Gift Guide for the Blind and Visually Impaired 2022

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Gift Guide for the Blind & Visually Impaired 2022

We featured a gift guide for the blind on the blog a few years ago, but we wanted to share an updated list in case you are still looking for presents for this holiday season! This is the perfect gift guide for the blind and visually impaired.

Games and Books

Uno Braille Edition – We love accessible games and Uno is a great one! You can even find the braille version on Amazon!

Bookshare membership - Bookshare is a great service that provides accessible books from PDF versions to word documents. A great gift would be a bookshare membership!

For the Tech Lover

We love featuring apps at WSB and Super Sense is no exception! Super Sense is a great AI reader that can detect signs, read papers, and even scan documents. A yearly membership for super sense is much less expensive than some of the other apps on the market. With the paid feature, you can scan documents and have them read and so much more!

Another great gift card idea to Envision Glasses! Envision glasses are on the pricier side but a great gift! They read visual information, recognize faces, and so much more!

For the Foodie

Menus4All – Another low cost option but Menus4All just launched! It’s a great gift for someone who wants to go out to eat and even explore accessible menus ahead of time. It’s only 2.99 a month or $29.99 for a yearly subscription.

For the Fashion Lover

We mentioned them last time, but we’d be remiss if we didn’t mention them this year! We are big fans of EyeSwear apparel. They are the perfect gifts for someone who has a snarky side to them ;)

Etsy has so many wonderful braille bracelets! You can personalize their name or anything you want. 

Low and No Cost Gifts

We mentioned it last time but giving someone a ride is ALWAYS appreciated in the blind and visually impaired community!

Another great option is offering to run errands with someone whether it’s to the grocery store or to just offer to pick up their perscriptions.

What are you gifting this year? Let us know in the comments!

How to be a good ally to the blind and visually impaired | Back to Basics

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How to be an ally to those who are blind and visually impaired | Back to Basics

With our Back to Basics series, we’ve focused on conditions of the eyes, but today we wanted to focus on a topic for those who are not blind and visually impaired, but how you can support those who are in your life. In our second installment of Back to Basics, we’re sharing some ways you can be a great ally to those who are blind or visually impaired.

1.     Learn about the condition and its implications

It is not the person with the disability’s job to constantly educate those who do not have a disability. This is where learning about the specific condition or even learning about the implications of being blind or visually impaired can make a huge impact. Simply understanding what it means to have a specific condition or how it might affect someone can really help in being a good ally.

2.     Make your social media accessible

While it might not seem like a big deal if you don’t add image descriptions or make your social media accessible, it is to those who have a disability! By adding the small tweaks to your social media that make them accessible, like image descriptions, it shows that you care about accessibility. We even have a post on how to make your social media accessible to those who are blind or visually impaired.

3.     Ask before helping

A big one is to ask before helping! This might be seen in a lot of different ways from crossing the street to carrying something. But you want to make sure you ask and not assume that someone with a disability automatically needs your assistance.

4.     Empathy, not Sympathy!

One of the biggest impacts able bodied people can have for someone with a disability is to respond with empathy instead of sympathy. Those with disabilities cannot tell you the amount of times we’ve been stopped in the street because of sympathy, but responding with empathy is a much more genuine response and allows you to see that those with disabilities may have struggles, but it does not mean their lives are not worth living!

5.     Avoid Microaggressions

Microaggressions are daily occurrences for those in marginalized groups. They are small intentional and sometimes unintentional comments that can be hurtful to those in a marginalized community. Some that those in the blind and visually impaired might hear are: “Oh, you don’t look blind”, using outdated terminology (another reason education is so important!), or even speaking to those in the disability community as if they are children (no matter their age). Those in the disability community also come from varied culture backgrounds and hold a myriad of identities including their disability. It is important to think about how your words will affect others and how you can change the narrative.

Being a good ally really is about the small, simple steps able bodied individuals can take to help those with disabilities feel accepted in society. We hope these tips helped and feel free to send them to anyone who might need them!

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How to talk to your employer about workplace accommodations

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How to Talk an Employer about Workplace Accommodations

October is #NDEAM or National Disability Employment Awareness Month. And at WSB, we know the struggle it can be to find a job as someone who is blind or visually impaired. We also know how much harder it is to find a job as a person who is blind or visually impaired, and it can be daunting to have to ask for accommodations on top of just finding a job! But to celebrate NDEAM, we are sharing a few tips of how to talk to your employer about workplace accommodations.

