[msb-alumni] October is "Meet the Sighted" month
- From: Steve <pipeguy920@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: <msb-alumni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Tue, 8 Oct 2019 15:44:45 -0400
BlankSaw this on a friend's facebook feed:
October is meet the sighted month.
Throughout the month, sighted people will hold events where we can mix and
mingle and
learn about the special equipment and techniques they use to cope with the
presence
of eyesight. Also, many sighted people will post invitations on Facebook
encouraging
us to ask them questions, any questions we want, about their sightedness.
To kick off meet the sighted month, I have put together this list of things to
keep
in mind when interacting with the sighted.
1. Sighted people are often incapable of traveling, cooking, or doing much of
anything without
the aid of light. While we use our other senses to enable us to function
perfectly
well in the dark, sighted people have great difficulty developing these skills.
When
you welcome the sighted into your home, don't forget to turn on the lights.
2. Sighted people often cannot understand synthesized speech,
and the text on a Braille display is almost always unreadable to them. They
must
depend on special equipment such as computer monitors and phone and tablet
screens to
use their electronic devices.
If you let a sighted person use your phone or computer and forget to turn the
screen
on, they will be very confused.
3. Sighted people have difficulty learning from textual and verbal explanations
or
tactile models. They often must be presented with pictures.
A good rule of thumb, when writing instructions for the sighted, is to include
a
picture with each step.
4. Sighted people have great difficulty distinguishing auditory
cues in their environment.
While we can tell when to cross a street by the sound of traffic or where an
entrance
is by the sounds of people entering and exiting, sighted people often must rely
on
visual information alone.
5. Sighted people rely heavily on an inaudible code called color.
They use color to safely navigate by car and perform countless other tasks we
can
perform using auditory and tactile cues. Also, they are often quick to judge us
based
on what colors we present to the world.
It is important to gain at least a working knowledge of color, so they don’t
think we’re
weird.
And,
6. Sighted people often communicate displeasure using a secret signal called a
dirty
look.
I’ll admit, I’m not exactly sure what this entails, except that it sometimes
causes
sighted people to behave in ways which seem inappropriate to the situation I.E.
telling someone off for no apparent reason.
As blind people immune to the effects of the dirty look, we can only try to
teach the
sighted to use their words when communicating displeasure with us.
So, there you have it. Keep these points in mind, and your next encounter with
a
sighted person should be as smooth as a brand new NFB cane tip.
Other related posts:
- » [msb-alumni] October is "Meet the Sighted" month - Steve
