I don't think this has anything to do with how much you can see, because I have basically no sight at all and it happens to me too. I have very normal body language and if I sit there wearing sunglasses people seem really surprised, not because I can or can't do any specific thing but because I'm not exhibiting some sort of cliche behaviour people expect.

The only problem is that wearing sunglasses means you come off as a desperate emo wannabe in London this time of year. What was that song about wearing sunglasses at night?

I have the same issue. With scleral contacts, I have "good enough" vision to work, use my phone and computer, and navigate the world. But I don't drive, I can't read most signs, etc.

Without my contacts, I'm legally blind. I can see color and movement but no detail. I couldn't recognize people or read our navigate without my phone's magnifier or a guide person.

With my contacts, people always assume my vision is 20/20. Without my contacts people assume 20/20 or, one they see in struggling, that I'm completely blind. No in between.

It's unusual to be in a grey area where most days I see just fine, but if my contacts have a problem (like a truck driving by and blowing dust into my eyes, which has happened before). Then I'm blind and not prepared for it (which is one reason I'm in this subreddit, to learn about assistive devices and ways to navigate).

Lol, I was driven to a point wherein I deliberately began exibiting strange neck angles or keeping my hands in front to appear as blind.

Thankfully, I got over that point in my life, and now just don't care if people believe I am blind or not. I have the leegal documents to proove so, and if you have doubts, go talk to my doctors. Although doctors are also very suspicious while checking my eyes ROFL!

I know someone with very, very small visual fields, as in around five degrees small. This is often compared to a sighted person looking through a soda straw. Within this area, they have good enough vision to read print or see facial expressions. This leads to the strange outcome that this person both reads print and uses a guide dog. This confuses plenty of people.

>Blindness is a spectrum and a lot of sighted folks don’t understand that. It ends up being an argument about ‘pretending to be visually impaired’ because I can do x.

ABSOLUTELY. I run into this all the time, especially since my current level of very poor vision is sudden and recent, but had been declining for some time.

If I'm in a place I know well, and 'saw' for years or decades, I can generally find my way around. But add in hundreds of people, or lots of noise, and I'm overwhelmed. If the floor is bumpy, or there are steps, it's worse.

Example is an airport. I know airports very well (see username). VERY well. But put me in one of my home airports in Germany, and if it's a busy day, I may be so disoriented that I'm a hazard. I know where the moving walkways are, I know where the lounges are, but I have to navigate many people going slowly or running, small children riding on 'trunkis' (UGH evil things), people pulling suitcases behind them, etc. But if I ask for help, invariably the airport service shows up with a wheelchair, and then says 'well you AREN'T blind?!!!' as if I'm faking. I'm making progress educating them but the reality is that they are only preprogrammed to deal with mobility issues, not visual issues, and often are angry with me.

It's such a common thing that 'vision loss is a spectrum' but so unknown amongst the general public.

Also, your vision levels seem remarkable similar to mine. Me too, can't read or write, but can comfortably walk or drive a bicycle in good lighting conditions. Also, if I have a nice sharpy, I can definitely read/ write in very huge font comfortably, just fell out of practice since last few years.

Although, Google maps, na, need more contrast between roads and building and greenery and whatever. Is there a way to make that happen?

This is me! Having only 50% or less of vision in one eye with photophobia and DR+DME, I can tolerate being in stores for a short while, but then eye gets wigged out and blurs. Despite the low vision, people who are with me make comments saying that to them, they think I can see just fine. What they aren't thinking about is how much more I'm working to see, plus, I'm in stores I know the layout which makes getting around much easier. If they spent 100% of their time with me, they would realize my vision is not as good as it seems.

One of the reasons I like carrying a white cane is that it’s a really good shorthand for “I can’t see that” when I’m in public places. But I know I’ve confused people on occasion, because if the lighting is right, or the environment is very familiar, I will sometimes not use my cane.

Yeah I am legally blind with glasses on but I can real large text close but not far away and I can see shapes and colors okay but not clearly or consistently and my depth perception is crap so people see me using my phone or reading a level and think I’m faking (and often tell me so in a semi-joking or flat out kind of way) I got a Lyft ride the other day and the driver saw that I didn’t need help getting in the car and said “I don’t know you could be fooling” like fuck you dude it does me no good to fake not being able to see my own feet when my head is level and sometimes I can see traffic but not well enough to be certain if I’m about to be smashes by someone who is turning without looking.

My husband, when navigating a restaurant with his guide dog, was told he didn’t look blind. My husband said, “Guide dog. That’s what she does.” He also has just enough vision that he still trains dogs (with help).

I'm long past the point of worrying what others think about me. That's one of the nice things about growing old.

When lighting conditions are right nobody knows I'm blind. I can walk around just fine. When conditions aren't just right I use a cane. I'm sure some people think I'm faking it when I walk without a cane into a building then deploy it and start acting blind inside. They can think whatever they want, but it's darker inside than outside and even though the difference might not seem like much to you, it's really big to me.

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I can draw when I put my nose basically on the paper and this makes a lot of people think that I can see better than I can. I just know the shape of objects and can draw that.