Public Awareness of Visually Impaired Persons Communication Skills

We live in a world that is bounded by cultural norms and stereotypes that affect anyone who looks, acts, or is even born different. Our society narrowed scope views Deaf people as less, uneducated, and unworthy for the opportunities abled people are innately handed. There is a lack of opportunities that Deaf people received based on their disability in terms of jobs and acceptance. The feeling of acceptance is one thing the hearing community has felt at least once, if not their entire life, however it is a feeling that may be unknown to the Deaf community.

If a person can’t see they find a way to function through the day with a Seeing Eye dog or reading with Braille knowledge, and if a person is unable to hear they are able to function at a very high level through the use of sign language and reading lips.

I have requested that service users wear their glasses to aid with communication. I have adapted general approach to service users to compensate for blindness.

The amount of people who live with disabilities is a controversial number. Depending on what law and diagnostic tools used, a person may have a visible disability, or one that may lie beneath the surface of his or her appearance. Some people believe that the term “disability” is merely a label use to hold back, or prescribe helplessness. Meanwhile, individuals who have been properly diagnosed with disabilities struggle to maintain respect and acceptance every day. In plain language, there is a lot of misunderstanding between people with disabilities and those without. It is firstly important to get everyone on the same page regarding the definition of disability.

One service user who was blind was hard to settle, because he couldn’t see it was hard to communicate, he was unable to express himself verbally and he was very anxious and depressed. He had moved from Bala where he was brought up many years ago

Offer your elbow to guide the person. If he/she accepts, walk slowly but wait for permission before doing so. Lead - do not pull the person.

1. There are many different facts that can have a impact on people with sensory loss. Communication and awareness play big roles in the impact. They may find it difficult to feed themselves, dressing and mobility. Hobbies and interests can have negative impact on their lives. They may also feel scared and alone due to this. There can be positive factors that can help out the person such as increased help, aids for support and a good support team could give them a brighter outlook on life. Organizations might help the Deaf and Blind with many different aspects of their life to support or to helping them find the right kind of support.

Many people make an assumption they are not blind to life itself whether ignorance plays a part or pride. In Cathedral by Raymond Carver, it describes a few myths that society has portrayed and opinions of the visual impaired. The main focus is getting to know the person before drawing a conclusion. Its not fair to anyone to be neglected whether you are visual impaired or have the functionality of what is considered to be a normal human being.

1.3 If a person’s hearing or sight is impaired, body language and tone of voice will become more important. They may also need to learn new skills such as sign language or lip reading in order to be able to communicate. Making sure the person's glasses is the correct prescription, that their hearing aids are working properly, that they are looking at your face when you speak so that they can lip read, keeping your communication simple and clear, using visual prompts, light touches to their arms to gain attention etc.

Sensory losses can affect on normal living in a variety of ways. These can be hidden disability which can ultimately result in social isolation and frustration due to not being able to communicate efficiently. In case of hearing loss, day-to-day activities such as hearing a doorbell, using the telephone, watching television or taking part in conversations can build a sense of discomfort and inadequacy. On the other hand, those who have vision impairment cannot distinguish faces during face to face talk, feel difficulty in watching TV and reading time

Refer as needed to the material in Chapters 12 and 13 of the textbook. Keep the following tips in mind as you research data, as well as organize, analyze, interpret, and illustrate these data:

Hearing and sight loss aren’t an obvious disability so people may not be aware that the individual has this difficulty and may judge them wrongly. A lack of knowledge can lead people to be prejudice and discriminate against the individual. Sometimes people talk down to them as if they are stupid or talk to the person they are with which can make them feel ignored and worthless. It can also have the opposite effect where people want to everything for the

Stereotypes may vary from community to community and person to person, but the husband’s views are not exclusively unique. A study by (Saetermoe et al.) and showed that different ethnic groups of America view different disabilities with different levels of harshness. The paper says that many discriminatory practices exist because we place stigmas on all sorts of disabilities. With respect to blindness, the study showed that other ethnicities have also placed stigma on the blind and socially isolate them

The story “Cathedral” demonstrates that lack of sight does not necessarily prevent one from perceiving things as they are, or live their life to the fullest. In the story, a middle-age blind man, who is a friend to the narrator’s wife, and used to be her boss at one point, visits the narrator and his wife. The narrator has never interacted with blind people before, and all he knew about blind people was what he had seen on television. Blind people are stereotypically portrayed on television as slow moving, dull people, who never laugh. Based on this perception, the narrator was reluctant to meet the blind man and doubted whether they were going to connect. This is evident when the narrator states, “I wasn’t enthusiastic about his visit. He was no one I knew. And his being blind bothered me” (Carver 1).

In this essay I will attempt to explain people’s attitudes towards the person with disability, also about the causes due to which our society discriminates against them. Few of these reasons are stereotyping, psychological discomfort, lack of accommodation, paternalization & pity.