Do's and don'ts - when meeting people with visual impairments
People are very aware nowadays of the need to use the correct terminology in their working lives, for example when meeting disabled people. But some people are not sure what is acceptable, and what is considered rude.
Each disabled person will have their preferred terminology, and you can take your lead from them. But there are terms which are generally considered good to use, and others to avoid:
Important rule: remember - put the people first, not the impairment.
Do say: People with a disability
Don’t say: The disabled
Do say: People with a visual impairment or people who are partially sighted
Don’t say: The blind
Do say: People who are blind (if they have no sight at all)
Don’t say: People who are blind (to mean all visually impaired or partially sighted people). Blind refers to total loss of sight. However, most visually impaired people have some level of sight, so the term ‘blind’ would be inappropriate.
Do say: People with dyslexia
Don’t say: The dyslexic
Do say: Disabled, non-disabled, or impairment
Don’t say: handicapped. Handicap derives from the phrase "cap in hand" and therefore refers to a beggar
Do say: Accessible or adapted toilet
Don’t say: Disabled toilet
Other tips:
Avoid phrases such as ‘suffers from’ when describing people with disabilities.
Avoid directional instructions such as ‘over there’ - pointing towards a place or item is useless to most visually impaired people. Some may not be able to see the direction you are pointing, and others may not have long-distance vision to see what you are pointing at.
Think about how you present information. For example, saying ‘Look at this Powerpoint presentation’ would not be useful for most visually impaired people. You should provide the text of any visual presentation in advance in a person’s preferred alternative format e.g Braille, Large Print, Audio. See A2i’s previous newsletter at http://www.a2i.co.uk/newsletter0809.html for more information about making your presentations accessible.
Don’t expect people with visual impairments to be able to use touch screens – used in products such as phones. These are not very easy to use with limited or no sight!
Don’t worry about every day phrases such as ‘do you see’, ‘as you can see’ or ‘see you next week.’
If you are meeting a visually impaired person, and need letters regarding meeting arrangements, or documents for the meeting to be transcribed, contact A2i via our website www.a2i.co.uk, by email info@a2i.co.uk or by phone 01179 44 00 44.
|
