What I miss most is... descriptions. Say someone reads a menu to you, they’re bored and go really fast. But that ruins the experience. What’s the overall flavor? Smokey? Sweet? Hints of sage?

And that’s just a food example. What does the sunset FEEL like tonight? How many birds are in the sky?? Do you know how much I miss stars? Rain? I miss the color and poetry around me, so much

Only about 1-2% of blind people use guide dogs - but not all of us use canes, either. I only use my cane about 50% of the time.

For the purposes of giving directions, helping, etc., I wouldn't worry about identifying whether or not a person is blind. If I go to someone and ask for directions or help, I'm going to *tell* them that I'm blind. If I'm not asking for help, then I don't want people approaching me to offer it.

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>In the video the lady would tell her guide dog to follow the person leading her, is that the correct way to help?

I've never had a guide dog, so I don't know for sure how a sighted guide works in conjunction with one, but this method makes sense.

Sight loss is just like hearing loss and there are many degrees between being legally blind and totally blind. Total blindness is rare. What people who are blind can see varies in how useful it is (usually not very useful vision or we have to use tools like intense magnifiers to get much out of it). I’m almost completely blind, have a guide dog, am a good cane user (you have to be in order to work with a dog) but am also a cartoonist. You really can’t recognise a blind person reliably; we’re all different. If someone has a white cane or a dog with a guide harness, they’re probably blind, and they’ll ask you if they need help with anything. You can always offer to help but don’t be surprised to hear “no thank you” most of the time; we usually know what we’re about. :) The reason the person in the video had their dog follow someone is because that’s something the dogs are trained to do when we’re in an unfamiliar place; the handler commanded the dog to follow that person, but in most cases we tell our dogs where to go and travel by ourselves (it’s part of having our own independence).

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Pretty sure my white cane gives me away. :-)

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I don't know if I look blind or not. I have had a couple people tell me, "yeah, it's obviously just by looking at you that you're optic nerves are dead", but pretty near everyone in my life tells me, "no, no, can't even tell you're blind by looking at you". Not sure if they are just being nice, or are being truthful, and not like I can check the mirror to see for myself.

I still have some functional vision, but I use an ID cane in public to tip people off that I am visually impaired. Most people think of blindness as light perception only or less—I know I did before my vision loss. But sometimes I feel like people think I am fraud because I obviously still can see somewhat. I would never wish my visual impairment on anyone, but if they could only understand how much harder a simple thing like running into the store to grab a couple things is now.

Honestly what everyone said is how I feel too somewhat. I understand most people want to help, but I also can still perform fine alone. If I am in need of help I can ask, although I always appreciate someone who's just trying to be nice.

It's either white cane or guide dog. I know some people who do see a little bit who do have guide dogs ,maybe because they see worse at night for example, or just feel safer .
Other ways to tell if someone is blind or has some visual impairment are pretty easy in my opinion. Not facing directly at someone's face , but instead kinda of facing upwards and sideways , I guess this is because our body just naturally makes us get in that position when we are focusing on all the different sounds. Also , it can be as easy as observing how they use their phones ( if they put it up close or if the phone speaks ) .
And yes, letting the dog follow you is the common thing. If the person is only carrying a cane , let them be a step behind you and lay their hand on your shoulder , that way they'll be able to easily follow your lead . This is the way I walk with my blind friends but ofcourse it's always best to ask how they prefer to do it

Hope this helps , I'm so used to being around blind people I've never stopped to think about this

I don’t look blind. I can make “eye contact”, since the eyes of a person are pretty much just above where their voice is c8ming from. Lol.

Until recently I carried a white can w red tip, but people didn’t think I was blind. I got asked if i5 was fo4 self defense.

Now 8 have a guide dog (you don5 need to be totally blind, in m6 class only 2 of 14 were). Even the dog diesn5 five it away. I hab3 a pair of sunglasses that look dark from the outside, but don’t darken m6 surroundings a lot. Occasionall6 ove worn them if I just don’t feel like ecolainin* “no, I’m blind, really. I can’t see what you’re point8ng at. An$ no, you can’t pet my dog,”