I'll start, have you or would you ever not so accidentally scratch a vehicle that was parked blocking a pavement.
Were you born blind or have you lost your sight?
What's the most widely held misconception about being blind?
Okie Dokie, Itchy, let's get these questions answered!
No, I haven't always been blind. As a huge coincidence I'd actually had an eye test the week before I lost my sight due to headaches I had been experiencing (it turns out the headaches were being caused by the new complete overhaul of the place I was working in, bright lights, reflective shelving, etc.).
I had no vision issues at all, eye pressure was normal, sight was very good, I have no family history of vision issues and not in any of the "At Risk" groups.
I was 26 when it happened, it was very sudden, very unexpected, and very literally overnight.
At the time, when I was diagnosed, There was nothing anybody could have done to have predicted it because it was just "One of those things".
I was also a single parent with no family available to help me. In fact, many of the family members didn't believe me, because they had never heard of anything like that happening to anyone before. Again, prejudice and the assumption that they know everything about what Blind is and what it isn't.
Widely held misconceptions:-
Wow, there are SO many, and I'll probably have to keep adding to this as more pop into my head that I'd forgotten.
1). Blind people have, or develop, super senses, that their remaining senses somehow become superpowered or more enhanced to "make up" for the blindness.
Nah. How would that happen, exactly? An ear cannot see, taste buds cannot read, etc.
What I have found in my case that I use my other senses in a different way, by simply paying attention more.
2). That we all have a guide dog, or we all want a guide dog, or that people with guide dogs have the highest amount of vision loss, and those without a guide dog are "not as blind" as someone who has one.
On a personal note, I actually stopped donating to the Guide Dogs association because of their tv adverts that suggest that life as a blind person without a guide dog is a miserable existence with no prospects and is all doom and gloom.
I found it really insulting, as it just perpetuates a myth that it is impossible for blind people to live a full, happy life without sighted "saviours".
Did you know that many Charities for blind people don't actually employ that many blind people?
It certainly makes you think.
3). That we don't have relationships, sex, or anything like that, and if we do, it's with another blind person. I met my husband AFTER my sightloss. He is fully sighted.
(Maybe it's for that sweet, sweet, Blue Badge disability parking feeling?!)
4). That we are incapable of being a good parent. That our children must have really terrible lives, that our children are our carers, and that our children are also blind or will also lose their sight at some point.
5). That we are faking, or exaggerating our sightloss, when we do something that a sighted person thinks we shouldn't be able to do.
That's all I can think of at the moment, but there are many many more. I think that because I live these misconceptions every day, they are just as part of everyday life as breathing.
6). That we can't use normal mobile phones, smartphones or tablets, or normal computers.
Thankyou
Feel free to ask more.
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Is is true that very few people are actually fully blind and that most have some vision?
What can people do to support the blind community?
How are you able to post here? I presume you have a talking computer?
Thanks
@Eureka .
It's very true that it is rare that a blind person cannot see anything at all, or has no useful vision, or NPL (no perception of light).
I am NPL in one eye, and in the other I have a very small percentage remaining (I think I've got about 5% left?).
It's important to realise that Blindness is a spectrum.
When I was first diagnosed, There were two "classifications" of sightloss....they were "Partially Sighted" and "Blind". That was 20 years ago.
Then the titles changed.
"Partially Sighted" now was named "Visually Impaired".
"Blind" was now named "Severely Visually Impaired".
And in recent years, it has changed yet again, from "Visually Impaired" to "Sight Impaired" , and "Severely Visually Impaired" to "Severely Sight Impaired".
In formal situations or if I'm out in public and some stranger starts asking me personal, probing questions about my sightloss, I refer to myself as "Registered Blind", because that's what I am. I have been medically assessed and my sight is deemed to be at a level that I can be Registered as a Blind Person.
But I much prefer "My eyes are fckd". I find it gets the message across much quicker. And takes them by surprise that SHOCK HORROR!
A BLIND PERSON SAID A SWEAR!!
What can people do to support the blind community?
"Don't Be A Dick". Is the biggest thing anyone can do to help.
I don't speak for everyone in the blind community, I can only speak for myself, so here are the things that I would find really useful, please.
1). Speak to me as if I am a person with average adult intelligence. Many people infantalise me or use a weird baby voice, or as if I have difficulty with hearing or understanding words.
2). Please don't assume that just because I'm doing something slightly slower than a sighted person, or in a different way (for example in a shop by touching, stopping, thinking, picking a few things up, putting them back etc) it doesn't mean that I'm struggling or need help. I'm just doing what I need to do to get it done, and I'm often in my own happy little concentration world. Many vision Impaired people are blessed with a gob, and the ability to use it, and if I really need help, I'm not afraid to ask.
3). If you think someone needs help, please say who you are, where you are, and then ask them.
"Hi, I'm Cuthbert, I'm on your right hand side, do you need any help?"
If they say "Yep, please!" then go ahead with your helpiness.
If they say "No, yer alright, mate, cheers" (or words to that effect), please accept that, don't get arsey (that happens probably 90% of the time), just a simple "OK, no problem" or something similar would suffice. And please don't feel put off from asking if someone needs help in the future.
4). Please don't grab, touch, pull or move me or my white cane.
5). Please don't jump across my white cane as I'm using it because you think cutting across me saves you a few seconds. It won't. You'll either get tangled up in it, or caught on the ankles with it, because I won't know you are there until it is too late.
Either way, you'll feel like a bit of a prick.
6). Please resist the urge to ask "What Happened" or "What have you got wrong with your eyes" etc if you don't know the person, and especially if you are in public. It's the equivalent of me asking a complete stranger "How's yer fanny?"
7). Just because your mum/dad/aunty/uncle/neighbour/dog/goldfish is/was blind, doesn't mean that you know anything about blind people.
You only know about your mum/dad/aunty/uncle/neighbour/dog/goldfish.
How do I post here?
A talking computer? Have you seen the bloody price of them?!? Lol.
Nah, I use a normal mobile phone, tablet or laptop.
There are apps and programs (and some built in accessibility features) that magnify the screen, or read out the screen content for you.
One aside from this is lack of privacy.
I have to have earphones permanently plugged into my mobile phone when travelling, because of a running joke between myself and a longtime friend of mine.
He knows that when I am travelling, I don't like to get my phone out at all....partly because of the pearl clutching gasps of disbelief that a blind person is using a phone ("FAKER!" "BENEFITS CHEAT!") but also because it makes me even more of a target for getting mugged.
Anyway, when my friend knows I'm travelling, he will purposefully send the filthiest, smut filled messages to me in a text message, knowing full well that my phone reads them out at full volume. Because, of course, wouldn't YOU???
I know I would!
I hope that has answered your questions, please keep them coming!
