Category: Let's talk
Okay, this has probablly come up before, so, sorry. Just as the topic says, what do you as a blind person, or vition impaird person hate about blindness. it can be anything at all.
I hate people wanting me to tuch their faces, so that I kno what they look like. specially when they take my hands and put them on their faces.
i have a phobia of anything that buzzes, and i mean, anything. insects, sounds, even someone buzzing next to me in a room. i just can't cope with it, and have to start trashing the place. like i am having a panic atack
i'm also kinda scared of thrill rides, yeah, i like them, but i always think they will sudenly go to fast, and the operator will forget what they are doing, and the ride will tip or something
I'm scared of buzzy things too. majorly so.
I hate when you trip or something, and everyone in the area goes, "Are you ok hun? are you sure? are you ok?" and so on, so forth.
I hate when you don't know what is going on for example last thursday I was at a group in the hospital we usually finish at 3 o'clock but apparently we finished at 20 past 3 but I didn't know that until the last minute. I had a dentist appointment and had no idea what was going on.
can't stand buzzing insects either, and I never really got in to the whole thing with feeling people's faces
Chocolate Girl, you could have prvented that particular situation by wearing a watch. *Friendly smile*
As far as my own, like others here, I hate buzzing insects. I've gotten stung several times by bees or wasps, because I didn't realize they were there, and made a movement they perceived as threatening.
I also can't stand the various misconceptions about feeling people's faces, or that I can hear better than they can, or people trying to disguise their voices and go, "Guess who this is?" Wow, okay, hadn't meant to go off on that tangent. LOL.
But those are things sighted folks do. Probably one of my top annoyances about being blind is not being able to go into a bookstore, like a Barnes and Noble, and read to my heart's content. I mean, I'm grateful for all the Braiolle and tape availability out there, but it will never match the print market. I'd love to go into a bookstore and just browse through shelves, or pick up a book and read through it a bit before I bought it, etc.
good point about the books, as I love reading as well
The top most thing I hate about being blind is not being able to drive.
Oh how life would be easier sometimes if I could drive.
Not being able to browse at things like books in store or things such as stores in shopping malls get's annoying too.
Then you get the people who tell you how brave you are and how they couldn't do things such as mobility if they were blind, when for me at least I've been blind my whole life so it's nothing special.
And finally I really hate it when people insist on preying for me because I'm blind.
It never occur's to them that there are plenty of blind people out there like me who believe in god and have done so for a long time and are still blind or disabled so he's not going to heal us just brecause you come up and ask him too.
I've had that last one too. It's kind of awkward when people start praying for you, or say they're going to do it, because you're not always sure of what to say, without sounding rude. I usually just thank them, and go on my way.
One more thing I just thought of which really bugs me is when your with someone and people will talk to them and ask them questions about you when your perfectly capable on answering.
I hate buzzy things to blimming death, having been stung in the mouth by one lurking in a glass of orange juice, when I was sittin indoors, excuse me, having breakfast in my boarding house at school. I also hate small dogs or puppies that jump up, feet first in to your stomach, chest or if you're really unlucky, in your face. That stems from I think, when mum first brought our retriever home as a new puppy when I was just three and she was jumping up at me, so mum shut both herself and the puppy in the kitchen which had one of those half-doors so she could still supervise me in the hall, but she could be with Daisy in the kitchen where she couldn't get to me and jump up at me. Three years later, we went round my Uncle Chris's flat to visit and I hadn't met his boxer, Henry, who gave me possibly the biggest fright of my life when she jumped up literally as soon as I reached the top of the stone staircase by Chris's front door. Also, I went to friends, and other people's houses and I had two Springer Spaniels and a border Colly jump up at me, so yeah, I can officially say, I absolutely bloody hate dogs who aren't c ompletely steady, gentle and all the rest of it because of the experiences I had when I was little. I also hate not being able to drivew. If I was able to drive, I could come home from College almost every weekend and any weekend I wanted to come home, I could go in to town here and I could also drive up and visit any of my friends from School, who all live way too far away for me to see them very often, so I absolutely can't wait for those self-drive cars, lollol.
