Understanding Disability - Visual Impairment

There are many misconceptions about people with visual impairment.

Misconception: Visually impaired people see nothing.
Truth: The majority of Visually impaired people have SOME useful vision - distinguishing between light and dark and only about 18 per cent of visually impaired people are totally without useful vision.

Misconception: Visually impaired people have special gifts and a “sixth” sense.
Truth: There are no special gifts or “sixth” sense and many visually impaired people have a poorer sense of hearing or touch than sighted people particularly as they grow older. It is just having the appropriate support and training together with good old fashioned common sense and practice that makes all the difference.

Misconception: All Visually impaired people feel other people’s faces.
Truth: A very small number of visually impaired people use touch to identify people. 77% of visually impaired people retain enough sight to recognise family and friends close up.

Misconception: All Visually impaired people can read Braille.
Truth: It is estimated that approximately only 13,000 Visually impaired people can read Braille fluently. Far larger numbers rely on large print and audio instead of Braille.

Misconception: All Visually impaired people own guide dogs.
Truth: There are approximately 4,800 guide dog users in the UK. This is a tiny percentage of the estimated two million Visually impaired people in the UK.

Misconception: Visually impaired people cannot work.
Truth: Due to the advances in new technology, such as speaking computers etc, there are very few jobs that a visually impaired person cannot do.

There are many things society can do to increase access for Visually impaired people. These include:-

* The use of large print and font size – best practice recommends Ariel 14
* Colour contrasting and tactile markings
* Use of audio

These are only a few general examples and you should NEVER assume. ALWAYS ask about access requirements – i.e. those things needed to enable us to take part in something.