1.     Go over what you need with your rehabilitation counselor

Your rehabilitation counselor can help you decide what accommodations are necessary for your workplace, as well as help you practice having that conversation if you need it or feel nervous about talking to your employer.

2.     Be your own advocate

It’s important as a person with a disability to advocate for yourself when it comes to accommodations. While it might be scary at first, being your own advocate can help strengthen your voice as a person who is blind or visually impaired and help you realize your full potential!

3.     Learn about the ADA

It’s important to learn your rights in the workplace when it comes to accommodations. The ADA covers reasonable accommodations, and it is important to know what that means. While we wish it weren’t the case, not every employer is aware of what the ADA covers and how they can help employees. By being an expert and your own advocate, you can help your employer understand what you need to succeed at the job.

Here are some examples from the Job Accommodations Network that would not work as accommodations under the ADA:

• removing or eliminating an essential function from a job

• lowering production standards

• providing personal use items such as a prosthetic limb, a wheelchair, eyeglasses, hearing aids, or similar devices if they are also needed off the job

4.     Know what you need and what changes need to be made

On the same vein of being your own advocate, knowing what you need to help you succeed will only benefit you. If you can go into the meeting and explain that you need JAWS software, for example, and know what type of software, it can be a smoother process all around.  

5.     Submit a request to HR

Each company has different policies, but it is important to submit your request in paper so that your employer has a copy. The good news is that you can request accommodations at any time during the interview process or even after you are employed.

It might be scary at first to talk to your employer about workplace accommodations but with practice, knowing your rights and what you need, and by being your own advocate you can do it! Do you have any tips for requesting accommodations? Let us know in the comments.

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5 Brands to Shop for Disability Pride Month

Muted rainbow flag at a diagonal (Disability Pride Flag) with blue text on top “5 Brands to Shop to Celebrate Disability Pride Month” by World Services for the Blind with the WSB logo in the top right corner.

5 Brands to Shop During Disability Pride Month (and every month!)

July Is Disability Pride Month! Disability Pride Month is all about celebrating those with disabilities, as well as educating about disabilities.

Today we’re sharing 5 brands that you should shop this month for Disability Pride Month (and every month to celebrate those with disabilities!). We have a wide range of products from clothing to coffee and we’re sure you’ll find something you like to support these amazing small businesses!

1.     Two Blind Brothers

You have probably seen their ads but we love the products from Two Blind Brothers! They are an apparel company created to raise funds for blindness research! They even have campaigns where you “buy something blind” where you get a surprise item and all the proceeds go to Foundation Fighting Blindness.

2.     Bitty and Beau’s

While not a company run by those in the blindness community, they are a company hiring those with intellectual and developmental disabilities (I/DD), a community WSB is actively working to help through our Group Home renovation! Bitty and Beau’s is a chain of coffeeshops across the country help those with I/DD gain sustainable employment through the coffeeshop. From their website: “The Wrights believe that Bitty & Beau’s Coffee creates a path for people with disabilities to become more valued, accepted and included in every community.”

3.     EyeSwear Apparel

One of WSB’s favorite apparel companies, EyeSwear apparel is run by Kim from Navigating Blindness and her son, Kai. The clothing items have phrases in text and a sarcastic saying in braille underneath. These t-shirts are a great way to add some sarcasm in your life and support a small business!

4.     Braille Card by Amber

Another fun Etsy shop is Braille Cards by Amber! You can get custom designed braille cards from greeting cards to wedding save the dates. She even creates tactile images.

5.     Cleanlogic

Cleanlogic is a bath and body care company based in Pennsylvania. Cleanlogic is committed to creating sustainable products and is even a “brand with braille”. Each product has braille on the packaging and a portion of each sale goes to a nonprofit serving those who are blind and visually impaired.

What brands will you be shopping this month? Let us know in the comments!

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Is being Visually Impaired and Legally Blind the Same Thing? | Back to Basics

Close up image of a person’s eye with blue text above “Visually Impaired, Low Vision, Legally Blind - What do they all mean? Back to Basics by World Services for the Blind

Welcome to Back to Basics, a new series on the WSB blog! At WSB, we see people through all walks of life with a myriad of vision conditions. Today we’re going over some basics, what it means to be legally blind versus visually impaired and some common terms in the blindness community. You might be wondering – is being visually impaired and legally blind the same thing? Nope! And we’ll tell you why.

