January 9 - Who Is Visually Impaired?

Who's visually impaired?

While most times I write I try to tell you about the differences between people who are blind and people who are sighted, today I want to write about the similarities. There is a picture at the beginning of this post. It shows eleven people standing in front of a wall and looking towards the camera. Do you notice anything different about any of them? Here is a hint. Six of the eleven people have visual challenges. Can you tell who is sighted and who is visually impaired?

Of course not! When we are sitting, chatting, enjoying a meal or doing otherwise “normal” things, there is little to distinguish people who are blind or visually impaired from people who are sighted. Generally speaking there is no need to speak more loudly to us as if we also have diminished hearing. Nor is there a need to speak to us as if we were of limited intelligence. Seeing, hearing and intelligence do not necessarily overlap.  People who are blind or partially sighted might use the aid of a white cane or a guide dog to move around, but in other ways we are no different from our sighted peers.

I’m not going to tell you who in the picture are the ones without full sight although perhaps you might be able to pick me out as one of the six. People who are blind or visually impaired have the same hopes, dreams and fears as people who are sighted. The biggest difference is that because we can’t see or can’t see well, we possibly face just a few more of life’s challenges. In other ways we are just the same as everyone else.