diff --git a/include/flatbuffers/vector.h b/include/flatbuffers/vector.h
index f8a5d88..6bcdfe2 100644
--- a/include/flatbuffers/vector.h
+++ b/include/flatbuffers/vector.h
@@ -19,6 +19,7 @@
 
 #include "flatbuffers/base.h"
 #include "flatbuffers/buffer.h"
+#include "flatbuffers/stl_emulation.h"
 
 namespace flatbuffers {
 
@@ -326,6 +327,24 @@
   return span<const uint8_t>(vec.Data(), vec.size() * sizeof(U));
 }
 
+// Convenient helper functions to get a span of any vector, regardless
+// of whether it is null or not (the field is not set).
+template<class U>
+FLATBUFFERS_CONSTEXPR_CPP11 flatbuffers::span<U> make_span(Vector<U> *ptr)
+    FLATBUFFERS_NOEXCEPT {
+  static_assert(Vector<U>::is_span_observable,
+                "wrong type U, only LE-scalar, or byte types are allowed");
+  return ptr ? make_span(*ptr) : span<U>();
+}
+
+template<class U>
+FLATBUFFERS_CONSTEXPR_CPP11 flatbuffers::span<const U> make_span(
+    const Vector<U> *ptr) FLATBUFFERS_NOEXCEPT {
+  static_assert(Vector<U>::is_span_observable,
+                "wrong type U, only LE-scalar, or byte types are allowed");
+  return ptr ? make_span(*ptr) : span<const U>();
+}
+
 // Represent a vector much like the template above, but in this case we
 // don't know what the element types are (used with reflection.h).
 class VectorOfAny {