have a guide dog now as she had mobility issues and can’t leave the house alone anymore.

So you might see a guide dog in the street, in a cafe, on a train and be tempted to stroke it, because they’re so cute! But, please always follow these tips before you do so.

If the dog is working, if it’s wearing it’s harness, please don’t get the dogs attention, touch or talk to it, you may stop the person and ask them for permission but don’t be offended if they say no, they might be in a rush, they might not be comfortable with strangers, they might not want the dog getting excited and losing focus etc. My mum never minded, but I know other’s that do so please be respectful of the owners decision.

If the dog is lay or sat down, again ask the owners permission to stroke them before you even get the dogs attention, you must always speak to the owner before you speak to the dog.

NEVER give a guide dog food of any kind. Guide dogs must know how to behave in cafes and restaurants so they’re trained to not beg, but if they’re given treats when in places like this, they will start begging and it will make life difficult for the owner.

If you have a dog with you, do not let your dog approach the guide dog, even the most well behaved and well trained guide dogs can get excited and distracted by another dog and this could lead to them losing focus and the visually impaired person walking into something, for example.

Don’t give a guide dog commands, if you can see the dog is doing something it shouldn’t be, like eating scraps off the floor, tell the dogs owner and they will deal with it.

If you feel a visually impaired person and their dog might need additional assistance, crossing a very busy road for example, ask the owner first, don’t grab the dogs lead or harness and don’t grab the person, ask them how they’d like to be guided as outlined above.

Overall, the general rule of thumb is if a guide dog has it’s harness on, please leave them be and wait until you see a none guide dog to stroke (with the owners permission of course!)