Deth

This morning while reading Reddit I saw someone who is legally blind ask for some advice on a computer issue. I saw some suggestions with good intention that really wouldn’t help and some things that were ignorant. I wanted to address some of them here since I see this in real life all the time being legally blind myself.

The first suggestion that stands out the suggestion of wearing glasses. That’s a great idea except for the fact that if someone knows they’re legally blind chances are they would already have glasses if they would help. They Do not help me personally but I know of others who get much help from wearing glasses. The other thing with this is glasses may help someone and the visually impaired person may even be wearing them but may not correct the vision enough to for them to do what they’re trying to do.

Another Great idea in theory is to get a bigger screen. While it’s true you can increase the size of everything on a bigger screen keep in mind the visually impaired person may have to be very close to the screen. A screen which is too big would cause the person to have to physically move their head to read a line or see different parts of the screen. I sit with my face about six inches from the screen personally so that would be a big problem. It also prevents me from using a laptop comfortably which actually sucks because I’d love to have one.

Also due to their poor vision transportation can be a big problem for those who are legally blind. Just because you know someone who is legally blind who drives doesn’t mean everyone drives. I do not drive and honestly I wouldn’t even consider it if I could legally blind because I know how my vision is and would not consider it safe. At least in the United States public transportation isn’t a priority so many areas have little or no public transportation.