“Vision Statements: How Do You Explain Your Vision Impairment to Someone Who is Sighted or Just Doesn’t Get it?”

Hi everyone! Today, I’m going to be talking about something that I’ve spent the past twenty-plus years trying to navigate. It’s something that I’m constantly updating, editing and reworking. It’s what i like to call my “vision statement” or my first step to advocacy. A vision statement is the basic explanation of my vision impairment to someone who may not fully understand. Once I started using a vision statement to help me explain my vision impairment to others, I felt my confidence and comfortability in talking about it growing tremendously. It became easier to stand with pride and talk about my vision, and help others to understand this important part of me!

The idea of legal blindness is hard for people to comprehend because in a lot of ways it is a grey area. There are some things I can see, some things I can’t and for those who aren’t familiar with it, that can be super confusing. What made it even more confusing is when they asked me about my vision, I started throwing medical terms at them that I had studied and made sense to me, but to them it sounded like a foreign language.

So how do you do it? How do you help the sighted people in your life to grasp what your vision impairment means and what it consists of without making it awkward and uncomfortable for both you and them? I’ve come up with five steps to create a clear and concise Vision Statement to share with those in your life who don’t quite get it, but desperately want to!

1. Keep it short. The only thing more awkward than you not knowing what to say when asked about your vision, is if you talk FOREVER about your vision. People want to understand but again- the more language you use, the more “formal” you make the initial conversation, the more confusing it can be. Keep it short and sweet: three-five sentences that capture the most essential parts of your vision impairment! And then if they have questions or want to keep talking, that’s great, but the clearer and more concise you can make it the easier it is for them to initially understand.

2. Show them! In my first sentence of my vision statement, I ask people to put on “binoculars”. I do this to show them what tunnel vision is. This helps them to really visualize what it is you’re talking about and makes the conversation more dynamic. If this is a person who is less familiar to you, i would demonstrate the binoculars myself and say “well my vision is kind of like if you put your hands to your face as if you were pretending to look through binoculars.” By doing it myself, that sometimes prompts the other person to do it too! And it becomes a more interesting way for them to experience an aspect of what my vision is like.

3. Pick an analogy that sighted people might easily be able to understand. I will never forget the first time my dad explained to me the difference between High Definition and standard television. The way he talked about the difference in quality of the image reminded me so much of what it sounded like to me when sighted people described their vision. I thought of how for me, the outlines of people and objects are usually ill defined or blurred together. And i imagine for sighted people that isn’t the case. So now after asking them to put their binoculars on, I say “you know how when you’re watching tv, and you change the channel from a standard definition station to HD? Well let’s just say my vision is standard definition- kind of fuzzy/blurry not super defined. And yours is HD!”

4. Simple facts are your friend! Next, i list three things about my vision that are super simple and could be written out in bullet point format. For example.... 

•I have night blindness. 

•I have no depth perception. 

•I read large print and sometimes use a cane. I picked these three because these are the ones that would most pertain to my relationship with the sighted person. Because of my night blindness i might need their help to guide me in the dark. Because of my poor depth perception i might need them to let me know if there is a car coming when i go to cross the street. And lastly, it’s important to identify if you're a print reader or cane user because that helps them to understand an aspect of what you can see! It’s tangible and something that is easier for others to get.

5. Let them ask questions! Often times after I’ve given my vision statement, i can tell people are still curious and have more questions. So I’ll sometimes say “is there anything you want to ask me?” Or “if you want to ask a question that’s okay! If not that’s cool too... let’s get some ice cream!” Just let yourself be comfortable in your own skin. This isn’t something to be ashamed of or intimidated by. Your vision impairment is a part of you. And though the sighted people in your life may not totally understand, they care about you and want to do what they can to support you and also to try their best to understand you. But in order to do so, you have to let them in a little bit. 

And that’s that! I hope this was helpful! Next week, I’ll be talking a little bit more about vision statements but on a more professional level: “How Do I Communicate My Vision Impairment in an Interview or Professional Setting?” Until then, i hope you all have a great week! If you have any questions about these tips please feel free to leave them in the comments! I’ll be sure to respond! Thanks for reading!

Stay Ambitious,

Frankie Ann