Category: Let's talk
Okay, so obviously this is meant as a bit of a joke. I was talking to a friend yesterday who was trying to make his most compelling case as to why it is in fact a disadvantage to be sighted, and indeed a condition for which I deserve all his pity :-). Here are some points from his list of disadvantages of being sighted:
1) If you are walking through a crowded subway station, you actually have to fight your way through the crowd. For sighties, the crowd doesn't part like the red sea.
2) You can't suft the net at work if you work in an open-concept office. You have to rely on your screen, and at any moment your boss could show up behind you. JAWS users don't have to worry about that. Turn the monitor off. No more problem.
2) When the power fails and the lights go out, sighties are seriously screwed.
3) No free bus passes for sighties (in Toronto, that amounts to $1200 a year!). And you don't even get offered a seat by anyone on the bus...
4) You don't get to carry a stick with which to whack the ankles of people who annoy you. If you do it anyway, you're likely to get in trouble.
5) Your world includes such atrocities as mullets and George Bush's face.
And last but not least 6) You don't have access to all those wonderful publications that appear only in braille (okay, by that time he was just being a bit sarcastic... :-))
So what do you think? And suggestions for additions to the list? And remember, this is meant tongue-in-cheek!
sighties dont have the advantage of getting to go first in line at amusement parks, whereas blindies do!
when sharing a room with other people, like at a camp, sighties can't read after everyone goes to bed, because other sighties will get on their case because the light bothers them, where as blindies can read all they want to.
wonderwoman
Sightees must face the TV while watching it, whereas blindees can lie or sit any way they like
When looking for something, even with enough light, sighties usually don't think to look for them in unusual places and will even miss things if they're the same color as where they're at. *smiles* I've had at happend with my mom, where she'll misplace something and sware it wouldn't be in a certain place or sometimes miss it, but when I feel around I sometimes end up finding it. Also, most sighties get grossed out when you mix your food, even if it tastes good like that, or they won't try something because of how it looks.
Leilani
Sightees often don't put important things always in the same place. Blind people do, to find them better. Also they can go by train cheaper. No looking for things in a shop: When people who work in shops help you buying your things, it sometimes goes faster than when sighted people buy things on their own.
as a parent, you have a greater chance of having to endure sleepless nights with your new baby as, as a sighted person, you are unable to feed/change nappies etc in the dark.
Lol, good point, yes.
Depend to much on your eyes, and miss things that are happening around you because you didn't, "see it". LOL. And I know the thing about the food. I love mixing a few foods, and it drives my Mom nuts.
It's true, the eyes make you forget the important things.
When you're sighted, you have to judge people by their weight, hair, clothing, skin color, type of car they drive, etc before you even meet them. Personality is irrelevent. Also, your use of eyesight will reduce your attention toward your other senses. Plus, you'll actually have to stay in one place when reading a book. Blind people can put a talking book on while doing the dishes or cleaning house.And blind people don't need the light on to read Braille.
Well, you know, now I really *am* starting to feel sorry for myself, sniffle *grin*. Thanks for your contributions, I especially liked the comment about having to face the screen when watching TV instead of being able to lie or sit any which way; that had no occurred to me yet... d'oh. Also, yeah, the diaper-chaning-without-the-lights-on is a good point. I might have to train myself before I have my first child :-).
You're allowed to make tasteless blind jokes. Also, not having to worry about glasses/contact lenses. Sounds strange, but I think I'm one of the only ones in my family who doesn't have the hastle of losing/replacing/breaking/adjusting lenses or glasses. They would annoy the hell out of me!
Good point, I mean the thing with judging another. It's way better to judge by character than by looks.
Oh, susanne, don't feel sorry for yourself. My postman's daughter's hairdresser's uncle is sighted, too. Do you know him? Let me now continue with some uplifting platitudes. Remember that if you have faith and pray real hard, a particular deity will make you blind the way he wants you to be. Then life will be unending paradise since you have been healed of the morbid and depressing affliction of eyesight. Remember also that others have it worse off than you. And by the way, I think you're worse off with your eyesight than I am with my mere blindness. Have you cheered up yet? LOL!
