When a friend, family member, coworker or other person in your life loses their vision, it can be hard to know how to describe things to them. For instance, telling someone who can’t see that a chair is “over there” isn’t going to do them much good. Much of our standard language for describing things is visually based. But with just a few tweaks and a little practice, you can get better at describing what and where things are to people who are blind or have low vision.
The most important thing to do when learning how to be a better describer is to ask the person how they want something described. Everyone is different, and what works for one person may not work for someone else.
For Access Technology Specialist Jim Denham, who is blind, clarification is key. He says that when something is being described to him, directional information is the most useful. “Let’s say I’m approaching a doorway,” Jim says. “Having someone say, ‘It’s a little bit to your right’ will be helpful.” It’s also often helpful to give the approximate distance of the thing you’re describing. Jim says the direction and an estimate of how far away something is will usually be enough for him to find where he needs to go.
Jim says he doesn’t like when he’s being shown around someplace and the person grabs him by the arm, or even his cane, to walk him to where he’s looking to go. While Jim doesn’t mind holding someone’s arm to be guided somewhere, it’s always important to ask before touching another person. If you are leading someone with physical touch, have them hold onto your elbow or upper forearm. Never try to lead someone by their cane, since they are relying on feedback from the cane to know what is in front of them.
When going somewhere new for the first time, Jim prefers to find his way around with his white cane on his own before being physically guided around. “If it’s somewhere I’m going to be spending a lot of time, like a new office building, I want to explore a bit,” Jim says. “Even if I’m exploring a new park, I want to learn on my own where the dips and corners of the path are.”
While Jim likes to know how far away something is, Council Board Member Rebecca Arrowood says distances can just trip her up. Instead, she prefers landmarks, like being told to take a left at the coffee shop. That gives Rebecca a concrete location where she needs to turn. For her, the more detail, the better.
One issue Rebecca says she’s run into several times is people trying to lead her guide dog somewhere instead of her. “I’ve had people try to command my dog to follow them or try to grab the leash and guide the dog and not me,” Rebecca says. “That doesn’t help me. I want someone to tell me the directions.”
When being shown around a new office building, Rebecca says she first likes to be shown the basics, like where her office is, where the stairs and elevators are, and where the bathrooms and kitchen are. “Then as we are taking our tour, it’s helpful for someone to tell me what room we are in so I know that to get to my office from the elevator, I need to walk through the kitchen and hallway. Knowing the floor layout is really helpful.”
While it is important for the sighted person to be able to accurately describe things, it is equally important for the person who is blind or has low vision to be able to speak up and say what works for them and what doesn’t. “You have to get comfortable asking for more details,” says the Council’s Executive Director Denise Jess. “For a lot of people, there is a whole internal narrative of ‘I don’t want to have to ask, or make a big deal out of this,’ particularly for people who are newly experiencing vision loss. That narrative may be happening in your head, but it is okay to ask for what you need.”
Denise says that when she is having a place described to her for the first time, context is everything. For example, Denise says she recently went to the veterinarian’s office and asked for the bathroom. The receptionist told Denise it was down a hallway, the third door on the right. “It was succinct, it was clear, and it didn’t include any details I didn’t need,” Denise says. “I was able to find it easily. She really rocked it.”
One thing Denise does not like is when someone does something for her. When she’s asking where the ketchup bottle is, she’s asking so she can grab it herself, not for someone else to get it for her. “To me, that feels like you are saying I’m incapable of finding the ketchup bottle myself. If I’m asking for information, then I want the information I am asking for,” Denise says.
Most people are not intentionally describing things poorly, Denise says. It’s important to speak up and say what works and what doesn’t so that you can know where things are, and the describer knows what to do next time. “The other person is trying, so if we aren’t also giving them feedback, how can they succeed?” Denise says.
Everyone has different preferences when having things described to them. It is important that you talk with your loved one who is blind or has low vision to find out what kinds of descriptions work best for them. It’s also important for the individual with vision loss to speak up about their own needs. “It’s all a very personal thing,” Jim says. “Some people who are newly blind may want you to just show them. For me, I want to build independence, but it really depends on how comfortable you are as a traveler.”
