Blind Gnome, with a good Gnoll

Ok, so my problem is somewhat complicated, so bear with me please! My group is starting a D&D 3.5 complain. Most of us aren't very experienced players, but we all have been playing together for about a year now, four of us have been playing together for six. I am playing a Gnoll barbarian, who wants to prove himself as "the good one" of his race. My friend wants to play a Gnome bard, who is a blind noncombatant. We've worked out that she rides on my back, and our characters have a very deep connection, via back story. What I don't know is what to expect for her with stat penalties, and a good way to combine our efforts in battle where she isn't simply riding along. One of the other players even called her a singing backpack. That players concern is she won't have fun, because he thinks she will be sidelined alot. I think it'll be a fun experience because it's different, and can make for interesting plot devices. I just need ideas on how/what to do with some skills/spells and a good way to play our attacks. So far, we've got her with blindsight and a couple of other things to help. I would like to help her character out as much as possible, not only because that is what my character is driven to do, but because it's fun to have such intertwined characters. Pretty much, I just need any advice on what I can do with all that.

You might need to use homebrew rules to make that concept work.

Some description of the character sheet would help, but if the character has Blindsight then keep in mind that at short range, Blindsight is basically better than vision in a lot of ways. It's a super-power, akin to what Daredevil has. So if the character has blindsight, it's less a matter of "This character is blind and so might not be able to contribute" than it is, "Does this character have enough disadvantages to make up for the super-power that they have?"