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Blind and Visually Impaired Community

Full History - 2021 - 09 - 28 - ID#pwy528
4
Q&A (self.Blind)
submitted by Hyuga_chari
Hello everyone ! What are some questions that non disability folks are you the most and what are your typical answers / how would you like other non disabled people to answer ?
Tarnagona 7 points 1y ago
The most common questions I get are probably about what I see or how I do a given task. You can’t generalize the first one, as blindness is a spectrum and every person has different kinds and amounts of sight. The second one can be somewhat generalized “many blind people do this X way”. I’m sure you could learn how blind folks do specific tasks, and share that knowledge with other curious sighted folks. But you must be careful not to speak in absolutes. Because blindness is a spectrum, we all adapt differently, and will have different solutions for completing daily tasks.

However, it’s important not to speak over the voices of actual blind folks. We are the best experts on how to live with vision loss because we do it every day.

Finally, my general advice for sighted people: ask, don’t assume. Offering help is great—I may need it—but also accept that I’m good when I say I don’t need it, and give me the kind of help I ask for, not the kind you think I must need. Don’t assume I can’t do something just because you can’t think of how you’d do it; ask me HOW I can do the thing.

Oh, and no, I don’t want to hear about how Jesus will heal my eyes, or pray about them. And if you think I do, you have some assumptions about life as a blind person that you need to re-examine: I’m not miserable and desperately wishing for full sight; I’m already living my best life as a blind person.
Hyuga_chari [OP] 3 points 1y ago
I loved this !
I’m low vision so not totally blind but I often feel like people don’t take my disability seriously unless I say “legally blind “
And trust me I’ve had my fair share of “let me pray for you “
Now I can laugh at those experiences but i wish people knew how harmful those statements can be .
Thanks for sharing
Tarnagona 2 points 1y ago
I’m low vision, too. I normally describe myself as mostly blind, as it gets the point across most succinctly, but I’m also very sighted for a blind person. This means I get both people assuming I can see less than I can (total blindness), or more than I can (didn’t notice and/or understand the white cane). Plus my vision varies a lot by light level, just to make it extra fun. So if there’s one thing I wished sighted knew, it’s “ask, don’t assume” as that alone would make dealing with the sighted world much easier.
retrolental_morose 6 points 1y ago
I would rather "non-disabled" people not answer at all. Their experience of my disibility is far less relevant than ny own.
Only1lunatica 2 points 1y ago
ask me the most? "can you see that?" and then points at something, I usually tell them straight on if they can see this and then flip them off. I lost my patience a long time ago and if I have to deal with ablism, they can deal with sarcasm
Hyuga_chari [OP] 1 points 1y ago
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