Jen.
I could repeat all the things you all already said. and. I hate it when my cat brings home nasty things like pieces of raw meat or alive or dead birds mice and whatever else that comes in his dangerous mind. when kids ask why my dog has that thing and the parents tell them to shut up or they lie about it. when you are on the street and they are like where are you going? be careful, you need help and all that and they don't realize that if I am there where I am I got there on my own and I can go on if I want to. when if it's hard, it's because you are blind. when they decide you can't and you have no chance to try. when if you say no thanks it's because you are too proud to accept help and not because you know if you need it or not. when blind = retarded. when you are so good if you can do normal things on your own. when you have everyone's attention just by being there. when they think we should just sit there and have everything done for us. when blind people just sit there and have everything done for them. when it's amazing, how can you do this! when they are like poor you, there's nothing worse, I will pray for you. when if you want to try it's just because you are too proud to accept your limits. when you are so little and helpless... when if you can't blind people can't, and if you can you are the exception. when if you are blind you are authomatically unhappy.
I'll end it here... for now
Lets see, all of the irritating blindisms go onto my list for starters. That includes rocking, either sitting or standing, spinning round in retarded circles, head spinning and eye poking.
Walking in snow is something I also can't stand. I use my hearing for navigation a lot and snow just deadens everything around. It leaves me with this horribly disorientated feeling, even if I'm not remotely lost.
Finally, although this has nothing to do with being blind in any way shape or form, I hate the word hate. So I strongly loathe all of the above, not hate.
Dan.
while I agree with those who said they wish they could just go into a bookstore and read as long as they'd like, my biggest pet peeve is when people say they'll pray that "god heals" me. first of all, i'm comfortable with my blindness, and second, i'm an atheist. however, I respect others beliefs no matter what they may be.
Wow! I like all these answers! and I can say that I don't like any of these things either. Buzzy things make me scared and I scream and try to hide. Good example of this, was I was waiting to go to work outside my house, and I herd a buzzy thing flying near me, and it sounded like it was getting closer, so I hid inside the screen door of my house, shaking like a leaf. Thank god I was able to regain control of myself before the taxy came, and the buzzy thing had gone! I reeeeeally hate it when people come up to me and tell me, "I'll pray for you, and god will heal you". ah ha! and hell will freeze over in the mean time! I'm comfortable with my blindness, and who I am, thank you verry much! I've been blind since birth, so you can pray all you like! that's another thing I hate, [wich has nothing to do with blindness]. bible bashers get on my last nerve. Okay, maybe it is cause I'm blind, I don't kno!
Oh and cl Dan, "hate" was the only word I could come up with at the time.
I hate when sighted people don't think your capable of doing something like hold a wiggleing baby because you no if your blind you must also be retarted and uncordenated. That really gets on my nerves considdering that I have had lots of experence with babys, i work in our chirch nursery and also babysit. But half the time the sighted parents don't think a blind person is capable of doing the job. but I'm like, the person that puts me in the baby nursery trusts me, so there for the parents should trust that I no what I'm doing. And as for people saying that they'll pray for me, that does not really get on my nerves cause it says to me that they feel for you and want the best for you, in there appinion, but my responce to that is that I don't want the sight I never had back.. If you want to pray for me in anyway, pray that I keep the little sight I have, and stop praying for something that just can not happen.
I have to say that while certain things slightly get on my nerves, I understand that it's just cause of ignorance that people act the way they do. I'm not justifying it, just saying it is what it is.
