Coronavirus: Blind people shouted at in the street for not social distancing

Blind people have been shouted at in the street for not properly social distancing by members of the public.

Partially sighted people have told Sky News that they have faced difficulties food shopping and during their daily exercise as they can’t see if they are two metres apart from others during the coronavirus outbreak.

Julia Wensley, 58, from west London, said she has been shouted at by others while going on her walks.

She said: “People will shout at you – ‘keep your distance, keep your distance’ – and I can’t see them because they need to be right near me.

“You can’t see the queue outside as it’s spread out, so they might be people just crowding round. So you’ll walk over and people will shout ‘get into the queue, get into the queue’.

“Even when you’re walking in the street, somebody says ‘you’re walking too fast, wait till we’ve got past’. I don’t know you’re there till you’re practically near me. It’s frustrating.”

Deafblind UK said some members have decided to stop leaving their homes as it proves to be too difficult.

Naomi Dainty, marketing manager at Deafblind UK, said the charity had received a 500% increase in requests for volunteers who help with food shopping, running errands and also help with their social needs.

She added: “A lot of our members have now been put in touch with local community groups to do their food shopping, which is good, and we’ve communicated how to improve things with the supermarkets. But now the issue we’re facing is a lot of people are feeling very lonely.

“They can’t go out, they can’t socialise and some have requested not to have their carers come as they don’t want people in their homes, which is fair enough. But many of our members are now extremely lonely.”

She added members also often ring to find out what is going on and what they are allowed to do as the English government daily briefings do not include sign language interpreters, unlike the Scottish briefings from Nicola Sturgeon.

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Sarah Lambert, head of social change at the Royal National Institute of Blind People, is also calling for the government to improve its communications to blind and partially sighted people.

She said information published online is often does not contain audio descriptions, which means blind people do not know what’s being demonstrated, while letters do not contain Braille transcription.

“We have had sort of good conversations with governments, and then some things haven’t changed,” she said. “There are various duties on government bodies who are putting out health information that that that that it should be an alternative format. So it’s quite disappointing that they’re not following their own guidance on that.”

The charities have written to the UK government urging them to consider visually impaired and deaf people when communicating updates to the public.

(c) Sky News 2020: Coronavirus: Blind people shouted at in the street for not social distancing