Thanks for sharing. I am newly legally blind following an accident and understand your challenge to feel normal and be treated as an intelligent person. My challenge is just the opposite as people who I've known for years who have head about my accident and blindness see me and say how good i look and I can see them looking at my eyes to see which one is blind. In fact I put a prism on the lens of my glasses over the bad eye to make it visible that there is a problem, I'm completely blind in one eye and the other has less half of the visual field so I bump into things and get badly surprised by objects suddenly appearing out of nowhere. Or what is really embarrassing is when someone reaches out their hand to say hello and I wonder why they keep looking at me so intently until I look around and notice their extended hand. Sorry for rambling yet I think for you and me both it is important to accept our limitations while expecting to be treated normally. Keep aiming for the stars and keep your head up.

I don't think you're a bad person for doing it, though from personal experience, the shock from other people isn't always a posative one.

As a freelance drummer, I can find myself in quite a few situations with brand new people from time to time. A few years ago, it was always my goal to show up at the studio, set up, and be behind the kit before an audition started. That way, I could theoretically get through a solid hour or 2 without someone picking up on the fact I was blind. Aside from the crippling terror it sometimes induced, there were too many instances mounting up in which the reveal at the end felt like it might have been all too much for the band I was auditioning for. . While I would love for it to be a universally positive experience every time in which people were either pleasantly surprised or just asked a few logistical questions, the sudden disruption of intense, high energy was too much of a risk for me and my potential future work. I still don't tell people on the phone or via socials unless I have to, but concealing or hiding my blindness began feeling more like lying than proving something, or making a powerful statement from the get-go.

I should add that the story above isn't meant to be a cautionary tale. If you're getting more positive wows than awkward ones, then all the power to you ☺️

I where shades all the time, rain or shine, inside or outside, because blind eyes are some combination of discomfiding, ugly and distracting. This way I can face a person who's talking without them being distracted by my eyes looking weird.

I think sunglasses are actually signaling blindness, I have them on all the time, not hiding it.

I'm interested in making the best impression on people that I can, and I think sunglasses are a big part of that especially when speaking to new people.

Its like, its a world full of sited people that I have to live in, I'm not going to give them something to look at that makes them uncomfortable if I don't have to, because doing that would make my life harder. If other blind people want to make some political statement by walking around without sunglasses on, more power to them.

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I’ve actually had several people spend time around me while I wasn’t wearing shades and was in a familiar area so not using my cane who were surprised when the eventually realized I was blind. About 15 years ago when I still had the light perception I grew up with my cornea scars got bad and I started wearing them. Now it’s a habit and I almost always wear them even though my light perception is just about gone.