Physical distancing a challenge for the blind in Saskatchewan

Keeping a proper social distance of two metres is not so simple for people who are blind or partially sighted.

Ashley Nemeth is a Saskatchewan advocate for the blind community and for the Canadian National Institute for the Blind (CNIB) guide dogs program. She described some of the challenges social distancing is posing for people who are blind or partially sighted, who can’t see the people around them to give them space when they are out in public in stores or even just walking down the street.

“You can’t see the person coming, you can’t see people around you, so sometimes you are invading someone’s personal space without even realizing it and that can be difficult,” Nemeth said.

“I know on the sidewalks people have sometimes got angry because I’m just walking down the middle, but my guide dog doesn’t understand social distancing.”

Signs and infographics advising the public of social distance measures and restrictions in grocery stores aren’t exactly helpful when you are even partially sighted and can’t see well enough to read them.

“(It requires) being understanding that not everybody can see those signs,” Nemeth said. “So it might seem like somebody is being really rude and going the wrong way down the aisle or standing where they shouldn’t be standing, but in fact maybe they just can’t see it.”

Arrows on the floors of grocery stores would also be impossible to follow.

“It’s great for the general public, but I myself can’t see them and unfortunately my guide dog has no idea what they’re for,” Nemeth said with a laugh. “I would be the one going the wrong way down the aisle.”

In Nemeth’s experience, most people are kind and accepting when they understand the situation, but she hopes employees of stores and the general public will educate themselves to be helpful and speak up rather than jumping to conclusions or judging someone. She points out not every blind or partially sighted person can be identified with a white cane or a guide dog.

While some blind people depend on a sighted guide for assistance navigating stores or public spaces while running errands or going for a walk, Nemeth said the new restrictions have severely limited those options.

In some communities across Canada, she said blind people attempting to get groceries or pick up prescriptions with the help of someone else who can see have been told they can’t enter stores in pairs because of a one-person-per-household limit. Nemeth once again calls for education and friendly conversation to allow flexibility in certain situations.

“Do you require the sighted guide? If you do, educate them on the standards that you need them to take when it comes to your precautions in the store and then go from there,” Nemeth said.

“Not everyone is going to fit into one set of precautions or one set of guidelines.”

Nemeth said she has a compromised immune system so she is lucky to have her husband to pick up groceries right now rather than risking exposure to COVID-19. Yet she knows it is not as easy for many people who are blind or partially sighted, and may live alone.

Some people are ordering deliveries online or are able to have family members drop food at their doorsteps, but those options aren’t a perfect solution. Nemeth pointed out it can be difficult to use an unfamiliar app online and, with extra demand, some stores are backed up on deliveries for a week or more.