I had my white folding cane in my back pocket once and some dude said So what band are you a drummer in. lol Mike
----- Original Message -----
From: Julie Anderson
To: undisclosed
Sent: Sunday, March 09, 2008 9:44 AM
Subject: pretending to be blind?
Hi All,
The RPList has had an ongoing dialogue this week about the white cane and how ignorant the public can be about the concept of blindness. Those of us with retinal disease are painfully aware of the fact that blindness is not necessarily an all-or-nothing thing. In my own case, I have no problem getting around in good light, but once the sun goes down, I'm a hazard to myself and everyone around me. Navigating a dark restaurant, a movie theatre, or any new, dimly-lit environment can be very stressful for me and for many others of us.
How on earth could anyone who is fully sighted ever understand that? We don't look blind! When I hear some of the "dumb comments" made by others, I try to remind myself that they're (probably) not mean-spirited people. They aren't "dumb comments" but simply ignorant comments. Maybe it's our job to come up with polite replies that educate them about blindness.
That being said, there will always be a few mean-spirited people out there, or those who are almost unbelievably insensitive to our situation. When I was first diagnosed with RP, this comment was made to me by a family member: "If anyone were to go blind, it should be you, because you love dogs so much." That "dumb comment" will always stick in my memory, even though I realize it wasn't a mean-spirited comment, just ridiculously insensitive. I bet if our chapter pooled all our "dumb comments" it would make for some really good reading!
I've pasted a comment below from the RPList, made by my long-distance RP pen-pal Alice in Virginia state. She and I have emailed back and forth for years and last year, she found time to stop in MN while on a roadtrip with her fully-sighted husband, so we finally had a chance to meet face-to-face. Enjoy-
I've been reading carefully these situations where people don't believe we are "really blind" and would like to add a few comments I have received concerning my white cane.
1. What do you have there, a cue stick?
2. What are you practicing for?
3. I know you can see me, so why are you carrying that?
4. In the checkout line at Wal Mart: "Are you taking that?"
Usually I say "it's a white cane and I am legally blind", but sometimes I would like to say "it's to knock people out of my way", or 'it's to wop people on the head with". I know most people just don't know, and I don't want to hurt people's feelings - like the poor little lady in Wal-Mart - she was so apologetic - but what can you say to make people understand "partial" blindness?
Alice in Virginiavia email from Michael J Soler, Sun, 9 Mar 2008 19:17:18 -0700