Blind Beta Reader

Hi! I wanted to make a pinned post with links to notable posts on my blog. I know my blog may be hard to scroll through because some posts are pretty long.

Introduction:

Call me Bee. I’m a blind/low vision person who uses they/them pronouns. I am over 18. My love for reading, writing, and editing drew me to create a blog like this, along with a desire to see more blind characters in accessible stories. This lead to me becoming a sensitivity reader for blind characters.

I like reading fantasy, romance, books with lgbt+ characters, and action stories. I also love literary stories. I will also read fanfiction, scripts, image descriptions, etc.

I provide sensitivity reading in exchange for donations. If you’re interested, here are my current rates. I charge rates to reflect the work that goes into sensitivity reading.

Before requesting a reading, check my availability.

I also answer questions for free!

Here is my main blog, my WordPress blog.

Here is my Instagram.

Here is my Throne account.

Here is my YouTube channel.

Tagging Information.

You can find a post I made here and input from followers.

Before You Ask:

These posts may be helpful for some of the more common questions, or may help you plan out your story so that you don’t have to fix it later on. Reading these posts may also help you develop richer, more detailed questions.

1. Things To Include or Avoid

Things I Want to See More of/Less of in Blind Characters

A post I wrote about myths that harm blind people (which you will want to avoid in your writing)

[Not by BlindBeta] - An article on misconceptions about blind people

A post about if blind people face who is talking, move their eyes, or try to make eye contact

A post on giving blind characters canes, guide animals, or other mobility aids, as well as how to choose one

Here is a thread that might help readers get an idea of what ableism is like. It includes a post why hiring blind actors is important, two responses that having ableist ideas including viewing blind people as burdens in employment, and a few responses from blind people, including myself. Here is the post.

Here is a post on ableist assumptions when asking questions and making jokes and how to avoid this. Here is the post.

A resource post for everyday ableism

A thread on Helen Keller, Anne Sullivan, and my addition, plus a video link to more information. This deals with erasure and distortion of history. Here is the link.

Writing Blind Characters Accepting Being Blind — When You Aren’t Blind Yourself. A post on why I don’t want to see this type of story, especially because this is also often a result of the trope about going blind through accidents / incidents / trauma. You can read it here.

An ask about characters who were already blind going through eye trauma and possibly losing their eyes - making the accidents / incidents / trauma narrative better

Trope Discussion- The Blind Prophet / Blind Seer - A post where I discuss this trope and problems I usually find with it, as well as how to avoid these problems if you want to use this trope.

Trope Discussion- Blind Characters Covering Their Eyes

Trope Discussion - Tokenism/Having Only One Blind Character

Trope Discussion - Blind Characters Feeling Faces

An ask that includes using a cane as a weapon.

A review of Blind by Rachel DeWoskin and why sensitivity readers are important

Common problems I come across when betaing.

A post on the spectrum of blindness

[Not by BlindBeta] A post by @askablindperson with practical advice on how to respectfully and efficiently help blind people. Helpful for real life situations and for writing characters. Read it here.

2. Accessibility

A relevant blog that be helpful is @accessibleaesthetics

Here is my long post about making your specific content accessible for blind people (a general overview with different types of content)

An ask about writing tags, including information about whether to include hashtags, lowercase letter, capital letters, emojis, and emotions.

And a post containing information about one way to add audio description to YouTube videos

And an ask with tips for making descriptions

An ask about where to put image descriptions

A helpful ask about adding ALT text to tumblr GIFs and pictures!

It also contains ideas about when to use ALT text or an image description.

An ask about adding image descriptions to many images (incorrect quotes, specifically at once), with demonstration by @mimzy-writing-online

An ask about sci-fi names and screen-readers, plus an excellent reblog with tips by @mightyoctopus.

A thorough master-post about different types of writing image descriptions on tumblr!

A list of symbols screenreaders will read.

An ask about much detail to include in image descriptions plus a helpful reblog post. Spoiler: include detail according to the focus of the post. Include most relevant details first.

[Not by BlindBeta] A helpful post on image descriptions titled ‘More Detail Isn’t Always Better’. Read here to learn more about how relevancy matters when deciding how much detail to include.

