Welcome to My World — Virtually!
In celebration of World Sight Day 2020, my colleagues asked me to write about my experience of being visually impaired. I hope you can learn how to walk in my shoes.
When COVD-19 started in March, like many other organizations, Special Olympics HQ made the decision to conduct business from home. I was concerned about my workload because much of what I do during the day requires working in the office. For example, I sort and deliver the mail, I conduct office tours. I deliver packages. I had to get creative and take my work virtually.
In 2017 I started doing meetings in person called Welcome to my World. The meetings allowed my coworkers to step into my shoes for short period of time. I wanted everyone in the organization to know what it is like to be visually impaired and also learn how to work better together. Once I started the virtual Welcome to my World presentations the staff at Special Olympics truly got a firsthand experience into my technology. One of my favorite things to ask them them to do is to put on a blindfold and try to send a text message! The takeaway from these presentations is that people felt more comfortable asking me questions about how we can work better together. Now people understand how to send me information so I can read it and even asked me to help them with some of their projects. I heard from some staff that they have learned to slow down and be more patient.
During the time I have been working remotely, I have also learned to use Zoom. It has been a great system that allows me to connect virtually with everyone. Like many people all over the world that have had to adapt to working remotely, I had to overcome additional challenges and learn new technology and adapt to this new way of life. On World Sight Day 2020 I feel like many people all over the world should consider people that are visually impaired in everything they do — when you are meeting virtually, please try to share your presentation before the meeting so that the person can review it ahead of the meeting. If you are unable to do that, please take the time to describe what is on the screen. When you send documents please be sure they are accessible to everyone. It is no fun not being included or having to sit on the sidelines during meetings because I can’t see the screen. A little bit of empathy goes a long way, and we can all use a little bit of that these days.