When most people hear the word ‘blind’ they think of someone seeing total darkness. But that actually isn’t the case for the majority of those in the blind and visually impaired community! Blindness and visual impairment is a spectrum. There are so many terms to describe someone’s vision though, so we wanted to go over what they all mean.

What do all these terms even mean?

While different countries have different definitions, we’re focusing on the United States terminology. It will also make more sense if you’re used to the standard eye chart.

Low Vision – Low vision means someone has uncorrectable vision that interferes with their daily life, meaning they cannot complete some tasks due to their vision. 

Visually Impaired – Visually Impaired is another broad term that refers to someone who cannot correct their vision and it impacts their daily life. However, visually impaired is often used before the cut off to legally blind. Those who are visually impaired can still get services through vocational rehabilitation (and World Services for the Blind!).

Legally Blind – Legally blind has a clear cut off when it comes to visual acuity. Someone is legally blind “when a person has central visual acuity (vision that allows a person to see straight ahead of them) of 20/200 or less in his or her better eye with correction. Or if they have a 20 degrees or less visual field”.

Light Perception – Someone who is blind may only have light perception. This means they can detect light or maybe even objects but cannot see them clearly or have detailed information or colors of the light they are seeing. 

No Light Perception – No light perception or NLP is the most severe form of vision loss meaning someone who is NLP cannot detect any form of light.

Are there any terms we didn’t cover? Let us know in the comments!

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HOPE Series with Brian Bushway

Interview with Brian Bushway, a leader in Echolocation

Headshot of Brian against a blue background with text “WSB HOPE INTERview with brian bushway”

Welcome back to another installment of the HOPE (Hanging onto Positive Expectations) Series! There are so many individuals doing great things for the Blind and Visually Impaired Community that we wanted to highlight and share their stories. We hope these stories can also serve as inspiration for those with vision loss and to remind us that there are so many people working towards a common goal of helping those who are blind and visually impaired. This month we are featuring Brian Bushway – a blind athlete, Orientation and Mobility Instructor, and leader in the field of Echolocation. 

One of Brian’s biggest passions, and what has allowed him a lot of opportunities in life, is questioning and learning about the neuroplasticity of the brain and how the senses develop. Through learning and exploring the senses, specifically through echolocation, he has even developed a program for sighted athletes to learn and develop their other senses.

Losing His Vision

Brian has done a lot of extraordinary things in his life from learning to mountain bike without sight to traveling around the world, but his story is not unlike a lot of the clients of World Services for the Blind. As a middle schooler, Brian went from having a lot of functional vision to having no light perception in the span of a few years. A challenge many of our students know well at WSB! Vision loss can happen quickly and suddenly. And for Brian, he had no idea where to turn.

“When it first happened, I couldn’t find my way out of my bedroom”  

When he first lost his light perception, he was paralyzed by fear. Like a lot of us, he didn’t know any other people who were blind or visually impaired. His parents were lost on what to do as well. But what surprised him as being the most confusing part was that his social environment changed as well. As a middle schooler and high schooler now using a white cane, he was not sure how to navigate the social cues around him.

But he knew there was something deeper inside of him. He knew if nothing changed, he would stay afraid and stuck in his house. He was able to become more curious about how other blind and visually impaired people were having full lives. A similar theme to our last HOPE Interview with Joey Stuckey, the blind musician, Brian just started trying and learning O&M, Braille, Assistive Technology, etc. But he still felt like something was missing – “the social, emotional, and psychological factors were the bigger barriers”. He realized he was internalizing everyone else’s anxiety and from that realization, he was able to separate his own thoughts and feelings from the social norms.

“The tragedy was that the people around me didn’t expect the same things from me. So, I had to have high expectations for myself”

He was able to pull himself out of the fear and see a bigger future for himself, something we try to help our students learn every day at WSB.

“The best long-term solution for changing a prejudice is to find creative ways to serve people around you” A similar story to one we hear at WSB, Brian had to really advocate for himself to be able to be independent. He craved the independence and to be the caregiver, not the other way around for people to do everything for him. This attitude can change things for those with disabilities, embracing our independence and realizing what we CAN do.  

brian and a group on mountain bikes smiling in front of mountains

From a Scared Student to a Leader in Echolocation

When Brian was in school, he started to understand passive echolocation. His brain was experiencing the environment through echolocation, but he didn’t have the language to talk about it or understand it. When he started to learn more about echolocation, he was able to understand an active way to use it – the sound reflecting off of objects and how it creates a 3D depiction of what’s around.  