[Not by BlindBeta] Another post on making your art accessible

[Not by BlindBeta] Another excellent post about the importance of relevancy when considering what to include in image descriptions. This time, it details why more detail is sometimes better. It all depends on what is being described.

For writing multiple blind characters:

Here is my post on stories with only one blind character.

Here is a post wherein I guide a writer in creating multiple blind characters using an alternative universe I made up where most of the main characters in The Owl House show are reimagined as blind.

Here is a question about writing multiple blind characters in short stories. In this post, I challenge the idea that writing multiple blind characters is unrealistic.

Here is a post about O&M and a reblog from someone else emphasizing the importance of giving blind characters a community.

For comics, games, and drawing blind characters:

Read here about ideas for making games and visual novel games accessible through audio description and large print.

Read about image descriptions, alt-text, and audio transcripts for comics plus more relevant links.

A question about where to describe characters in image descriptions for comics

Read here about under what circumstances blind characters should be drawn with noticeably different eyes and alternative ways to explore blindness through art.

Read here for more tips for drawing blind characters.

3. Blind/Low Vision Person Reviews Blind Characters Series

Toph Beifong in The Blind Bandit episode of Avatar: The Last Airbender

Blind by Rachel DeWoskin

Garret in Quest For Camelot movie (1998)

4. Other Asks That May Be Helpful

Here is an ask about guide animals and creating your own fantasy guide animal

It contains information about guide dogs, guide horses, emotional support animals, links about choosing between a cane and guide dog, and some qualities a guide animal should have. Note that I am not a guide user myself. This is simply a starting place.

A post on echolocation.

An ask about writing in Braille.

[Not by BlindBeta] Here is an article from the above link about how Braille works.

[Not by BlindBeta] And another link taken from my post on writing in Braille with more information on tools used to write Braille.

[Not by BlindBeta] And here is a post on Braille literacy and why Braille is not obsolete now that there are audiobooks

My thoughts on giving blind characters powers.

This is specifically about sense-based powers and echolocation.

Some thoughts of blind characters going blind through accidents.

Another post that covers possible accident- / incident- related blindness and avoiding tokenism. It may not all be applicable to the asker’s story, but I tried to cover everything I could think of to help, just in case.

A more in-depth explanation of what I mean by “going blind through trauma”, aka more of the trauma- / accident- / incident-based blindness. Link here.

An ask about portraying eye conditions before they had names.

An ask about things to keep in mind when writing about blind spots or central vision loss.

An ask about naming assistive technology/ devices before they were invented.

An ask on writing disabled characters with ableist myths/legends. And a follow-up.

An ask on blind characters and clothes

An ask about assistive devices: telescopes.

An ask that touches on having clairvoyant blind characters. (Spoiler, this is a trope and avoiding tokenism is especially important here.)

An ask on going blind from light magic, temporary cure, and describing blind eyes as unfocused. Read here.

A post that discusses temporary cures and why the cure trope is a problem.

A post with a brief history of Braille and raised print. Plus a helpful reblog on characters knowing Braille vs print letters by @askablindperson

Tips for Roleplaying Blind Characters

An ask on blind characters in video games and D&D and my advice on both accessibility and a reminder that blind characters have strengths too. Read it here.

An ask on writing abled characters who are afraid of losing vision without being ableist

An ask about making houses accessible for blind characters

An ask about writing blind characters in fights and possibly losing sight after injuries

Read about Legal Blindness here with links to legally blind YouTubers.

A post with some ideas for options when writing or drawing blind characters who also use support canes. I don’t use a support cane myself and so these are ideas based on research with links included.

A post by @cripplecharacters for going up and down stairs while using canes. Read it here. I also wanted to include links to videos. Here is Lucy Edward’s video. Here is video by Can See Can’t See about finding stairs outside, in which she descends concrete stairs.

5. Posts About Toph From A:TLA

A collection of posts about writing Toph Beifong that might help writers.

My review of The Blind Bandit.

A post about a popular fanfic trope and myths about blind people’s eyes. Also my own personal issues with some ableism in the Avatar fandom. Read the post here.

A post on why avoiding tokenism is important even when you have a well-liked blind character.

