She just wanted to grab some napkins. So Gunjan Dhawan, holding her drink and her fries, walked past the cashier and straight through a ribboned barricade.
“Everything fell, of course, and the trouble is not just (that) it's there, it’s the awkwardness that comes after it. Because everybody's looking at us, you know, and they're commenting, ‘Can you not see it? Did you not see that?’” she said.
Public health orders mean businesses have become slightly less accessible for those with vision loss in an effort to enforce social distancing and close off certain areas. Dhawan said there are a few things business have done that have made it hard for her, and others, to navigate the world. The barricades are one of them.
“Those barricades that they put up with those ribbons. I can't see them. I mean, a lot of us can't see them. You know, it just blends right in for me,” she said.
Dhawan lives on the border between Edmonton and St. Albert. She is a program aide for innovation and technology at the Canadian National Institute for the Blind (CNIB). She is also legally blind.
“I have something called cone-rod dystrophy, and basically what that means is that I only have peripheral vision. I don't have too much in my centre,” she said.
In the year since the World Health Organization declared the COVID-19 pandemic, unique difficulties have cropped up for those with vision loss.
Directional arrows and signs on the floor are difficult for Dhawan to see, especially if they don't contrast with the flooring beneath them. She says she has to try to remember that “red means no and blue means go.”
“I try to just keep going back to the same Walmart, because I have a hard time seeing (the signs) and then somebody that's colourblind, they can't see the colours, right? So, they would have no way to understand if you can go in this aisle this way, or do you have to come around,” she said.
Dhawan has had people comment when she is going in the wrong direction.
“When you can't see the arrows, you can't see the arrows, you know?” she said.
“I'm molded in a way where these things don't bother me,” she continued. “But for someone that is fairly new to sight loss, that can really – it can actually hurt them. I've known people in the past that have chosen to shut themselves away from community just stay at home, and not reach out or try to socialize because of these things. Because of our social norms.”
Dhawan said many people who lose their eyesight are older and have been getting their groceries delivered, as they are vulnerable not only to the virus but also to these new social norms.
Dhawan said she usually has a habit of picking up items in the grocery store to identify them, but with COVID she has turned to other measures.
She has an app on her phone that identifies items, and she is able to listen to what the item is – she has, however, discovered that a headset is a necessity.
“I learned my lesson because first, it was on full speaker. And then I plugged in my headset because as soon as it starts to talk and reads out a barcode, everybody's head just turns toward me,” she said.
“I'm scanning as I go because if I can’t see I have to feel it. You know, that's how I do my daily chores,” she said.
Shaping a city
Through her work with the CNIB, Dhawan was able to be a part of the St. Albert Universal Accessibility Plan consultations. A colleague recommended her because of how close she lives to the city.
“It wasn't on behalf of CNIB (specifically), but it was more on behalf of someone with sight loss. To just see what my feedback would be – what are some areas that I feel a little bit of a hindrance for individuals like myself,” she said.
Dhawan was able to suggest things like not having light posts and other items in a zigzag in front of buildings as they are easy to trip on for people experiencing sight loss. She also recommended having higher contrast between the ground and building because if there isn’t contrast, things have a tendency to blend together. Braille signage is also something that makes it easier for people with sight loss to see their world.
Simple things like tactile edges and railings are important on stairs as signifiers.
“Those are some of the things that we pick up when we're walking. And that's what allows you to know that, you know, you're still on the stairs or on a flat ground,” she said.
Technology has made life easier for Dhawan, even though she was initially hesitant about getting a smartphone. Her phone acts as a magnifier and it can tell her when someone is in front of her. If she has them saved in her phone; it can tell her who.
“It will tell you your husband is 10 feet in front of you. So, it has really cool features like that,” she said.
She has an app that can scan papers and read handwriting. There is also an app run by volunteers called Be My Eyes that she uses regularly.
“What that allows me to do is, I can have a video call with a sighted volunteer, and they can guide me if I'm looking for H&M and I just have my camera and they're looking at it from the rearview as I walk, they will keep giving me instructions which way to go,” she said.
With COVID turning everyone’s life online, it means she also has access to more resources.
“You can be in the comfort of your home, and I can have my husband sit right next to me. And if I'm watching a webinar, he can be explaining everything to me as we're watching. Things have become very, very accessible because of that, you know, just having that whole virtual presence,” she said.
At the end of the day, Dhawan has this advice.
“We're all people. You know, everybody's got feelings. I think it's always healthy for you to learn about your communities – it'll just benefit you as a person at the end of the day, being more aware,” she said.