I'm not sure what to say to this. I know I hate it when sighted people walk up to you and start to yell as if you can't hear. I hate it when people walk up to me and ask,
"How do you work that laptop?" or, "Did you know that your laptop is on?" of corse I knew that! why do you think my headphones were plugged in to it? or how about,
"How can you be a fan of Billy Gilman if you can't see what he looks like? and on and on and on. I think some of these mistakes sighted people make are just because they aren't edgucated about blindness, so I try to edgicate them with every chance I get. I do, however hate it when people walk up to me and say,
"You are so amazing!" and if I tell them about something I am learning, or I have my cellphone out, they go,
"I could never do that!" or, "I'm so proud of you!" and so on. Okay, I better close, my post is longer then anybody elses. sorry.
oh yeah. and when I'm walking, and people keep trying to help me. that's another thing that buggs me.
I can't stand when I'm trying to cross a street and someone grabs me.
That can be bad, especially if your with another blind person and you both get guided across the road separately, or you are put where you don't usually go when you cross the road, so you've got to put yourself where you'd usually be. It would be better if people asked whether or not you wished to be helped crossing the road, at least then it'd be easier to say no.
Senior, related to your post, One of my annoyances is when people assume I want to go one place or direction and take me without asking. If I catch an unfamiliar turn or landmark, I might ask which way we're going, or something to get what I need to figure out the mess I'm in. (lol).
some people don't, cause they just think that cause we're blind, we can't cross roads by ourselves, and just grab on to us as if we're little kids. I hate being grabbed by some random person, when I'm trying to cross a street. I don't kno about anyone else, but I tend to use my hearing to help me cross the road, specially on a crossing. At the lights, cause I can hear the beaping of the light, it isn't used as much, but still there are some people that, even though the cars have stopped, will just grab onto me as if I'm a kid. It reeeeally puts me off focus, cause I have to tell them that I don't need help. I guess that some sighted people see a cane, and think "helpless blind person", or something like that. Well, soon I'll be getting a guide dog, so I wonder if that changes at all?
I think then they'll tend to focus on the dog, but that's just me.
like I said. uneducated. think of it this way. back in the olden days, blind people didn't amount to much. (Not to be mean.) so people odimaticly freak when we are walking alone.
Yeah, that's true, lollol. I remember two incidents a couple of years back where I was walking up the main road near our house on a mobility session. On the first occasion, my Aunt drove past and did a double take because she thought I was out on my own, then she saw Caroline, my rehab officer wasn't far behind me, so she pulled herself together then went on her way again. On the second occation, one of my Grandparents, friends from their local Bowling club saw me walking along the road and freaked out because this time, Caroline was waiting for me at the shop/post office at the bottom of our hill, lolllol. As for holding wriggling, kicking and waving babies, there's nothing to it. I had my five-week-old cousin Robbie in my arms the other night and he was very wide awake, wriggling, kicking, rolling his head from side to side and waving his hands all over the blimming shop untill that is, we wound up the musical pulldown toy Narcissa Malfoy (Kay) bought him. It was almost instantanious. He sat almost completely still, not moving a muscle, listening to this new but gentle musical tinkling tune coming from the fluffy star as little teddy was pulled closer and closer to it. When the music stopped, Robbie started to kick his legs and bring up his most recent feed so mum took him off me. If anyone can't manage holding a wriggling baby, simply try them with a musical toy. They work wonders, especially just after a feed if the baby's very alert and also feeling particularly energetic so you're scared you might drop them. It's also one of the first things they should focus on at this early age.
Jen.
ok... i loathe not hate, when people say
"how many fingers am i holding up?"
or, "man, if i was blind i dont know how i cluld do it."
or when they come up to me and say, with their hands over my eyes, "guess who?" well the hands over the eyes doesnt make a difference
and yes, i agree its hard to travel in the snow, it muffles everything, but in montana in the mountains there's snow almost year round so... used to that i guess
and also, i hate it when people get in your face and talk really loud, i'm always like, "i'm blind not deaf, thanx." but ah wel, sighted people can be retarded
or if they talk to me like i'm two i just talk to them like they're one, its funny, lol
well this is getting long, so bye
well, this one is because this restaurant is a "blind hangout" since the formerly svi has there training center there which is a joke but i won't go there..anyway, this really nice restaurant cashier and owner will see another person who happens to be blind, come in and if there is someone else in there that happens to be blind, we get sat by them, which is fine if you know or even can stand the person's guts.