6. Other Helpful Blogs

I wanted to provide some other sources. While I am happy to take questions, I am not the only blind person here. Community is important and in the interest of supporting that community and reiterating that to non-blind followers, I wanted to include other blind blogs/disability blogs. Feel free to send questions to any number of us. We may even reblog each other’s posts to add ideas and different experiences. This will offer richer, more nuanced knowledge for you to draw from. If you wish, you can send me a private message and I can also contact other blogs for you with your questions.

Here is a blog that takes questions for disabilities and similar topics in general: @cripplecharacters

Here is a blog by a blind writer who also takes questions about writing blind characters: @mimzy-writing-online

And here is another blog by a blind person who answers questions: @ps-im-blind

And another helpful blog on accessibility and blindness issues: @askablindperson

Also, while I am currently the only blog specific to sensitivity reading for blind characters, here is a blog that can help you find sensitivity readers for your characters who have multiple marginalized identities. Feel free to check out the other blind sensitivity readers by searching “Blind” in the search bar. I think it is good to have a few readers, if they are available to you.

Here is the blog: @sensitivityreaders

How Should You Contact Me?

Asks (anonymous or otherwise) are fine. I also respond to private asks.

Private Messages are fine as well.

More Information About Sensitivity Reading Services:

After you have read the linked posts, you can clear up any residual confusion and obtain needed clarification with me via message or ask.

Send me a message with your request. Please include:

1. The word or page count of your project

2. A bit about the project itself, such as if it’s a book or a script, what it’s about, etc

3. If the blind character is a main or supporting character and if you want a full or partial read

4. Any concerns you may have or specific sections you want me to pay special attention to.

5. Any deadlines you may have.

From there, we will work out rates, proof of donation, and the logistics of the reading itself, such as providing my suggestions.

Do I Have a Ko-Fi or Other Way to Give Personal Donations?

As of now, no I do not. However, instead you can:

- Send a nice ask

- Make a small donation to the links on my Rates page

-Contribute to my Throne account iced coffee fund

- Share any of my posts

If there is anything I can do to make this blog more accessible for others, let me know. Feel free to send any questions you may have. Thank you for reading and sharing my posts!

Your new Oshi! Indie VTuber BieberryBee ! Subscribe to me here.

Art by Mugorame on Etsy

Inspired by this post, where I used The Owl House as an example of how to write multiple blind characters in the same story. This is a topic on which I have received several questions and one where I receive the most pushback when I suggest it when betaing. I know K-Pop Demon Hunters is popular, so I am using that to spread awareness to those who might not otherwise know. Additionally, this film has taken over my life, so why not make a blindness AU out of it?

Big thanks to @cowboysinspace for the extra insight into Korean culture. You helped me figure out the nuances of navigating guide dogs in Korea. Thanks to @sharonz-arty-corner03 for working hard on the future artwork for this A.U., as well as for exploring cane types for the girls and such giving in-character suggestions. The cane tip head-canons are mostly yours. I just expanded on some of them. And lastly, thanks to my best friend who is also blind and helped come up with this A.U. when I brought it up. We both agreed Rumi would have light perception so she can see her demon marks.

Hope you enjoy the A.U. I hope seeing the nuances of how each character experiences blindness can allow writers to imagine having more than one blind character in a story without feeling “forced”.

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Rumi

-Rumi is blind with light and shadow perception. She was born blind, with her residual vision declining more in early childhood. She can still see the light of the Honmoon, which served as an inspiration for her during training and during her career. Light perception also enables her to see her own patterns, the patterns of other demons, and the weapons used by Huntrx.

-She developed a love for glitter and shiny accessories, which allowed her to feel pretty and engage in fashion in an accessible way.

-Training was not a concern for her, workaholic that she is. Following in her mother and Celine’s footsteps, she perfected her singing and learned to play multiple instruments. While dancing and modeling posed challenges, she found dance to be a way to safely release her energy. Celine and a line-up of private instructors helped make it easier to learn choreography.

-As for fighting, Celine taught her how to use weapons safely, how to maintain spatial awareness, and how to attack demons using mannequins with glowing demonic patterns. Later, Zoe and Mira joined Huntrix and trained beside her using modified techniques. Their glowing weapons and unique connection with Rumi allows her to track them during battle.

