As I sit here on a Sunday morning on the eve of my 44th birthday, I can’t help but smile. As usual, I’ve been woken up by the telly blasting through our bedroom floor as William watches some random rubbish on YouTube. We normally turn the TV down before bed, but forgot last night as it was late after catching up on the most recent episodes of the current series of Slow Horses on Apple TV+ (the audio description of which is brilliant by the way). As Kath slept soundly, there was no way I could stay in bed through this racket so I dragged myself upright and headed downstairs to let the dogs out, feed the cats and get William to turn the volume down.

Animals sorted, I got myself an espresso and settled down with my coffee and iPad to catch up on the news before breakfast. My iPad is set to the highest possible font size (over 3 times normal size) meaning I see a tiny fraction on my screen compared to one set to normal size. At this level of magnification, apps have mixed support and so I have to adjust how I work depending on what I’m reading. The Guardian will, for example, scale the home screen to suit but when I click into an article, the text still isn’t quite large enough so I have to zoom further using the on-screen magnifier or, on really bad eye days, use VoiceOver to have the text read out to me. This works ok but when I go back to the main screen, the app gets confused and doesn’t take me back to where I was before, meaning I end up constantly scrolling up and down to find my place before finally giving up and switching to BBC News where the results are mixed with some articles scaling to a level I can read and others being so small I just give up without even bothering to try to make it work. Eventually I end up giving up entirely and just scroll through endless Instagram reels.

This is typical of accessibility in so many areas where an MVP (or Minimal Viable Product) is delivered and then accessibility is bolted on as an afterthought. As development continues, the core application is enhanced, but accessibility soon gets left behind and so glitches and bugs soon start to seep through. It doesn’t stop at apps, it seems so often when designing products for people with sight loss function trumps form just about every time.

Take sunglasses for example, many people losing their sight are highly sensitive to light. There are many specialist providers but, the problem is, the solutions they come up with are ugly. These sunglasses are huge lumps of plastic designed to serve a purpose but little or no consideration is given to how they look. These people can easily forget that, just because we can’t see, it doesn’t mean we’re happy to look like total fools. It sounds like I’m being down on people who develop these products and, in a way I am, but I think it’s important not to forget the person who would be wearing these products and not just focus on the use. Until such time as this happens, I think I’ll stick with my Oakleys.

It isn’t just sight loss products, it is also the way we are perceived by the public and so much of this is down to the way we are portrayed by those who are there to advocate on our behalf. Just recently I’ve had some long days at work because I’ve been asked to deliver a critical end-user project on top of my day job. This means that after a full day of project meetings, I get to start my actual work and attempt to keep on top of emails. Just recently, this has resulted in many 12+ hour days to keep my head above water. Before you get your violins out, I have to say that I’m not complaining, this is the business I’ve been in for most of my working life and is the cyclical nature of project work. The point I’m highlighting is that I have been asked to deliver this project because I possess the skills needed to deliver and my sight loss has nothing to do with anything. Yes, I may have a list of adjustments as long as my arm, but the purpose of these is that I can continue to work effectively.

It is shocking that around three quarters of people with sight loss are out of work and we must accept that a lot of the reason for this is because of how we are perceived by others and this is in no small part because of how wea re portrayed in the media and online. There are so many of us just trying to get on with things and trying to live our best blind lives and the thing holding us back isn’t our abilities, it is, ironically, those advocating for us.

Now, I’d like to think that those of you who have read my previous posts will understand that I always try to look at the glass being half-full but it can be a struggle at times. Perception is such a powerful thing and once one viewpoint becomes the norm, it is very hard to change people’s points of view. You may have seen that the comedian Chris McCausland is currently competing on Strictly and, so I’m told, he is absolutely smashing it. Many organisations are quite rightly lauding this achievement to help break down barriers but, this is a challenge when these very same groups are are pushing out content that portrays our community as weak and needing rescuing like some war torn refugee.

Losing your sight is huge, but it isn’t the end. So many of us are navigating our way through this world but it feels at times that we’re being held back, not because of our abilities, but because of the way we are perceived. Whether we are losing our sight ourselves or are working to support the sight loss community it is important to remember that we are human beings and we are all just trying to live our best blind lives. As such, it is important to make sure that we do all we can to make sure nothing gets in the way of achieving this.