Addressing the Needs of Visually-Disabled Individuals

Introduction

The protected characteristics are referred to the mentioned aspects regarding the identity of a person that is defined in the Equality Act 2010. The nine protected characteristics mentioned in the Act are age, sex, disability, race, gender reassignment, pregnancy, maternity, marriage and civil partnership. In this essay, the needs of visually-disabled people are to be discussed along with the legislation and recommendation to protect and fulfil their needs.

Needs of visually-disabled service users

In the UK, nearly 2 million people are visually disabled and by 2050 it is estimated to reach 4.1 million. The rise is due to disorder and disease in the eye from birth, accidental causes and others (rnib.org.uk, 2017). The visually-disabled service users need assistance to develop knowledge and locate objects or items within their living space so that they can move freely and avoid hurting themselves due to collision or falling on the items. The visually-disabled individuals who have total loss of vision need to be trained regarding the way to use different tactile reading and writing system so that they can be properly educated. They also need assistance to travel to different places as due to loss of vision they are unable to locate and understand the landmarks to identify and reach the right location (Yu et al. 2015).

The visually-disabled people require emotionally support so that they do not get depressed or frustrated out of their disability and commit suicide (Mohan et al. 2016). This is evident as many visually-disabled people are seen to be abused and harmed by normal people in the society out of hate towards them. In relation to healthcare, the visually-disabled person needs assistance for which medication to be taken and which doctors to be approached for accessing healthcare (Hansen et al. 2017). This is because their loss of vision makes them incapable to decide which health professional to be approached and which medicines are to be taken and at what time so that they can be able to ensure good health.

Legislation and Regulation for visually-disabled service users

The Equality Act 2010 indicates that no individuals with protected characteristics are to be discriminated in society or at the workplace. In addition, it informs that people with disability are to be provided special provision compared to normal individuals (gov.uk, 2010). This means that for visually-disabled people special provision in the workplace such as auxiliary aids, detailed information about layout of the place, separate physical spaces and other opportunities are to be provided.

Recommendations

The visually-disabled service users are to be provided human assistance for moving around and locating objects within places as well as for healthcare purpose. Moreover, human assistance is also required for the service users to report to concerned authorities on their behalf regarding any nuisance or discriminative activity. As mentioned by Lee and Lee (2019), braille is a type of tactile writing and reading system that is used by the visually-disabled individuals who are unable to read printed information. Therefore to educate visually impaired service users they are to be trained to use Braille for reading and writing purpose.

Conclusion

The above discussion informs that visually disabled person needs support to move, locate objects, education, healthcare, emotional health and others. The Equality Act 2010 is the legislation that can be used to protect them and they require human assistance to resolve the mentioned needs along with training for Braille for getting educated.

References

Hansen, S., Wilton, R.D. and Newbold, K.B., 2017. ‘There is always this feeling of otherness’: exploring the lived experiences of visually impaired immigrant women in Canada. Disability & Society, 32(8), pp.1121-1141.

Lee, B.H. and Lee, Y.J., 2019. Evaluation of medication use and pharmacy services for visually impaired persons: Perspectives from both visually impaired and community pharmacists. Disability and health journal, 12(1), pp.79-86.

Mohan, R., Raju, R., Gubbihal, R. and Kousalya, P.S., 2016. Comprehensive dental care for the visually impaired: A review. Int J Oral Health Med Res, 3(4), pp.97-101.

Yu, H., Tullio-Pow, S. and Akhtar, A., 2015. Retail design and the visually impaired: A needs assessment. Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, 24, pp.121-129.