-Rumi was probably homeschooled due to time devoted to her Kpop training and fighting training, fear of bullying in mainstream education, and general lack of accessibility in the outside world. Celine also probably demonstrated overprotective attitudes toward Rumi, which probably included fearing that her patterns would be exposed by other children. Little Rumi was also probably the type to run into glass doors. Oops.

-Rumi used large print as a child before her sight worsened. She transitioned to Braille, including Braille music, and retains those skills. However, with South Korea’s push to move away from paper and analog products, Rumi mostly uses typing, audio, and voice recording. She records ideas for songs on her phone the same way Ejae, Rumi’s singing voice, described in interviews

-As for cane skills and other blindness techniques, Rumi was expected to rely on the vision she did have until safety concerns made it impossible to avoid them. Rumi developed cane skills with an instructor who had her practice navigation and social skills by buying snacks at food stalls and convenience stores.

-Celine tried to shield Rumi from the media. Media outlets assumed Rumi would train to be a licensed massage practitioner, as that is a common career path that is accessible to blind people.

-Eventually, Rumi bought a new cane that was sparkly. She’s a no-jab cane girlie. She uses a ridged cane if she needs to navigate in battle and most demons probably don’t notice it or think it is a staff.

-Huntrx does special yearly performances for Disabled People’s Day

Mira

-totally blind baddie

-attended a blind school, either Seoul National School For the Blind or Hanbit School For the Blind with a focus on academic achievement and classical music

-Classical music and modeling were encouraged by her parents in childhood, but as Mira grew up, she rebelled and started other hobbies, such as blind sports

-parents initially gave her body guards who taught her basic self defense

-parents are supportive, but thought her blindness would make her more docile and easy to control, although her parents also hid her away due to rick of unfavorable societal attitudes

-she played blind sports as a child on her school teams, which encouraged her energy and competitiveness

-she and Zoe get into arguments about blindness, what is and is not offensive, that kind of thing, before making up

-Mira will beat up anyone who makes Zoe cry, including paparazzi who bother Zoe’s photophobia

-learned to cook in a safe, accessible way and got Huntrix to take accessible cooking classes while they were trainees

-sports and classical training helped during training for Huntrix

-enjoys wearing jewelry that makes noise as she moves

-similarly, her cane tips and two-point-touch method with metal glide or porcelain tips that give her good tactile information and provide nice auditory feedback

-as a graduation gift, her parents gave her money for plastic surgery, which she probably spent on an expensive Braille display and new piercings

-initially worked with fashion and make-up brands which she tried to convince / bully to become more accessible, and ultimately lead to her creating her own successful accessible brands

Zoe

-blind with some residual vision

-is the enthusiastic visual describer for when Huntrix watches shows

-similarly, becomes the designated direction giver due to her residual vision

-Zoe has a guide dog from the Samsung Guide Dog School in South Korea

-uses large print and Zoom technology

-mainstreamed in terms of school in California, ostracized due to blindness

-parents were supportive and encouraged her cane use and interests. She enjoyed O&M training because it allowed her to leave school for a bit and go out.

-Zoe wanted to blend in, considering her grade-school experience, but also yearned to be herself, so had a less certain relationship with her cane. She felt a guide dog would give her independence, companionship, and talking-points in social situations

-likes lots of lights, color, and patterns in her room/space

-does scrapbooking and decoration with a mix of random patterns

-her cane is decorated with lots of keychains, so she has to switch them out regularly because too many creates imbalance

-she collects canes in different colors and selects a new one depending on her mood

-she probably became a social media influencer for fashion and blindness in California, since that was becoming popular and allowed her to create connections which eventually helped her increase her fame when joining Huntrx

-enjoys educating others about blindness, but sometimes gets overwhelmed and has to step away from education for a while

-introduced the public to her guide dog through social media, getting people used to big dogs after receiving a fearful reaction to such a large dog in Korea at a signing

-deals with some heightened senses and so often wears earbuds

-originally forced herself to deal with cameras until Mira dragged her away, which encouraged her to create better boundaries, thus increasing the value of the limited pictures of her

-in terms of accommodations during concerts, stage lights are adapted for her and Rumi