another thing, i use bus a few times because i have gone out of state a few times and last time i was sitting in the terminal waiting with everyone else, and this guy comes up and starts talking to me, and when i looked uneasy i guess, and didnt reply he asked me if i was ,forgot who he said> and i said no, hmm, that one is the first time ive had that though.
yet a 3rd thing that bugs me to no end is about my own family, yep gotta love em i suppose but my cousin now has kids, and ever since they were 6 and 4 or so, my grandmother would say "why don't you come over here" or "you're getting too close, why don't you sit over here", and im not sure what if anything has been said to them but my whole family can interact and play around with them without anything said, and as far as us, the oldest barely says hi to me and she's 12..i feel like im an outcast in my own family and i hate hate hate it
It really annoys me when people treat me like I'm a two-year-old with a disease that could cause me to die any second. I try to prove that I'm a perfectly capable and independent person, and that it really doesn't matter that I'm blind, but some people just can't get it through their heads! There's way too much importance on vision in this world.
Hi Liz. Well, I hate loud noises. You know, fireworks, gunss, (etc). I hate being in a roomful of sighted people, and "amazing" everyone because I can walk. lol. I hate it when I have a guest in my home, (someone I've just met), and they say, "Oh, you sure know your way around your apartment ! " I mean, really. lol. I don't mean to sound cranky, but the things people say regarding blindness can be so stupid. lol.
and isn't it amazing, when we had a fire in our building cuz of some doped up dip###, i am amazing because i was one of the first people that got out..hmm, hmm lets see, a bell going off, smoke..hmm what could that be?lol
Wow! all these things! and I thought my family was bad! at least mine don't treat me like that! they just nag me all the time. "do this, do that, you should, you have to". that's how they start off! it's like they don't give me any choice. for example, I want to go overseas, but my family said, "you! can't go unless you have a certain amount of money ontop of what you already have". What was even more anoying, was that my parents thought that they're coming with me. Hello! I'm 28 years old! and I don't need mummy and daddy tagging along. It's cause I'm blind, cause they had no problem letting my sister go on her own.
yeah, if i move like i very much want to, one of my moms excuses is she is worried i won't get my bills payed. hmm, com,e on people, i did it for about 10 or more years
two things I really hate: people talking to you as though you're deaf rather than blind, and people talking to someone else about you thinking you can't hear them or can't answer for yourself. Just my thoughts.
oh god, i hate that last one too,
i know this person is old and she won't change, my god, she hasn't for 30 plus years..anyway i'll be sitting right there and she'll ask my mom "would he like something else to eat" or "would he like some more?", my mom has often tried hinting by saying 'ask him" but she's a blockhead to put it one way
or, and i know this because well, it happens and she's even said this, but when it comes to our grandmother, the grandkids get money for birthdays but just because my brother and i are blind and don't work or quote cant work, we get more than the others and i know by what she says we're the favorites but she'll never admit it
Yeah, it's really anoying when people ask someone else if I want something. So, when we're at big family things, I try to keep as far away from my parents as I can, so people have to ask me! things. I mean, people say, "you should be doing all these things for yourself, and be more independent", but when I try to be, they sometimes try and stop me, or make it harder. Oh and another thing I hate, is when "well meaning" people come in and say, "you should orginize your house this way, and put braille lables on this, and put your clothes in your cupboard this way, in colours". they think that it's easier?
