One of the beautiful things about social media is its ability to connect us through shared experience. As accessibility features are more widely adopted through social platforms, communities of users living with sight loss and blindness have been able to enjoy this connection more and more.
Voices are emerging to share their own experiences and help spread understanding to those who don’t live with sight loss — and also create connections to those who do. Some throw in a dose of comedy, others are more serious, and they all offer information and inspiration.
We reached out to two influential sight loss social media stars and asked, “Why is it important to you to share your experience with sight loss?” They sent their responses in videos for you to enjoy below.
Make sure to follow their accounts which are listed below to enjoy their powerful content and follow Earle Baum Center for more information like this.
1) The Blind Poet, Dave Steele
Dave Steele creates and shares his beautiful poetry through Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, and Facebook.
This was Dave’s response to our question, “Why is it important to you to share your experience with sight loss?”
Dave Steele the blind poet here. I think it’s important that we share our experiences living with blindness and low vision because people who are at the beginning of their journeys need information and need to know how it really is from people who are going through the same thing.
The poetry that I write helps people feel less alone and they use my words as a way for them to explain to their loved ones how they feel when they can’t find the words themselves. So, I talk about all my experiences; the good, the bad, the ugly; and share it all in the hope that someone else out there will be helped and supported by it through their own journeys.
Thank you, Dave, for sharing this thought with us. If you want to learn more or keep up with his poetry, click the buttons below his video to check out his channels.
2) TikTok Star, Yahya Pandor
Yahya has recently received a lot of attention for the humorous and informational TikToks he makes alongside his sighted brother, Isa. Their back-and-forth normalizes ‘the blind experience’ while showing aspects that many people who have their vision wouldn’t consider.
This was Yahya’s response to our question, “Why is it important to you to share your experience with sight loss?”
Hello to all the members of the Earle Baum Center community, my name is Yahya. I think it’s important to share my sight loss journey for two reasons. Firstly, to help those that are going through something similar to let them know you’re not alone and help and support is out there. And secondly, for the wider public so that they know blindness is not a disability that will hold us back. We are just as good as everyone else, and we can succeed in whatever we want to do. Thank you.
Thank you, Yahya, for this beautiful response. Follow him on his social channels linked through the buttons beneath the video.