-fighting training was hard because of lack of depth perception as well as relying on residual vision

-has a rocky relationship with her blindness, but it is much better now, especially with her guide dog being a more positive experience

-in terms of cane tips, thought a marshmallow tip sounded cute as a kid and couldn’t resist asking for one, so that became her main cane tip

Conclusion

A few ideas:

Braille and large print signs, maybe even tactile print someone who reads print could touch

Good lighting

Lighting under stairs/steps or high contrast steps if they exist at all

Elevators that talk, have tactile buttons rather than touch screen, and Braille labels

Tactile maps of the campus

Detailed maps and explanations of the communal bathroom situation, such as where are the sinks in relation to the stalls, how do the sinks work, where is the soap and how is it dispensed, how and where do you try your hands?

Buttons that open doors, maybe even doors that slide open and shut from the side instead of out or in

Hand rails on the walls similar to ones in hospitals, perhaps with lights under them?

What about blind characters inflicting the eye trauma?

Going for the eyes, as well as other generally vulnerable areas, is common advice for self defense, and shows up a lot in action sequences between sighted people. So I’m wondering how you would feel about a blind person, by any definition of blind, intentionally inflicting eye trauma on their opponent as a practical means of incapacitating them or just injuring them in general.

To be clear, I don’t mean that the blind person would be attacking anyone’s eyes out of some internalized ableism, as a misguided attempt for symbolism, or as a way to make it about their own trauma should they have any. It would have nothing to do with their own blindness and wouldn’t be outside the bounds of what the character would otherwise find moral to do in terms of violence. Just solely out of practicality in a high stakes situation, paired with other means of attack or defense. Also important to clarify, I’m not asking for judgement on any real-life scenario, just a purely fictional, controlled by the author fight sequence.

I don’t have much of a reason to ask this, and I apologize if any of this is insensitive. I just got caught between the idea of this scenario as okay, because it wouldn’t be holding the blind character to a different moral standard as the many sighted characters who use this strategy for physical defense and offense, and as it being not okay, on account of general tastelessness.

Link here

The new full trailer for Netflix’s Avatar season 2 is out. In it, we see more of Toph, both sitting at home with Aang and fighting in other settings. Her eyes have a noticeable fuzzy, cloudy quality to them. The audio description even describes her as a “milky-eyed girl”.

Accommodating a Blind Person on a Date

This is a good question. It is probably a good idea to be honest about wanting the blind person to feel comfortable, so asking about what they like to do and what is accessible for them are good places to start. It doesn’t even have to be specifically about blindness either. You might ask a date’s favorite activities or dietary needs as well, so this doesn’t have to be different.

Don’t assume. A date once asked me to the movie theatre and later said they hadn’t wanted to assume I couldn’t go to the movies.

Both characters in the scene are blind and one is checking the other for s/h marks. It's meant to be portrayed as invasive and prying.

Blindness in Not If I See You First By Eric Lindstorm

This was a fun read. I think the author did a great job of making the main character, Parker, feel fully developed. She had a life and goals outside of her blindness, but you can see how clearly blindness and ableism have impacted her. She is deeply mistrustful, unintentionally holding herself at a distance. The book explores the intricacies of being guarded to protect yourself vs letting people in. The difficulty of relationships when both people involved aren’t communicating well.

Parker is athletic and runs the same path in her neighborhood every morning. She goes to the field and sprints there. Running in her neighborhood is dangerous, mainly due to cars or obstacles on the sidewalks. She is lucky enough to live in an area with sidewalks at all.

She also counts steps repeatedly throughout the book. That can be a way to measure a rough distance, but it can also be really unreliable.

The safety concern is called out in the book. It is seen as reckless behavior on Parker’s part. A better option might be to use her cane to walk to the field and sprint there. Unless she was able to get a guide dog that was trained to run.

However, what is dangerous for a blind person can vary. Having sighted people call it out can sometimes feel patronizing or limiting, even if they are technically correct.

Blindfolds

One immediate aspect I wanted to discuss was the fact that Parker wears blindfolds. I immediately bristled at this when she described it, although the Braille tags sewn into each blindfold made them feel more like a fashion statement. Parker has several blindfolds and chooses a different one depending on her mood. She describes them as a fashion statement no one else can enjoy.