or well, when i took on the task of building a computer, one parent said you'll get it eventually or "but look what all you've learned" and the other which i wish would take an early one-way ticket to hell, said "why don't you ditch it and get a quote unquote, real one
now that i hqave done it and am now in the beginning stage of building someone else a system, that attitude will change really quick i bet, and the only part i need help[ with is setting up the bios so yeah they know when i work on them/it
and if we need to budget something to have money to pay all of something else which is another thing, my mom, money problems or not, will say why don't you pay what you owe and not just part..so we were sort of getting argumentative with each other before they left on vacation and i said if they are supposedly so broke, they still pay whatnot for me when i can make arrangements or whatever..well, she said she feels guilty..my god, for what, that we are blind?
she should feel guilty for marrying that monster she's married to if anything but thats just me
In my school there's this lady who gives us lunch, and we go there with our pans and choose from 2 different dishes. I often eat lunch with my group of friends, and that lady always used to ask them. What does he want. Now, I yell out what I want before she even has a chance to ask anyone else. *grins*
I also hate buzzing things. I'm so scared of flies and bees although I've never been stung by any. One time there was a fly on the window of my room and I was freaking out I left the room, got the spray and sprayed the room and then i was afraid I'd touch it or step on it dead or something it was gross!
well im not so much scared of bees as much as i'm alergic to them and i have been stung on the elbow because of my dorky brother which is another story but anyway, just thought of another kind of hate thing, this was back in 7th and 8th grade
6th actually but basically sinc3e we were blind, we had to have a partner for the day, just a random person in the class but for some stuff i didnt mind, but like races, what if you don't run as fast as them :p
this one time though we had the big race, not sure what it is or if they still have it but i think itr was called the 5 or 6 hundred or something, anyway it was a damn killer is what it was..so we all went out onto the school field or whatever, and i figured "ok, no partner, thats fine" well to make a long story short i made the first trip around the field, but then what do i do, i ran straight into the damn barbed wire fence, so i started heading toward the teacher, all bloody lip and all, and it took him about 5 minutes to notice and then he had a classmate take me in and get cleaned up but i think he learned his lesson that day
it wasn't funny at the time but our 8th grade teacher was kind of a total nut anyuway and the 7th grade teacher was worrying and getting her spray and blah blah blah, he cracked, "so i hear you ran into barb wire" yeah funny but..well anyway this got a bit off the topic i guess
And it's also annoying when my teachers tell me to "ask for help". Hello, I can get to my classes by myself thanks! Lol.
ok, well i'm not in school any more thank god, or as i say i am not in hell anymore lol, but when i took classes like math type classes that they put all the stuff on the blackboard for some reason, my quote unquote special teacher found a reader person which i don't know why she had her job but isn't it odd, when she was there, she did more than just read the assignment, she would try to figure out the math problems and write all the stuff down as if they were my answers and it was interesting though, the days she wasn't there, i did my own assignments, just on the computer and the teacher asked me one day how come when the aid wasn't there, why i got the answers right..well, i should have said something but basically i nearly failed algebra thanks to that freak but the funny thing is, i took it in college, sort of on my own but with a one on one teacher you could say(not sure what department it was but maybe this makes sense to people), anyway i flew through the exact same algebra with absolutely no problems whatsoever..
I hate not being able to drive
love not being able to drive lol, just wanted to comment on that
i've often had dreams that i am driving
don't you guys hate it when people try to help you with schoolwork, and you know what you're doing, but they screw you up, so you get it wrong! gur'r'r'r'r'r'r'rr'r'r!
