Blind Woman Shares Shocking Truth About Pregnancy Tests

A blind woman has shared the shocking truth about pregnancy tests, and told Newsweek about the issues raised by having to seek help to learn the outcomes.

Finding out that you’re pregnant is a very personal experience, arguably one of the most intimate moments in a woman’s life. However, this is unfortunately not the case for blind women, who are unable to read the test results for themselves.

Most of the pregnancy tests currently available on the market only provide visual results, either displaying text or lines on a screen.

A blind woman from the U.K. shared her frustration about this in a TikTok video, posted in July under the username @jo_rose29.

“Pregnant tests are not accessible for women who are blind/visually impaired,” reads layover text on the viral clip, as she adds that these conditions are not ideal and that blind women too deserve their privacy in such delicate moment.

The poster, Joanne Hewitson, who was born with a retinal condition that made her partially sighted until it deteriorated to blindness, told Newsweek that every time she’s taken a pregnancy test, she’s had to ask her sister to read the results for her.

“I have very close family and friends I could rely on, but having said so, I think it very much depends on the situation that you’re in. Just imagine a 17-year-old girl, taking a test after a one-night stand. Or a woman in an abusive relationship. It shouldn’t take that, she’s entitled to her privacy too,” she said.

The latest data from the National Health Interview Survey shared in 2022, found that around 50.18 million American adults over the age of 18 reported experiencing some degree of vision loss, with 3.89 million of them having “a lot of trouble seeing even when wearing glasses,” and 340,000 unable to see at all.

Of all the American adults with vision impairment, over 56.8 percent, or 28.51 million are female and 43.2 percent, or 21.67 are male.

If you thought older people were more affected by this problem, you were wrong. In fact, over 33.69 million American adults aged between 18 and 64 suffer from vision impairment, while for adults over 65 years the number drops to 13.16 million.

At the moment, blind women have no other option but to ask someone to read their pregnancy test results for them, or using an app which reads the test for them, but that according to Hewitson, is often inaccurate.

“I think [pregnancy test] brands should accept accountability and responsibility because it is 2024 and it shouldn’t be this way. There are a lot of guidelines out there on accessibility, and I think [if they] had considered accessibility when they produced them in the first place, we wouldn’t be coming across this issue,” Hewitson added.

In 2020, a British charity for blind people commissioned a prototype of a tactile pregnancy test that when used would prompt some bumps to appear on the underside of the device, with another set of silicone bumps appearing on the top, if positive.

However, this prototype of pregnancy test designed specifically for visually impaired women, is yet to be produced by any manufacturers and introduced to the market.

Hewitson’s video quickly went viral on social media, getting viewers from across TikTok. It has so far received over 1.7 million views and 301,000 likes on the platform.

One user, Elle.needs.coffee, commented: “This is a privilege I never considered I ever had. This needs to happen. I hope when they are made that they’re accessible in price too.”

Gary said: “I feel like with a digital test it wouldn’t be too hard for them to add a 1 beep for not pregnant, 2 beep for pregnant. i mean it has a loading bar.”

Tree-hugger wrote: “My sister has slight loss. I’m still so sad that I found out I would be an aunt before she know she would be a mum. There needs to be accessible tests.”

JacquiCon added: “My digital thermometer beeps faster if you have a fever. Surely they could have pregnancy tests that do the same.”

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