I agree with this statement. I am the first to make jokes about my disability, first to introduce myself as blind and say if anyone has any questions feel free to ask, and use expressions like "see" and "watch" because they are part of the vernacular.

I admit to being shocked when people use "blind" to mean "stupid" or "unaware." And I now hate the phrase "the blind leading the blind."

(Because truthfully, a bunch of blind people leading other blind people around would do pretty well, given that most of us have varying levels of functional vision.)

My mom is blind, and it's hard to see people treat her differently. Although, once people get to know her, sometimes it's almost the opposite; almost a fawning, I-can't-believe-how-amazing-you-are-because-you-can-do-normal-things-even-though-you're-blind! I think she hates that almost as much.
But in reading some of the answers here, it's obvious that there's not a black and white way to talk to a blind person. In our family, there are plenty of blind jokes (mom often quotes the "blind leading the blind" phrase) and we don't change any words or language to be more PC.
One thing I've noticed that often trips people up is using the word "see" around a blind person. It helps to remember that there are other definitions of the word including, "to examine," "to discover," and "to experience." Mom will say, "Let me see it," if she wants to touch something to see what it's like. She sees things with her fingers rather than her eyes, but she still "sees" it.

^ this. Just the other day I was talking to someone and said "It's great to see you again!" and they responded with "It's good to hear you again too." And I just replied with "yeah, it's really good to see you" and that was the end of it.

Common sense is not always so common.

I know what goes through sighted people's heads because I was a sighted person. What went through my head is, god, that looks horrific, I'm glad that's not me. Now it is me and I will never sugar coat it, I will tell anyone that not being able to see is horrible. Many people here will know how shockingly okay it can be long term, but most people won't know that and that makes them careful, like they'd be careful talking to someone who'd recently lost a close relative. You might be careful about mentioning that relative until you had figured out how the person was doing. That is not wrong.

It is my job to help people out in this situation. You can let people off the hook by talking to them. Someone already posted here that if you start using sight related terms, you make it okay. If they say something about it, great, that's your chance to laugh it off and make it even more okay. If that seems like a chore, it is, but it's my disability and I will take responsibility for it. It takes enough from me, it's not taking friendly conversation too.

For similar reasons I try always to be be an open book for all the questions. That does get hard as it is endlessly repetitive but it is in everyone's interests that people know the facts, and yes, that does mean mentioning where there is doubt and being clear that there is a lot of opinion involved. To anyone reading this, do not be put off, just ask, I would much rather you ask than be all freaked out.

Here's the weird thing. For a long time I must admit that I felt qualified to do this and a special case, as if I was the only person who'd ever gone from good sight to none. Does anyone ever really feel like a proper blind person, or is it just me? I have now been blind for longer than I had sight. Am I a proper blind person yet? God, I feel like a cripple.

I don’t like when ppl ask if I listened to a film, I’m not offended if u say did u see it

We, or most of us I hope, aren't made of glass. I went to the mall with a cousin a few days ago and she did something similar. I corrected her about it and thankfully that was enough to set things straight but a lot of other people seem to constantly go on eggshells when talking about blindness or disability in general. Then there's the people that get offended for us. That's a whole different can of worms though.

Yeah for sure, you don't have to filter yourself to talk to a person with a disability.

I often find people trying to change and accommodate every little detail for me especially at work. I tell them not to worry about it, I’ve learned to adapt and manage on my own and for them to change an entire system for one person doesn’t make sense especially if the entire team has to learn the new ways just to appease one person. It’s easier to train one person how to do something than it is an entire team.

Very true.

Thank you for this post! Thank you for clarifying and helping. I have been struggling with this for a few months now, but decided to just behave like I would with any other person and so far me and my new friend who happens to be blind, is getting on like a house in fire.

One thing that really put me at ease was him saying the word see in a sentence. He said 'I saw something this one time' and immediately that made me feel ok to say 'see' too. Silly I know...

The only thing that is still a struggle is to know if I am bombarding him because, of course I initiate the conversations, as he doesn't know I'm around, but does he really feel like talking to me? I don't know, other than to start the conversation and taking it from there, which sometimes meant having conversations dying out awkwardly (he wasn't in the mood for one but was too nice to say but it became clear eventually) anyway will keep working on it!

Thank you again!