What my brother has learned from having a vision impaired sister

Being vision impaired has cemented a fair few realisations for me personally but I’m always curious to know how it impacts my loved ones,  

My parents kindly honed in on their own experiences in a Q&A I did with them in an article for VICTA a few months ago, so now it’s my brother’s turn. 

My brother and I are like two peas in a pod. We’d lock horns as kids, sure, but our bickering hardly stretch beyond a couple of hours before we resumed our random chats and laughter. 

If you’ve been here for a while, you might remember my brother’s first foray into noting his thoughts about having a vision impaired sibling in the form of a piece he wrote for my blog back in 2018. 

That post seemed to garner a lot of interest and many people got in touch to share their sentiments when it comes to their own experiences. So, I’ve roped Meilyr back in today (and only for a slightly higher price than last time) to chat through some of the things he’s learned from having a vision impaired sister. 

I’m really looking forward to see how this post pans out so I hope you enjoy reading too. 

Let’s find out what Mei has to say, shall we? 

WHAT MY BROTHER HAS LEARNED FROM HAVING A VISION IMPAIRED SISTER

HOW TO BE MINDFUL OF IMPAIRMENTS AND HEALTH CONDITIONS

Having a vision impaired sister has definitely opened my eyes to experiences and perspectives I otherwise wouldn’t know of. 

From a young age, I’ve developed an understanding of Els’ impairment and I continue to learn new things as time goes by. 

Although it’s never changed the dynamic of our relationship, I’ve always tried to be mindful of her impairment and empathise wherever I can. I try to apply this empathy to the wider disabled community too and appreciate the value that can be found in people’s stories. 

The conversations we’ve had over the years have taught me a lot about inclusivity and the importance of being mindful to the things and people around us. 

YOU DON’T NEED SIGHT TO APPRECIATE NATURE

Since we live in the countryside, we’ve always found ourselves spending a lot of time outdoors and Els has never let her vision impairment prevent her from appreciating our surroundings. 

I know she finds it challenging sometimes because of not being able to see the world like everyone else, something she spoke more of in her post, The Fear of Missing Out as a Blind Person in a Visual World last year, but she’s always seeking different ways of appreciating what we have around us. 

You’ll often find her referencing sounds and smells and that has taught me that the world around us is much more than what we see in it. 

Perhaps those of us who are fully sighted can take that for granted sometimes, but growing up with a VI sibling has and continues to encourage me to look at things a little differently. 

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IT DOESN’T HAVE TO STOP YOU FROM DOING WHAT YOU WANT TO DO 

To me, Elin has demonstrated that being disabled doesn’t have to be a barrier to doing what you want to do. She has come face-to-face with many hurdles over the years in the form of the deterioration she experiences or challenges in education or entering the world of work, but Els has always been resilient in overcoming everything she’s faced.

The fact that she’s doing and achieving so many of the goals she’s set out for herself is testament to that. 

From witnessing these challenges, I have learned how to be resilient myself and realised how determination can help you through the toughest moments. 

HOW TO MAKE LIGHT OF A SITUATION

When it comes to the hurdles Els has faced, she has walked into many of them, quite literally. 

But we always try to remedy these misfortunes with a laugh and a smile and value the importance of approaching some situations in this way. 

It’s important to recognise the challenges, of course, but introducing more of a lighthearted air to some situations has always seemed to be a kind of coping mechanism for Elin and, as a family, we always join in in embracing that. 

Everything I learn from having a vision impaired sister helps me to adopt a lot of perspective. 

Although Els’ impairment has never been front and centre in our family dynamic, I’ve always been mindful of how Elin experiences the world and what I can learn from witnessing that. I know that I’ll continue to draw different lessons from it as time goes on in the form of compassion, co-operation and empathy, with a few lighthearted lessons thrown in there too. 

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And that’s it, a little insight into a few things my brother has learned from having a vision impaired sister over the years. 

I think we can agree that despite the difficulties and complexities that can come hand-in-hand with being vision impaired, we can credit it for enriching our lives with realisations and lessons we most probably wouldn’t have access to otherwise. 

I love to bring in different people’s perspectives on the topic since it’s such a nuanced and intricate experience. There’s a whole tapestry of emotions to scroll through and I’m so lucky that I’ve had the support of my brother and my parents to navigate through it. 

I think it’s important to start these conversations from all angles because, no matter who you are, your voice deserves to be heard.

Over the years my family have definitely played a huge part in helping me strengthen my own voice and, by penning posts like this, I hope it shines the light on some of their thoughts and feelings too. 

Whilst my brother and I’s experience of the world differs in a lot of ways, we’ve navigated a lot of life’s highs and lows together and I don’t think either of us take for granted how lucky we are to have been able to do that. 

If you can relate to any of Mei’s thoughts then please do chat with us in the comments or say hello over on Twitter, Facebook or Instagram. 

Our last collaborative post did well in sparking conversations that I’d never had in this little community of ours before, so I’d love for that to be the case this time around too. 

I’m sure I’ll be pleading with Mei to share more of his thoughts in the future but for now, I hope this post shone a light on sight loss from a different angle. Diolch (thank you) Mei for lending your time to put this together. It’s definitely made a change from my rambles, hasn’t it?

Elin and Meilyr x