i must agree with all of the above, especially, books and insects and driving. however...this may upset some people so sorry in advance:
i hate schools for the blind with a passion. i have always been in mainstream and think its the only way to go. i also hate the way some blind people have chips on their shoulder and don't integrate in to society. it makes life more difficult for those of us that do. i have two blind friends, everyone else i mix with is sighted and my blindness isn't an issue whatsoever. i hate the way some blind people are obsessed with being blind and make refferences to it which can make sighted folk uncomfortable. i don't mean don't mention it, i just mean why crow bar it in when its irrelivant? if you asked my friends or family to describe me, being blind is way down on the list of things they would say because it has bugger all to do with anything. oh yeah, also, the way that people assume if your blind, you must know every other blind person in a 100 mile radius.lol also, when people assume my partner is blind, which he isn't. almost done now, honest! just a word on people not speaking to you directly, if that happens to me, i simpley answer for myself, and i don't just answer, i engage the person in an interaction by asking a question or cracking a joke or something that requires a response. there's never a problem after that and its more productive than bitching about it. ok, Ash is done now! lol
I dunno if I dislike this behavior, but it sure puzzles me why people think they have to do this. Have you ever had a stranger walk up to you and the first thing they say to you is some variation on how hard your life must be for being blind? I must be an odd duck or have a very strange set of manners, but if I knew somebody with another disability was near me, if I felt I wanted to chat, I don't think the first thing out of my mouth would be indicating how hard I thought their life is. How is that person supposed to feel when that is said to them, and what's the proper response? Thank you? Bless you for your concern? At my ripe old age I should perhaps understand why folks are compelled to do this, but I'm still stumped. I suppose it's better than the one where folks tell you they'd spontaneously die if they ever went blind, but still ...
well i think this is a good point, probably rude or some would think so anyway, but to the it must be hard to be blind or variations of it, i just say something like, "but then i cant see all the ugly of the world"
and yeah, i hate blind schools too, i went to normal school but one summer our teacher took a bunch of us to the blind school because well it was something to do and she was going to teach god knows what there, but one of the 3 of us ended up leaving because of there excuse my language, dumbshit rules like..guys and girls couldnt be in the pop room at the same time unless a teacher or dorm mommy was in there, also, i basically think the computer teacher felt like a major moron when i was there, and there is other stuff i hated about that place
places like those schools and camps not letting you use your cane drove me absolutely nuts!and thats the only way i got out of going to camp one year, i guess it would be one thing if the quote councelors at camp would have a freaking brain..ya know?
i was out for a meal with a group of friends and was seated beside a woman i didn't know. her opening words were "oh my god. you're so brave, it must be so frightening even stepping out of your front door" i grinned and lit a cigarette telling her "well sweetie, that depends on where you live. given the area you come from i think you deserve my admiration for stepping outside"
lol, she was ok after that. blind schools and camps are certainly candidates for room 101! glad i'm not alone on that! yay!
Wow! I never went to a blind school, even though they, [not sure who they are], wanted my parents to put me in to one. I went to hell, I mean school with sighted kids, and it was! hell. I won't go in to that, cause it was, well, hell. lol!
I couldn't immagine going to a school for the blind.
i just absolutely love the "how many fingers am i holding up" thing at the waterfountain line
sometimes i actually guessed right but that really got anoying too. also our well my brother's classmates thought it was cool and stuff to kick us in the crotch so we had our stepdad and the principle put a stop to it..thats about the only good thing i can give stepmonster credit for but then the leader of that class is damn glad i never got my paws on him and actually i know this isn't nice, but he got jalapeno brine from opening a jar of peppers, in his eye and i just told my brother "heheh i say he deserved it"
wow! that is mean! but funny. I had people put things in my lunch, so I couldn't eat it. Once I had dip and biscuits, and some low life thought it'd be funny to put chicken salt in the dip, and then I got out some tin fruit, and they did it again!
and this same kid, set this 6th grade girl on the school roof,(not a blind girl but she was considered different too)
You should have made the people who ruined your lunch pay you back enough money so you could get a proper edible one. How dare people ruin your lunch just so they can be amused at your expense. Also, next time somebody asks any of you how many fingers they are holding up, just say, "Well, how many fingers do you think you're holding up? If you don't know how many fingers you're waving in somebody's face, you're beyond my help." LOL!
