We have just employed a blind person; we need to provide training for the induction and also ongoing training... The induction this year will consist of about 30+ people and 1 blind person.. i would like to know if anyone has any ideas of the how the room and environment should be set out with consideration given to the blind person without being to patronising and also what consideration should be given by the speaker when delivering their presentations. As part of this event a team building/icebreaker will be carried out at various stages during the day.. Do you or does anyone have any ideas again with consideration for the blind person.?
Howard Hines
8 Responses
Blind Issues
1. Introduce yourself and other people in the room clearly-SAY where people are in the training room
2. A guide dog is a working dog -not to be treated as a pet
3.If the person seems to need help ask if you can “offer an arm” that way you guide rather than seeming to propel
4. When offering handshake SAY shall we shake hands
5. If offering a seat guide the persons hand to the back or arm of the seat AND SAY that is what you are going to do
6.Offer communications that are written in the person’s preferred format – floppy disc,large print ,audio cassette or in Braille
7. If notes have to be taken f event TAPE
8. Tell the person if you are going to move away so that they are not left talking into silence
ICEBREAKERS could well, include pairs doing interviews about each other,a quiz or open plenary
William
Ask, don’t be afraid to ask!
My first piece of advice would be to contact the RNIB as they will have lots of readily available information on the employment of blind people.
The second piece of advice would be to get a good understanding of exactly how blind your new employee is. The term “blind” rarely means a person can see absolutely nothing. The best way to find out what your employee can see is to ask them.
Once you know what their limits are, you can plan your induction more effectively.
Good luck
Frank
Ask them
Howard
You might find it helpful to ask them what they would find useful and not so useful. I’m sure they have considered this and would welcome input rather than you making assumptions.
My sister-in-law has recently qualifed as a Blind Advisor and Trainer – if you give me your email I’ll ask her to send you some recommendations or literature.
Annah
Guide dog owners
I agree with the other comments regarding asking the person regarding their personal needs. I am a volunteer boarder for guide dogs and have shared an office with a guide dog owner. If the person has a guide dog it really is important to ask them if they have any special needs regarding the dog (toilet etc) as they could be too embarrassed to ask! Guide dogs usually go on a concrete area so the owner can clean up easily and this may have been thought of at their work location but can get forgotten about when they have to spend the day at a training centre. They may even want to have a few words with the other delegates at the begining of the session to outline rules regarding the dog (don’t give titbits, distract it while working in harness etc)Please contact me if I can be of any further help
blind awareness and induction
We provide a wide range of disability training for disabled employees and rtheir colleagues in a work situation. We tailor our training to the specific needs of the client and use disabled trainers where appropriate.
If we can be of help email at the above email or at info@sdtrain.biz
Ken Whittingham
Softskills Development Training Ltd
Jewish Guild For the Blind
In New York City the Jewish Guild for the Blind organization provides the advice for employers info.www.jgb.org
Text reading software programmes
Hi Howard
For some of the ongoing training it may be worth considering text reading software to be used with e-learning programmes. If you are interested in this I may be able to dig out some information on this for you. There are systems available called “Jaws” and “dragon dictate”.
My organisation supplies a large number of e-learning programmes that have an “accessibility” feature to enable them to work with text reading systems (although we don’t supply any of the systems.)
It might also be worth speaking to your local FE college about part-time courses as they usually have a team of people that can offer additional support to visually impaired staff/students.
If you would like any more information on the system I mentioned or our e-learning programmes please let me know. (amanda@ivysoft.co.uk)
Regards
Blind Teambuilding
Can anyone help me with teambuilding exercises for blind and partially-sighted people, or exercises that could be adapted?
Thanks, Gill