Should have lied and said the cane is a babe detector.

beep beep beep BEEP BEEP **BEEEEEP**

I think OP may have missed out on some flirting here.

The thing is, I'm actually quite proud of all the O and M training I did. Took me several months and it was a pain in the butt. So I wouldn't want to lie about that ;-).

Can blind people be gay?
Yeah? What the hell kind of question is that?
But like, how do you know, you can't see titties.
Seriously? So because i'm blind I just don't have a sexual orientation? And just because i'm not gay doesn't mean other blind people aren't.
Actually had that conversation with someone in school a few weeks ago. Prick.

This is actually not so funny as much as it is great you brought it up. I've had a similar situation on the bus just the other day, when a woman asked my wife whether I wanted to have her seat. My wife replied by saying: "No thanks, he's okay". For the next 20 minutes or so I felt incredibly miserable and I couldn't quite pinpoint why. Then I suddenly realized that this was not the first time this had happened. In fact, people talk to my wife ALL THE TIME when they have a question about me. Whenever I'm out on my own they ask me directly but whenever I'm out with my wife, they only address her (although the question usually concerns me). This is extremely hurtful. It makes me feel like I'm some dog or something like that. It's super dehumanizing. I just don't understand why people do that. I later talked with my wife about it and it was an enlightening moment for her too. I was legally blind for my whole life but my vision has become much worse during the past 3 years to the point where I'm practically blind. So all of this stuff is still quite new for her and me. We have agreed that she will try to react differently next time this happens and simply tell the person to ask me directly. Sometimes I wish I had the guts to just aggressively say something like: "Hello? I'm blind, I'm not an inanimate object, you can talk to me directly if you wanna know something!" But I'm just too much of an agreeable person. This can be tricky because I've learned that as disabled individuals, we sometimes need to use our elbows.

Sorry but as a non blind I had to look up what that word meant, in my defense I'm not native English speaking, I'd probably just have called it a walking stick

I dunno maybe it's some high tech mini camera with the sensor plugged into your nerves

Kinda of topic but I know that a lot of people do this with elders aswell where they talk to them like children, sure they have some problems but they aren't stupid, sure maybe if you're talking to someone that has trouble hearing then mumble a little less, but again it's not like they are simply stupid

I see much less than you but I can definitely empathize. I think the big problem here is that people are curious... but then again they don't care *that* much. This is an issue that troubles me very much to this very day because I have to deal with it even inside my family. For example my siblings - despite having grown up with me - are not very well informed about my disability. Partially this is because they've never been interested in it on a deeper level. There's always this expectations of "can you please explain me your situation in 5 sentences or less." But there are things that simply can't be broken down like that. Sometimes I also notice this when I meet new people and I'm never quite sure how to react. If I feel like the person isn't properly interested, I don't want to answer his/her questions at all (because I find it a bit insulting). On the other hand, people have accused me of being sulky when I did that.

Because oftentimes I do. Sometimes I simply miss things with my cane, especially when there is a construction site with all kinds of metal poles and signs standing around. Other times I catch them with my cane but I happen to walk fast because I'm in a hurry and end up stabbing myself in the stomach with my cane. And finally there are of course all those moments at home where I don't use the cane. My wife and I live in a relatively small apartment with a narrow hallway and I walk into things allll the time. Doors that are half open and that I don't see, door frames, the corner of the bed, the table, my wife... anything really.

Passenger: "OMG this is so scary I daren't open my eyes"

Driver: "Funny you should say that ...."

Lol. Clearly these people have never gotten dressed in the dark.

Haha, yes that is indeed cute :-)

Hahaha that is hilarious. Makes me wanna have a talking guide dog ;-)

That's like when I went on an exchange year to the US back in High School and some kids at my American high school asked me: "Do you guys have cars in Switzerland too?" to which I replied: "No, we all ride on pigs." The sarcasm was completely lost on them. Instead they replied in a completely serious tone: "Oh wowww! Isn't that dangerous?" Priceless moment lol.

It's not laser, but I have the Ray Mobility Aid, it's pretty handy when I'm moving in a familiar place, or in a single level structure.
It uses sound waves to detect obstacles, and either beeps or vibrates at varying intensities as I get closer to an obstacles.
A cane like Auggie's would be nice, but mine is a fair substitute.

Mmmmh that is indeed awkward lol