Things in my house as someone who’s visually impaired

When I bought my first house, I knew I wanted it to be cosy, colourful and accessible. Without realising, I had made certain decisions that meant it was more accessible for me. I have made adaptations that are due to having cerebral palsy, but in this blog I will focus on things that are related to my visual impairment.

Use of colour

I love bright colours and patterns. Especially mustard yellow and burn orange. I find those colours so cosy. Due to my level of sight, I can still see colours and shapes. Maybe this is part of the reason why I’m drawn to brighter colours.

When deciding on paint colours, I’ve used different colours in different rooms. I especially love the green I have for the feature wall of my bedroom. Instead of patterned wallpaper, I’ve used block colour feature walls. This is partly due to my love of patterned items, and not wanting it to clash. Yet it’s also is more accessible from a visual point of view.

Here are the colours that I’ve chosen. I don’t know about you, but I enjoy knowing this kind of thing.

• Living room: Warm pewter
• Bedroom: Everglade forest
• Spare room: Mexican mosaic 2

Different textures

How something feels is important to me. I’ve only been visually impaired for the last 6 years, but my decisions on furniture and fabrics have definitely been down to the texture.

For example, I have a sideboard, bookcase and TV unit that are white, but the doors have a wave-like feel. I think this made the items of furniture more unique and the added texture is really cool!

Also, I have some mustard and grey curtains in my living room. They’re really soft and the texture is made up of different threads. As an ex-textiles student, I loved this. It took me so long to find the fabric, but it was worth it.

Other textures include:

• soft blankets (can you ever have too many?)
• plants with different types of leaves
• brushed velvet-like chair in the spare room

When writing this list, I realised a lot of the fabrics and textures are soft. I suppose that aligns with me wanting it cosy. Similarly, having different scents around the house is really nice. Who doesn’t love a good candle?!

Lighting

I feel like lighting is always a tricky one. My eyes are sensitive to light, but they also need a certain level of light to see something. I often find that bright artificial light is painful for prolonged periods of time. Lighting needs to be ‘just right’ for my fussy eyes. I have aimed to achieve this by having:

• lamps so the main lights are not needed
• spotlights in the kitchen where I need it most (like near the kettle when making hot drinks)
• motion activated lights on the stairs (great when you need the toilet in the middle of the night!)

Technology and aids

Since being visually impaired, I have relied more on technology as a way to access information. It seems to have been a gradual transition, but has really helped. This includes a:

• phone that can be used as a magnifier or read out text
• Amazon echo dot to control lights and music
• digital magnifier in the kitchen so I can read packaging
• screen reader on my work computer
• liquid level indicator
• tactile marker on the oven and washing machine

Some of these things, like an Amazon echo, aren’t specific to access needs. Yet they can certainly have accessibility benefits. I know Amazon have worked with RNIB to make Alexa useable for blind and partially sighted people. Given that it’s voice activated and audio based, it’s perfect!

RNIB teaches Alexa to give sight loss information (RNIB)

If you’re visually impaired, is there anything in your house that can make things easier? Do you lean towards things with a specific texture? Let me know in the comments!

~Chloe x