Children with visual impairments face unique challenges that can significantly impact their lives. While individuals may learn to cope with some challenges as they grow older, it is important to address the specific difficulties experienced by visually impaired children. These challenges can have long-lasting effects on their development and well-being.
This article aims to initiate a discussion and raise awareness about the challenges faced by visually impaired children. It is particularly crucial because many children with disabilities struggle to advocate for themselves, and their voices often go unheard. By shedding light on these issues, we hope to encourage support and understanding for visually impaired children, ensuring they receive the assistance and attention they need.
1. People Asking Stupid and Hurtful Questions
One of the significant challenges faced by individuals with disabilities, including visual impairments, is dealing with inappropriate and hurtful questions from others. People often ask such questions out of curiosity, without realizing the impact they can have. However, it is crucial to spare children from such inquiries, regardless of the curiosity involved.
We must recognize that children with visual impairments themselves have numerous questions and concerns as they realize they are different from their peers. It is unfair to subject them to insensitive queries like “Do you see black and white or colorful dreams?” or “Can you recognize people by their voices alone?” The list of inappropriate questions is extensive, and it is important to refrain from asking any of them. Instead, let’s see them as children first and foremost, focusing on treating them with kindness and understanding.
However, there may be situations where adults do not ask these questions directly but fail to prevent their own children from doing so. While it is natural for children to be curious and ask questions to learn about the world, it is also essential for them to develop social skills and learn proper manners. It is our responsibility to teach children to respect differences and to understand that asking intrusive questions can be hurtful to others.
- Bullying by Other Children
Children with visual impairments frequently experience bullying from their peers. While this issue may appear confined to children, it is not. The children who engage in bullying behavior due to someone’s disability often lack an understanding of respecting differences. It becomes the responsibility of adults, including parents and teachers, to instill in children the value of embracing diversity.
It is essential to educate children from a young age about disabilities and individuals with disabilities. They need to learn that having a disability does not make a person inferior or superior, but simply different. By fostering this awareness, we can help children develop empathy, compassion, and acceptance towards others, regardless of their abilities.
By teaching children to appreciate and celebrate differences, we contribute to creating a more inclusive and compassionate society where individuals with disabilities are treated with respect and understanding.
- Over Protective Behavior of Parents
This issue, often overlooked, pertains to parental involvement and is one of the common challenges faced by children with visual impairments. Naturally, parents have genuine concerns for their child’s safety and well-being. However, excessive protectiveness can have its drawbacks. It can hinder a child’s development of self-confidence and independence. If children are constantly shielded from handling even their basic needs, they may become reliant on their parents for everything.
Some children, including those with visual impairments, have an inherent desire to be self-sufficient. The over-protective behavior of parents can frustrate their natural inclination. Despite the perceived risks, children with visual impairments need the opportunity to explore their capabilities. It is important to let them try, experience failures, and try again. These children possess far more abilities than their parents or society may assume.
- Difficult Emotional Moments
Children with visual impairments are acutely aware of their differences from others, and unfortunately, they often encounter individuals who make them feel inferior due to their lack of sight. These encounters can trigger challenging emotional moments for them. What’s more, these children typically hesitate to confide in even their parents about their feelings. They may even experience guilt for perceiving themselves as burdens or causing trouble for their parents.
Most of the time, these emotional struggles are sparked by external factors, such as the behavior of others. The points mentioned above contribute to this situation, and it can profoundly impact the child with visual impairment throughout their life, shaping their personality and self-perception.
Blind people are just like everyone else. The Education and jobs of visually impaired individuals are directly proportional to the expectations that people around them have of them, and the degree of positive attitudes they encounter. The more capable and able you believe they are, the more they will shine. Self-esteem, self-belief, and self-image are partially formed through social interactions, and it is important that people encounter empowering experiences. Be that experience!
