After getting hit by a car in the city (also in a crosswalk with the walk signal), I felt super vulnerable in crowds and I finally got a short identity cane. I'm low vision in my left eye, no vision in my right but about twice a year someone will sneer and complain that I'm not blind enough to use a cane. I enjoy taking those moments to tell them, "It's so YOU can see ME, asshole!"


Edited to add: only if they're dicks first, obviously. I've had mostly pleasant educational conversations. But some people....

I feel your pain!! I have RP as well and I’m legally blind but I can still see enough to see faces and read a menu if I absolutely need to. However, I do have a guide dog because my field is so narrow (10-15 degrees). Just yesterday I was getting the 3rd degree from a stranger because I didn’t “look” or “act” blind🙄

People are self-entitled and ignorant. They think they know how the world works from everyone's perspective. Instead of being thankful for the gifts they DO have, they criticize the struggles of others. People like that are not even worth your thoughts, friend.

My best blind story of people being ignorant

I was at a bar with a few friends and I was fairly certain they had a Braille menu. When I asked the waitress the clueless look on her face was so clear even I could see it. She said something to the effect of

"Braille? is that the menu that has all the healthy food options on it?"

"No, that is the menu with all the little dots." My friends chuckled awkwardly at that but I felt vindicated when I got my menu.

To correct people's ignorance whenever a child asks their parent close to me what I am doing with the stick or whenever a parent points me out to their child, I always go over and introduce myself and talk to the kid about not being able to see anything.

Been there, I’m fully blind and was walking alongside someone. Apparently I’m not blind unless I’m holding on for dear life, Preferably with both hands

Use a green cane instead of a white one (whites canes are a symbol for fully blind people while green ones are symbol for low vision). People will still not get it, and that's fine. The immense majority of people never had contact with people like us before as our disease is rare, and they think all blind people are fully blind.

Use the green cane and use such opportunities to educate people about low vision. I've been doing this since I started using my cane and I've had pretty great conversations with pretty great people about this.