Sometimes, it is easy to make assumptions about other people. Why, just the other day, I ran into a friend I used to meet on the local walking trail. She had noticed that I hadn’t been walking lately and confronted me with the comment – “You haven’t been walking. You were sick? How are you feeling now?
There has been a lot of flu and illness around, so I suppose it was easy enough to assume that I had been ill. I’m not sure why it made a difference, but I hastened to assure this person that I hadn’t been ill but rather that I had been injured.
All this made me think of the many assumptions that some people make when they encounter someone who is blind or obviously vision impaired. In the past I have encountered persons who held these false assumptions. Knowing that I cannot see, the person might begin speaking to me in a very loud voice. Do they presume that because I cannot see, I must also be hard of hearing? Sometimes, the stranger might begin speaking very slowly as if to someone who is intellectually challenged. This is another assumption.
Not all conclusions are as blatant as these. I think that one that amuses me is the blank look on the face of a flight attendant when I ask for a glass of wine. It’s almost as if he/she is saying ...but you are blind! Are you meaning to tell me that you also drink alcohol?
I also shake my head when in a group I join the discussion about a recent book or film or news article. Is it surprise in their voices that I hear? Should I tell them that people who are blind also read, go to the movies and keep up with current events?
At the beginning of my journey with vision loss, I used to be quite irritated by these assumptions about blindness. These days, I try to take it with a grain of salt and use any comments as an opportunity to educate people who are sighted.
