Getting crisis support when you cannot see the screen

Crisis support has been moving towards text, webchat and apps, and that move is usually described as making help easier to reach. For someone who uses a screen reader, or who has low vision, it often does the reverse. A chat window that was designed to be looked at can be close to unusable when it is read aloud, and the moment you most need it to work is the moment you have the least patience for fighting it.

This page is about what tends to work, what to do when a service's online route does not, and how to ask for something different in words.

The phone is often the most accessible route

Most advice about crisis support treats the phone as the hard option and text as the easy one. For a lot of blind and partially sighted people it is the other way round, and it is fine to say so.

A voice call needs no screen, no layout, no focus to keep track of and no form to get past. You dial, you are answered, you talk. If your phone already works well for you, a call may be the quickest way to a person.

Text messages sent as ordinary phone messages are usually in the same position: they use the messaging tools you already know, rather than a separate widget on a website that someone else designed.

Crisis lines for your country →

When a chat window fights you

Webchat is where most of the trouble sits. Things you may run into:

• The chat opens and takes your cursor somewhere you did not choose, so you lose your place on the page.
• Every new message makes the screen reader read the entire conversation again from the start.
• The adviser replies and nothing is announced, so you sit waiting without knowing anyone has answered.

None of this is a mistake you are making. It is the service's design failing, and you do not have to solve it while you are in distress.

If a chat is not working for you, stop trying to make it work. Switch routes instead of spending your energy on it:

• Use a voice call if one is listed for that country.
• Use a plain text message to a listed number, which sidesteps the widget.
• Ask someone you trust to sit with you, read the chat, or place the call.

Text and chat services, and what to do if you cannot call →

Being told to "just read the form"

Some services ask you to complete an online triage form, or to read something on screen, before anyone will speak to you. If that is not something you can do, you are allowed to say so, and the request is a reasonable one.

Words you can use:

• "I can't use the online form because of my sight. Can someone take these details from me by voice?"
• "I use a screen reader and this form doesn't work with it. What is the alternative way in?"
• "I need to do this out loud, not on a screen. Who can I speak to?"

Say it once, plainly, and wait for an answer. A service that cannot offer a different route on the spot should be able to tell you who can. If it cannot, that is a gap in the service, not a sign that you have not tried hard enough.

More wording you can use →

Information you cannot write down

Being given a phone number, a time or a plan out loud is hard when you cannot jot it down, and harder when you are in distress. Some ways round it:

• Ask for it to be sent in a form you can read, such as a plain text message or an email with no attachments, rather than a link or a PDF.
• Ask them to say the important thing again, slowly, and to say it last, so it is the part you carry away.
• Say it back to them and ask them to confirm it is right.

"What is the one thing I most need to remember from this?" is a fair question to put to anyone.

Making a safety plan without a printed card

A safety plan is a short written list of what to do when things get bad. Many guides assume a paper card in a wallet or handwriting on a sheet. If that does not suit you, there is no rule that it has to.

Our safety plan tool is device-based. What you enter is kept in your browser and is not sent to us, which also means it is not backed up unless you save a copy yourself. Think about where the plan will live so that you can reach it when you are low:

• Keep it somewhere you can open without searching for it.
• Consider recording the main steps as a voice note in your own words, in addition to the written version.
• Ask someone you trust to hold a copy and to read it back to you if you ask.

If other people use the same device, our shared device guidance covers what to think about before you save anything there.

If you are supporting someone who cannot see the screen

Do not assume an online route is the kind option. Ask what works for them before you offer to find a chat. Offer to read, to dial, or to stay on the line, and let them make the choices.

Supporting someone →

More on accessibility

For deaf and hard of hearing routes, and for what to do when a service only publishes a voice number, see when a crisis service isn't accessible.