Oh, susanne, don't feel sorry for yourself. My postman's daughter's hairdresser's uncle is sighted, too. Do you know him? Let me now continue with some uplifting platitudes. Remember that if you have faith and pray real hard, a particular deity will make you blind the way he wants you to be. Then life will be unending paradise since you have been healed of the morbid and depressing affliction of eyesight. Remember also that others have it worse off than you. And by the way, I think you're worse off with your eyesight than I am with my mere blindness. Have you cheered up yet? LOL!
Thank you, Labyrinth, for your empathy with my plight (not your pity, though, in that case, naturally, I would have to be very, very angry with you. Ah, semantics ...). I might give your postman's daughter's hairdresser's uncle a call for some commiseration, and I will take your advice and pray furiously for relief of my burden. *grin*
*cackles* I love it! And you know Susanne, I think it's so inspiring the way you people get around and lead such fulfilling lives... Hehe.
I don't know how you people can stand to get up in the morning and face another day. If I were ever to become that way one day, I'd probably kill myself. You do so well for a sighted person, and you don't even sound sighted when you speak. LOL!
Please, guys, don't think of me as too much of a hero. A little bit perhaps, I admit life is sometimes hard when you have to live it with sight... But we sighties aren't so different from everyone else, really, we just want to live our lives, you know, and we do what we have to. Sure, it's often irritating when no one respects your privacy, and all day long people you've never met come up to you and want to know what horrible condition has caused your sight, and no one ever shows you the courtesy of just grabbing your arm and dragging you alone without asking where you want to go, or whether you'd like some help. And sure, there are the inconveniences of daily life, you know, having to rely on print and using all these special techniques to do things and still you simply can't do some things such as use a screen reader no matter how hard you try. But despite all that we're just normal people trying to do the best we can. So at most light one of those eternal candles in my name, and if you absolutely insist on a monument to me, please try to restrict yourself to roughly five or six feet in height.
Please, guys, don't think of me as too much of a hero. A little bit perhaps, I admit life is sometimes hard when you have to live it with sight... But we sighties aren't so different from everyone else, really, we just want to live our lives, you know, and we do what we have to. Sure, it's often irritating when no one respects your privacy, and all day long people you've never met come up to you and want to know what horrible condition has caused your sight, and no one ever shows you the courtesy of just grabbing your arm and dragging you alone without asking where you want to go, or whether you'd like some help. And sure, there are the inconveniences of daily life, you know, having to rely on print and using all these special techniques to do things and still you simply can't do some things such as use a screen reader no matter how hard you try. But despite all that we're just normal people trying to do the best we can. So at most light one of those eternal candles in my name, and if you absolutely insist on a monument to me, please try to restrict yourself to roughly five or six feet in height.
Blind people can dial the phone faster. They know betterwhen someone sneaks up behind them. They don't have to spend hours in stores picking the right color for their furniture or kitchen or whatever. Many blind people have perfect pitch and can sound out music by ear. They can be good hackers if they can tell touchtones, they'll nabb your password... Oh wait, only good qualities, sorry.
Susanne, you have to understand that many blind people have never met a sighted person, but they mean well and are only trying to help. You should also be grateful that people speak to you at all, because they could just refuse to do so. They really are not required to interact with you in the first place, and they're going millions of light years out of their way to ask you very personal questions even though they're total strangers. I mean, they're just curious. Doesn't meaning well and being curious justify everything? Hahahahahaha!
How can u not meet a sightee?? I am around them constantly! Sightees r cool. I go to school with over 35,000 people. all sightee except 8 of us VIED people...
No, Kristabell, you're not supposed to take this exchange literally. Take some of the silly ideas folks have about the blind and turn it around, putting sighted in the place of blind and vise versa
Lol Labyrinth, bitter much? Very amusing though.
Not really, just sarcasm.
Hehe, I didn't mean it. I find that the truly bitter blindies generally aren't aware enough to make fun anyway. Forgive a throw away comment?
Oh yeah, you're right. I can't say I've actually run into any real bitter blind folk, but I doubt they would have much of a sense of humor. I would hope those type are few and far between.