Fair enough.

I have a complicated relationship with the blindfolds in this book. I get the fashion thing and it is helped by the fact that she has many in different patterns and colors. However, towards the end of the book, Parker takes off her blindfold and shows another character her eyes, which she never does. She describes her eyes as “dead, sightless, useless”. Yikes. This implies she covers her eyes out of shame instead of fashion. The only possible redeeming reason for wearing blindfolds is contradicted.

Needless to say, I hated the blindfolds.

Trauma Trope and Only Blind Character

Parker went blind in a car crash, her optic nerves severed. She is also the only blind character in the story, although other people are knowledgeable about blindness, including Parker, her ex boyfriend, and the track coach. Parker also doesn’t display much internalized ableism outside of the very ending.

Going blind through trauma and being a token blind character are tropes I suggest avoiding or at least offsetting with other blind characters. However, I much prefered this depiction of blindness over the one in the novel Blind. Review here. Blind was about going blind through trauma and spending the rest of the book crying and having internalized ableism about it. Not If I See You First, in contrast, was about Parker later in high school as she fails to cope with her father’s death, past betrayal from her ex, drama with friends, and trying to avoid joining the track team even though she absolutely decimates everyone there. Parker’s trauma comes from grief and from feeling betrayed.

While it baffles me that Parker knows absolutely zero other blind people, the way her blindness was portrayed as just a part of her experience was good.

School Life and Accommodations

Parker is the only blind person at her school. This is a common experience for blind people who are mainstreamed. I have experienced being the only blind person at my school and Parker’s classmates are a lot cooler about it than mine were, at least outside of my circle of close friends. I haven’t been in school for quite a while, though.

Parker is given a “buddy” to help in her classes. This is another student who shares the same courses as her. I found this to seem kind of patronizing, but having another student help her might also feel more normalizing than having an adult aid. Although the pessimistic part of me wonders if the school simply off loaded a job onto a student because they didn’t want to pay or bother hiring someone.

Molly, the girl helping in her classes, was actually one of my favorite characters.

Aside from a student aid, Parker doesn’t seem to have other accommodations. Which admittedly isn’t the most thrilling thing to explore in a book.

Disabled Snarker Trope

Parker technically falls under the disabled snarker trope. Her dialogue and narration is snark on top of snark. Personally, I love this trope and relate heavily to it. Often, blind people have to joke to make others around them feel more comfortable or to see them as fully realized people. Snark can also be a defensive measure against being taken advantage of or bullied. This might be where the stereotype of the rude blind person originates. Unfortunately, blind often need to use snark and sarcasm for their own agency. The same is true of Parker.

I don’t see this trope as a bad one. It is maybe something to keep in mind when writing and to contrast with other blind characters with different personality types.

Acknowledged Blind Spectrum

Parker is totally blind. Another sort of stereotype that isn’t bad on its own, just overrepresented in media.

In a way, the blindfold Parker wears leads others to assume she can see light and is sensitive to it. That helps a bit. Additionally, a coach who wants her to join the track team asks where she is on the blind spectrum and seems knowledgeable about blindness. The coach mentions blind sports, including track, and what accommodations can be made to enable the blind person to thrive in sports.

Mannerisms

At one point, Parker states the she “flapped my hand a little, my equivalent of rolling my eyes.” While waving a hand can be a dismissive gesture, I was deeply confused about why she couldn’t just roll her eyes. Even if she doesn’t have control over her eyes in that way, I don’t understand how flapping hands can be someone’s way of rolling their eyes. I had to stop reading and process that.

Braille and Audio Use

Parker can read Braille, which was refreshing, but she mostly uses screen-readers. One confusing part was that she said she can’t listen to both music and books simultaneously. This confused me because I have a friend who constantly listens to music through speakers while using a screen-reader on a laptop or phone. I have also listened to music through headphones while my screenreader read to me, although obviously the music volume was turned low when I used the screenreader. Maybe Parker simply didn’t have enough speakers.

Parker also narrates about reading slowly because she uses audio and screenreaders. My experience is the exact opposite. Another review I found said the same.

Final Thoughts