Born VI. Parents treated me like I didn’t have a disability. Dad was an ophthalmologist and his colleagues recommended not making me feel like I had a disability. Let me do what I wanted even if I was going to fail or lightly hurt myself. Kids tend to hurt themselves... I had multiple bruises on a weekly basis.

Learned a martial art. Judo is good for someone who is VI or blind because it’s a close body sport. I can’t stress sports enough. They give you confidence and a feeling of independence and achievement. If there is VI/Blind tennis in your area, give it a go. Or order sound balls and play with your kid.

There are some things I wish my parents had taught me, but I didn’t live in a country where it with OTs etc .

Watch your kid’s posture. Face in food isn’t attractive on anyone. At 2, it’s probably just about coordination, but later, once they have the coordination down, gently remind them sit up straight etc. (Obviously it depends on how much vision your kid has).

Teach them to make eye contact. I do it, but sometimes I do tend to forget mostly because it’s easier to focus if I’m not looking at someone. Eye contact goes a long way in making others feel comfortable around you.

Let your kid take “safe” risks. Teach him or her all the regular skills you need to be independent. Let them ask for help, but their disability doesn’t need to be a crutch.

My suggestions probably don’t work for everyone, but they did for me.

I didn’t know I couldn’t drive until I was 18.... kind of shitty but it also meant that I didn’t put any barriers on what I could do until I was an adult.

But I also didn’t know what accommodations I needed until a few years into university. I regretted not using a note taker for example.

Your kid will be fine. Some things might take longer to learn, but don’t stress to much about it either. Use the assistance you have available and teach your kid to respectfully but sternly advocate for himself.

I apologize, this isn’t a particularly well structured response. DM if you have any questions.

Edit: teach your kid to ask for help when needed. It can take a while to recognize what accommodations you need because you don’t have anything to compare it to. For example, I only recently started to ask people to switch seats with me so that I wouldn’t have the glare in my face. But there’s à balance between being comfortable and using your disability as a crutch.

My experience may differ from other people's, but there were two sides to this. On one hand, my parents did what they could to give me chances to experience things: they got me to take music lessons, for example, or some martial arts (the music stuck, the martial arts didn't, but it was worth a shot and I'm glad I at least tried it). Just as important, though not at the age of two of course, they allowed me to take risks and got out of the way. Not that they wouldn't care or help me if I asked, most of the time at least, but they were willing to let me make my own choices, sometimes hurting myself in the process (unfortunately this is probably an inevitable part of learning). So I would go on my own to the park after a certain age, make friends as I could, etc. At 16 I got a scholarship to go to study abroad, and this was very very hard for them, but they let me do it.

The balance between being overprotective and neglectful is important, though it's not like there's only one way to do this right. Children vary as well about their own need for autonomy as they grow up. My personal feeling is that most parents (of blind or sighted children alike) are erring on the side of too much protection/control, but then I don't have a child so what do I know? It just seems to me that children were a lot more independent 25 years ago or so when I was one, than now.

Born visually and hearing impaired. My parents raised me to believe that I wasn’t disabled. I actually didn’t realize I was different from other kids until I went to school. All throughout school, I was mainstreamed (not put into special Ed.) and participated in sports and clubs on top of taking Advanced Placement classes. They also had me do chores around the house and if they weren’t done right I left have to do it over. I learned by a lot of trial and error and had to come up with ways to accommodate myself without realizing it until later in life. You can try and give your kids a bunch of tools to help them, but in my case experience is the better teacher sometimes.

As other Redditers have said, give her the same opportunities that other kids her age would have. Yes, simple skills, like tying shoelaces, may take longer to learn, but they're imperative.

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Above all, get her started with a white cane—even a smaller one for kids—ASAP. The white cane is the key to helping her develop spacial awareness, orientation, and independence.

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As your child gets a bit older, let her help in the kitchen, clean, and explore. Cooking is definitely possible as a blind person, so don't be afraid to let her participate in age-appropriate food prep. Just like other kids. And yes, dish-washing is totally possible, too.

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If you have any specific questions about how to do things, just ask away.

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Source: I was born blind and had a great mom who encouraged my independence.

Assuming you are in the US, start getting services from your school district.