To a lot of able bodied people, disabled folks are more of a novelty, of an "other" to them.

They genuinely don't try to think for more than a second or two, if you're lucky, before asking something stupid with an obvious answer because they genuinely don't consider us and them to be the same. They genuinely can't fathom being blind, or otherwise disabled, so it's just easier for them to assume that we can't do different things than consider how it might be possible.

I think some able-bodied people just don’t think that blind or other disabled people can, and do, have normal lives. I don’t understand it either.

I've never had that, but then I wasn't born in this situation and I am told I still have totally normal body language. Basically, I don't look blind, whatever that means. As a result I find people interact with me pretty normally.

I think a lot of these weird questions come from people desperately searching for something to say, and coming up with really stupid stuff. But like I say, I don't really get those questions. I don't think it's about being blind. It is about being a specific kind of blind person who probably broadcasts it more than I do and that makes people feel uncomfortable. Obviously nobody likes that situation, but if you want a reason why I think that's a reason why.

Wait, does that actually happen? That is so rude, presumptuous, insensitive... Those things are none of anyone else's business, on top of simply being obvious.

It's a brainless question.. maybe they get nervous?

I think there's two ways to understand questions like that. The first assumes that the person is essentially thinking "why would anyone want to date a blind person? why would anyone trust a blind person with a baby?", it assumes that the questions are coming from a negative place and they are making negative judgements about disability. If people ask questions like that then it's mega offensive.

But in my experience it can simply *feel* like people are asking that, when actually their intent is a lot more innocent. They're so used to being sighted and rely on their own eyes so much that they really can't imagine HOW things work for blind people. They can't conceive of dating someone whose face they've never seen, they can't imagine how on earth they would keep track of a toddler without eyes... They're genuinely confused about and interested in the practicalities of our lives because it's so far away from their own experience.

And I'll be honest, I wonder the same things about people who are deaf-blind sometimes - for instance, how can you get married to someone when you can only communicate by tactile sign? It blows my mind, I can't imagine what that would be like. Yet there are plenty of deaf-blind people out there in relationships.

It's ableism.