I hate it when I will be with someone sited and if I am bying something or asking a question the person I am asking the question too terns to the sited person and answers the question instead of talking to me. Another thing is when I ask for directions and someone sited is with me the person answering the question says something like go that way and it will be the first door on the left instead of telling me wich direction to go in.
hheheheh, it was really funny today, i had to go to the dentist to get my teeth cleaned yeah? and this lady took me down the hall and then she left, and i didnt know where the hell i was so i just stood against the wall and waited for her to come back, because i didnt know which direction she went there was a fork in the hallway, anyway some poor woman came and went she went left, and i was greatful, and that retarded woman came running back to the woman that had helped me and she goes, "is she blind?" and i say, "yeah, and she's deaf too.." after that the woman did not like me, lol, i hated her even more
lol that's funny. i had a teacher in junior high that yelled at me all year. lol she didn't believe me when i told her i could hear, it was so annoying. lol
damn, the ignorance of some people Anyway, for guide dog users, I wouldn't say I hate this, but it annoys me. You're walking around with your guide dog, and you overhear a parent explaining to their small child that, quote, "that person's training that dog." unquote. I guess I'd better get used to it. lol
i know what you mean. well i don't have a guide dog, but once when i was walking somewhere with my cane i heard a woman telling her kid "that stick helps her see where she's going and tells her where things are so she doesn't get lost." what, does it have a camera and gps i didn't know about? lol but, it didn't really make me mad or anything, just kind of surprised me that someone thought my cane saw and stuff.
i hate it when you are somewhere like well, getting something done where it wouldnt be good to keep your cane, like say if you are having a scan or something done in the hospital they will hand your cane back and say "here is your stick", not that its annoying i guess but it sounds stupid
yeah i know what you mean. i wish so many people didn't call it a stick.
another thing i hate is when people are overly helpful. noe don't get me wrong, someone wanting to help me is fine, but there's a certain point when it's just too much. Example:
last year in high school i was going to go upstairs. there's kind of a secret staircase that not too many people knew about, but it was closer than all the other stairs and i was in a hurry. so i turn to go in to this kind of recess where the staircase is, and i hear a guy yell "You're going the wrong way!" next thing i know i'm off my feet and this huge guy has picked me up and is proceeding to carry me in another direction without even knowing where i'm going in the first place. well this startled me so much that my reflexes kicked in and i accidentally punched him in the nose which i guess startled him because next thing i know i'm on the floor. lol so um yeah, talk about overhelpful. hopefully no one else has experienced that. lol
never been picked up by anyone before, sounds kind of scary/embarrassing
driving, loud noises, hites, and discrimination.
When I said "picked up" I meant physically lifted off the ground.
lol, i had this gym teacher in fifth grade, and we did a basketball unit
and the damn teacher insisted that i used a belled ball off in a corner by myself, because she thought i'd hurt the other kids or something
and she shook the belled ball next to my ear and said: "can u hear that?" and i was like, "i'm blind not deaf."
eee i remember the bell balls. i hated those things. lol my grandma got me one for my birthday; it came with a thing that you could hang on a basketball hoop so it would beep and you could hear it. well sheesh! the beeper was so loud it sounded like a smoke alarm and if anyone can actually concentrate on playing basketball while that thing's going on well it's not me. lol
but yeah a lot of times the gym teacher would get me to play with a ball by myself or with one of my friends or something instead of doing whatever everyone else was doind. it used to make me feel stupid or something.
Wow, thank goodness I had an adaptive PE teacher. I hate it when i tell people I want to do something later in life or something, and they tell me, "You can't," or, "How are you goin to do that? You're blind." Argh!
O....k! stick? um, next time someone calls your cane a stick, ask them where they want to stick it? You won't here that from them again, trust me. I said that to someone, and they've never said "here's your stick" to me again. As for being physically picked up and carryed, I've not had that happen to me, thank god! the parents explaining that my cane "helps her to see where she's going so she doesn't run into things" thing, has happened to me a lot of times. I'm getting a guide dog soon, so I'm sure I'll over-here more of that.
