See the Person: Make the Audience’s Assumption Part of the Story

Read the campaign story

The question is not only what the viewer sees, but what they assume. RNIB’s October 2022 See the Person campaign, created with The&Partnership, used a fictional character’s story in a film directed by Jesse Lewis-Reece through You Are Here. RNIB later described BeforeYouAsk as a further phase, with participants answering recurring questions through videos and an interactive format. These connected expressions belong to one campaign family.

Editorial interpretation: a long narrative and a short answer can do different jobs. The narrative gives the audience a person to follow; the answer identifies a particular assumption that needs reconsideration. Neither format should turn someone into a specimen whose only purpose is to educate an outsider. The stronger creative relationship is reciprocal: the campaign offers a route to understanding while respecting the represented person’s right to decide what they share. This changes the task from collecting striking revelations to choosing questions that are useful, fair and genuinely connected to the campaign’s purpose.

The primary accounts establish the campaign structure and contributors. Their audience and attitude figures are self-reported and are not adopted as independent causal evidence. No actor’s medical history, private participant experience or clinical claim is reproduced. The fictional launch character is not treated as a universal account of sight loss. This analysis concerns how a campaign handles assumptions; it does not simulate disability, test actual accessibility or imply that any individual owes strangers an explanation. The exercise below uses an unrelated adult arts setting.

Write down the assumption before choosing the question

For a fictional adult ceramics club, a newcomer may assume that every session requires owning a kiln or arriving with advanced skills. Start by writing those beliefs explicitly. Then distinguish a useful practical question from a demand for someone’s private history. A question about available tools can clarify participation; a question that asks a member to justify belonging may make the invitation less welcoming. This step helps the team avoid using curiosity as a reason to ask anything it finds emotionally interesting.

Let the answerer define a reasonable boundary

In the invented club, members can help choose which recurring questions deserve a public answer and which should be addressed through a clear general policy. Give every fictional speaker a role beyond responding to an outsider. One might be planning an exhibition, another experimenting with a glaze concept, and another simply enjoying a weekly activity. Their ordinary purposes keep the story from reducing them to an FAQ. Do not imply that a personal answer speaks for everyone who shares one characteristic.

Connect an answer to a changed next step

A concise answer should leave the audience knowing what to do differently. If the invented club supplies basic tools, the invitation can point to the actual session description rather than merely telling people their assumption was wrong. Keep the correction proportionate: one available session does not establish universal access or every possible accommodation. A practical next step makes the exchange useful without requiring the campaign to promise a transformed attitude or a complete understanding of another person’s experience.

A small test for another brief

Proposed adaptation: make an original club introduction and three question-and-answer cards, each linked to one stated participation assumption. Use invented adult speakers and a defined fictional session policy. Ask consenting reviewers which belief each card corrects and what they would do next. Let them reject an intrusive question or say that the card still leaves an important practical detail unclear. No sight-loss simulation, medical disclosure, real member testimony or public posting is involved.

Record corrected practical understanding and newly introduced assumptions separately. Enjoying a character does not establish a lasting attitude change. A small review can expose unclear questions, but cannot certify inclusion or predict participation in the historical campaign.

Revise if the question makes belonging conditional, one answer becomes a claim about a whole group or the person has no identity beyond explaining themselves. Keep the fictional policy available so that the answer is not asked to carry more than it can establish.

• Name the assumption rather than inventing a dramatic revelation.
• Give the fictional answerer a purpose and a boundary.
• Link the answer to an inspectable next step.