Tips for People with Visual Disabilities

Canes

• If you use a cane, keep extras in strategic, consistent and secured locations at work, home, school, volunteer sites, etc. to help you maneuver around obstacles and hazards.

• Keep a spare cane in your emergency kit.

Alternate Mobility Cues

• If you have some vision, place security lights in each room to light paths of travel. These lights plug into electrical wall outlets and light up automatically if there is a loss of power. They will, depending on type, continue to operate for 1 to 6 hours and can be turned off manually to be used as a flashlight.

• Store high-powered flashlights (with wide beams) and extra batteries.

• If you wear soft contact lenses, plan to have an alternative available because you will not be able to operate the cleaning unit without power.

• Service animals may become confused, panicked, frightened or disoriented in and after a disaster. Keep them confined or securely leashed or harnessed. A leash (or harness) is an important item for managing a nervous or upset animal. Be prepared to use alternative methods to negotiate your environment.

• Plan on losing the auditory clues you normally rely on following a major disaster.

Label Supplies

• If helpful, mark emergency supplies with large print, fluorescent tape or Braille.

Secure Computers

• Anchor special equipment such as computers. Create a back-up system for important data and store it off site.

Advocacy Issues

• Advocate that TV news not only post important phone numbers but also announce them slowly and repeat them frequently for people who cannot read the screen.

Developed by Independent Living Resource Center San Francisco in cooperation with June Kailes, Disability Consultant, through a grant from The American Red Cross Northern California Disaster Preparedness Network.