Brian says the way he really learned to utilize echolocation was through just exploring and playing. He had to get out and explore his surroundings. He wanted to keep up with his peers so he “took a risk and threw himself into the mix”.  

During college he was able to study abroad several times where he really learned to develop his skills in new environments. His ultimate goal was he wanted to learn to get around new environments by myself. It was not without mistakes and trials, but they were such a huge learning curve that helped him never make those mistakes again.

From all of his hard work and studies (Brian is a certified Orientation & Mobility Instructor in California) he has been able to travel all over the world working with special needs children teaching them the skills to become independent. From the jungles of Belize to Thailand, he has worked all over the world to develop these skills and help those with disabilities to develop these skills in all different types of environments.

With echolocation, Brian emphasized this is just another way to experience the world. A way to sightsee across the world in a totally different and unique way.  

“There is a world of acoustic beauty.”

Professional athletes started to hear his stories and wanted to learn how to use their other senses. “All of our other senses are adding to experiences, our brains just want to have the quickest way to label it with our vision. A lot of people don’t have a good understanding about how we use our other senses to construct our reality as opposed to just using our vision”. Brian was able to understand there was a huge gap of knowledge and that he could capitalize on that and work with people to highlight their other senses. Now with Acoustic Athletics he works with professional athletes of all kinds to develop their senses and help them learn about the parts of themselves they had no idea they could utilize when they may have previously relied purely on their sight.

We wanted to share Brian’s story on the blog because he exemplifies what you CAN do as a person who is blind and visually impaired. We also love how Brian has thought outside of the box to bring awareness about the blind community to the sighted world.

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Mental Health Tips for the Blind and Visually Impaired

Mental Health Tips for Those Who are Blind or Visually Impaired

peaceful wide angle shot of a beach with white text “Mental Health Tips for the Blind & Visually Impaired” with WSB logo in blue underneath

May is Mental Health Awareness Month. We know that vision loss can cause a lot of grief, which we’ve talked about before on the blog, but what about keeping your mental health in check on a regular basis? Today we’re sharing some tips and tricks so that you can feel your best mentally, even with vision loss and blindness.  

1.     Take Care of Your Physical Body

This can go in a lot of different ways but there are a lot of things you can do to take of your physical body that supports your mental health! From eating healthy to getting enough exercise, taking care of your physical self is so important for mental health, especially if your vision loss is caused by something like diabetes.

2.     Get Outside

There are so many benefits to getting outside from making sure you’re getting enough Vitamin D to the mental health benefits. We know there can be extra challenges that might arise if you are blind or visually impaired (especially if you aren’t confident in your orientation and mobility skills or have not received that training yet) but that doesn’t mean you can’t step outside and get some fresh air!

3.     Talk to a Professional

We can all use some extra support sometimes during life. This can be especially true when dealing with vision loss or disability in general. There is no shame in talking to a professional counselor. You can even find low cost options on Open Path Collective or if you are interested in working with a therapist who specializes in physical disability, you can check out Therapy Den. A therapist can help you work through stressful events in life or even if you just need to check up on your mental health as a person who is blind or visually impaired. There is no wrong time to seek help.

4.     Get Social

Similar to our tip about getting outside, there are so many benefits to getting social! Whether it is through a phone call, a Facebook group, or meeting up with a friend – they are all a great option to feel less isolated and alone.

5.     Prioritize Sleep

Sleep is essential for not only our mental health but also just our health in general! It is especially important to get on a regular sleep schedule if you struggle with something like non 24 sleep wake disorder. Melatonin is a great natural option if you’re struggling to sleep but be sure to check with your doctor before giving it a try!

6.     Keep a gratitude journal

This tip comes from our very own Social Worker (we offer a wide range of social work services to our on-campus clients!) but keeping a gratitude journal can be a simple step to changing your mindset and helping your mental health. A gratitude journal can be as simple as writing three things you are grateful for each day no matter how small!

7.     Self-Care

Another tip from our social worker, schedule 2 hours of self-care a week. Self-care can mean a lot of different things but as our social worker, David, puts it “self-care is anything a person wants to do for themselves that is not work or school. This can include a walk in the park, yoga, reading a book, watching a movie, etc. The point is to avoid stressful situations and do something you enjoy”.

How do you prioritize your mental health? Let us know in the comments!

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