As the self-appointed scribe on the less formal side of sight loss, I've always felt that self-regard is important to the average Blindy. I've dealt with personal attitude at some length in the past but somehow failed to point out in any detail that it is in fact a two-way street. Now the ‘communication rulebook’ is being rewritten in this country, perhaps it's high time to look at other people’s attitude towards us.
I'm not talking about the day-to-day stuff; I’ve pretty well covered most of that over the years. What concerns me is the feeling that we Blindies are getting left behind in the identity stakes. Brand recognition is all-important these days and, unless we want to be stuck in the 'they're OK' corner, we need to tart up our image a bit. And to do that we need a 21st century label.
There are heaps of organisations and associations that fluff up their image with a collective term. Those more switched-on use descriptive acronyms, which I feel is where we should be headed – we just need something nifty. Look at the Association of Citizens and Taxpayers, for example – ACT. Not only are they letting us know what they're all about but they're making it clear they're ready to move whenever they get the call.
Packaging
I have looked quite closely at the image thing and, frankly, I feel the marketing guys have missed the boat a bit by virtue of guarded caution. For years they've relied on alphabet soup or the medical Latin stuff, which, rather than raising awareness, tends to obscure. BLVNZ (Blind Low Vision NZ) is OK for those actively involved in the organisation and those in government departments suffering from keyboard fatigue, but often needs explaining to ordinary folk, which sort of defeats its object.
