“Oh where did you get your optometrist license? I didn’t see you wearing a lab coat and holding my medical files but that must be because I’m actually blind and you aren’t a doctor!”

If that doesn’t work the cane drubbing might

For most people, you don't owe then an answer. If it's a random person on the street, you can just say "I have low vision" or "partial vision loss", you don't need to give them your entire medical history.

The big problem is, most people think of blindness as a yes/no proposition, not as a spectrum. While people seem to understand deafness and hard of hearing a little better, that's why I've found low vision or partial vision loss to be a bit easier for people to understand.

I don't know how to handle it, but rest assured your frustration is warranted. I've been outright accused of using my eyesight as an excuse by some. Angers me to no end.

Oh I’m planning to make some “you were rude” informative business cards. Keep them in a pocket and hand them out, and walk away. That way, education is provided at zero [emotional] cost to me.

I got the idea from a man who got tired of “omg how tall are you?” top 5 “tall” questions, haha! So it doesn’t have to be negative.

Once in a while I'll tap my glass eye and give them the finger. But mostly I don't react and don't explain. However, I do make sure my boss understands so that I don't get assigned jobs I can't do and have printouts of presentations I can't see.

I've actually had a (now ex-) friend accuse me of faking it to get attention.

That’s 100% their problem—not yours. If you stopped to educate all of them, you’d never get anything done. Keep doing what’s best for you, as it suits you, and don’t spend so much time thinking about how to please the skeptics.

I get that too. I usually just walk away...although at some point I'm going to pull out my public transportation pass that says BLIND ACCESS CARD in big letters on the front and say "see?"

I had someone at an event pull that last year ("well, I'm guessing you're not THAT visually impaired," she said, as I was trying to navigate around the room with my cane), and I actually reported her. Got an apology from the organizers and a promise to talk to her, as well as a change in the Code of Conduct for next year.

I get this a lot. I just chalk it up to the fact that 1) they don’t understand because they’re blessed not to have experienced a life-altering disability and 2) human beings are amazingly resilient. My vision loss started slowly and then I experienced extreme loss after a medical emergency. It was debilitating when it first occurred, but after a couple years of learning how to do things and my brain dealing with my low vision, my friends and family sometimes even forget the level of my vision loss because I don’t struggle as much as I once did. Don’t feel bad about this; instead, take it as a compliment of how well you are doing with your remaining vision!

I pretty much ignore it. I am an online media creator and people accuse me of faking all the time. Just becomes part of the background noise after a time

I have a stick I use for identification purposes for when I need to get it across. It's easier then explaining it.

Poke them with my cane. "Fuck you, shannon!"

Ignore them. It's not your business what they think of you and trying to fix them is not the interaction they want with you. Let them display their ignorance fir the world while you go about your life. You're gonna hear some shit. Some truly crazy shit. This is only the beginning.

Learn to be entertained by the sheer stupidity or ignore it or reality check it when you step into your home or job or kid's school or classroom. "I own this, care for this, am trusted with this, can do all of this, whatever, for myself. Naysayers can stuff it. This one skill will serve you so well.

There will be times when your vision issues will be a barrier, where you will have to explain what or how you can or can't see or be told NO without immediate options for getting the thing in question. You want to be clear for these. Having a lifetime of insignificant interactions roiling your emotions while arguing to maintain custody of your kids, for example, is not the way to deal with these big moments.

Get this skill honed, now, so you can deal effectively with Uber when they pull some garbage or when you need to ask Target Guy for help finding whatever or the school nurse calls cps because kids have lice. Yours doesn't have even a nit but you ARE? blind and she's worried your kid might be being neglected. (not my story but this did happen.). That last one is where you need all your words, composure and Best Aim with your flammenwerfer.

Hi there! I understand what you mean and I've been into that situation as well. What I do personally, smile at them and patiently say, if you don't believe what I say, you can test it any time you want. Most of the time They'll do something most probably gesture and if you don't react on it, then they would understand your words. I only do that with the people I am working with or have some frequent connection. If there's a stranger on the street, I just say it once and that's it. I don't care about the rest. Also they might be joking about you, because some techniques we use, such as echo location and others, are new for them and you should get this as a joke. Most of the times those jokes will be among the friends or people you know and are good with. In that case, get it as a joke and try to joke about that as well. I find this method working very well. Sometimes humor works better than anything else!

HTH.

I'm vision impaired, it's really really blurred but I can still see some stuff (not much detail or features though)
I use a white cane and am hearing impaired too so its q mash up of things, I do get people saying, well you dont seem blind (not understanding that the white cane isnt just for totally blind people) I like to mess with them by going into book shops and art galleries etc and staring at the paintings or reading the books, for some reason it messes with peoples heads.
I dont think some people realise the extent of my vision loss or what I have left, i paint and do a lot of art so that's another confused moment for some people, I've never liked the reaction of "you paint really well... for a vision impaired person (or photograph well etc)

Sorry this was a longer response than I thought it would be.

Basically it varies and i sometimes use it to amuse myself.

What can you really do, they've got their minds made up. I mean, you could fight with them and it'll probably end up getting heated, but why even go there? I don't mind educating people who show a willingness to learn, but I am not about to try to fix everyone's willful ignorance.

Mostly by coming up with more and more creative ways to tell them to fuck off

Ugh, I used to get this a lot. Until I started using my identity cane and got my guide dog. Once someone had the nerve to tell me that I was not blind because my guide dog is not black and I "look normal" Like wow! Honestly I mostly ignored it but it used to really get under my skin and I would lose my temper and say things like... oh are you a Dr? or just an a**hole? You don't owe anyone an explanation and I feel like it's really intrusive when people ask but you can tell their sincerity by the way they ask. If I feel like I'm not being attacked I'll say I have 80% vision loss and honesty most people can understand that. Although I find myself educating people daily about visual acuity and its exhausting. My advice is ignore the rudeness and be as polite as possible but remember you may have a visual impairment but they apparently have a social impairment.

It normally takes em a sec of me shoving something right in my face to do it