8. I’m just going for a wee! (or Sorry, who are you?... Part 3)

As promised from last week, as well as introducing yourself so someone with a vision impairment knows who you are, there are then things to consider once you’re chatting…

• As Dave often says on our training, you need to give audible responses (so just nodding or shaking your head in response to a question is not good enough!)
  
• If you’re in a group, remember that the person with a vision impairment can only be fully included if you describe things audibly rather than relying on gestures or facial expressions (although in relation to the latter it can be quite good fun trying to describe these and makes the point too!)
  
• Make sure you tell the person if you’re leaving them as otherwise they may continue talking to you – obvious when you think about it but you’ll be amazed how many people don’t. This has caused comment in the office, as I will always tell Dave when I’m going somewhere and why (to give an indication of how long I’ll be). We’ve got so used to this we don’t even think about it, but the other day when I got up and said ‘Dave, I’m just going for a wee’ one of our colleagues said ‘Blimey, do you have to ask for permission for that?’ We recognise he meant it as a joke, but we did explain that, no, I’m not asking for permission but am saying I’m leaving and also approximately how long I’m going to be :-0
  
• Top Tip: It’s also quite good to let the person know you’re back - after all you might prefer not to hear what they say about you when they think you’re not there :-)

As we’ve said before (and will no doubt say again), it’s really just common courtesy with a bit of additional awareness thrown in!
 
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