A woman came up to me one day while I was sitting on a couch at the YMCA minding my own business. "Can I pray for you?" "Well, if you like, I all ready spoke with Spirit today and I meditated this morning, but if it will make you feel better, go right on ahead." "Good, Lord, please restore this young woman's sight to her." "Listen, lady, I don't want my sight back. I would suddenly be sighted, and they'd take away my beautiful little girl sleeping down there, or at least not let me have her with me at college. I'd be denyed adaptive software and materials, but having been with out sight for this long I wouldn't be able to read. My mother would be jealous as would all of my blind friends and rightly so, and I don't need that drama. I would loose all of my nice finantial aid from the state for college, but would still have the same finantial situation and the same need for Braille and JFW. I would loose my paratransit and would not have the acquired depth perception to drive a car. Could we please pray for something else?" "But, you must see. You need that, it will make your life complete." "No, listen, lady, pray for me to be accepted to the Crane School of Music, pray for me to find a wonderful, loving, intelligent, family oriented, witty, artistic, creative guy who will be good as a father and good in bed, never cheet on me and love me for who I am. Pray for me to have a rewarding and successful career working with children in music. Pray for something I really need and want." It went down hill from there and ended with miss altra-Christian black woman moving to another couch with a lot of nasty bad karma causing thoughts stewing in her brain. lmao
Damn, I wouldn't know what to say if someone said that to me. I'd probably just sit there gaping like an idiot. Liz, I've had little kids come up to me and try to pet my dog, but thankfuly, their parents have been really aware and do a good job of explaining to them that he's working and they can't pet him. Steven doesn't even blink an eye at them. lol
Oh I hate any thing that buzzes to, I am so afraid of bees, I think everything is a bee. I also don't like when people without asking if you need help, just grabbing you by the arm, and dragging you across the street. Its funny, when you really need assistance, no one is ever around!!
never been grabbed, thankfully
I've always been amazed at those who think they know where I'm going when they say "You're going the wrong way." That hasn't happened to me for a long time, but I hope I have the presence of mind to politely ask them "Where am I on my way to?"
Lou
I hate getting lost!
I hate it when total strangers come up to me and demand to know why I don't have a dog!
I hate it when most people assume that just because someone's blind, they have to have a dog. It's all personal choice.
I hate when I'm walking somewhere I know where I'm going people will come up and ask if I'm lost and When I am people arn't very helpfull. With some who are, they sometimes lead me to a totally different place and not where I want to go.
I also found out that most sighted people don't know a certain location, even at a college campus and they've been going there longer than I have and don't know where places are. So we blind people arn't the only ones who get lost.
there are so many thing... I wonder if I will use all 8000 chars? Probably not, ut here goes! Ihate the face touching thing, it's a pain in the ass, and the people thinking your lost because you're just going a bit slowly or something. I also hate the people who talk to others but not you beause they assume because you're blind you can't talk. I think that might be it for now.`
Oh my God, the face-touching thing! I never really did that, and not many people ask me if I'd like to feel their face. I usually say no when they do, because I don't really care what their face looks like.
i was at the NFB convention a few weeks ago, and my friend (i'd known her for like three years), randomly goes, "can i feel your face? i wanna know what you look like," this was very awkward, because i wish i'd just gon, "actually, no, you cant." but i just stood there stunned as her fat sweaty hands touched my face commenting on my small nose, and small chin, and high cheek bones. um, thanx for analizing my own face for me? and i couldnt help thinking to myself, if she does this at school i'm not surprised that friends arent an abundance
I hate sighties thinking you're fragile. At writing camp these past two weeks, I was surrounded by them.
I'd trip over a tree root, and they'd go, "Oh, are you ok?"
A rolley chair would just barely tap me and my teacher went, "oh hell, are you ok?"
Once, don't remember what happened, but they were freaking out and I go, "I'm not dead am I? I'm fine."
oh, and there was some piece this little girl read about social injustice and how it was injustice that disabeled children should have to go to certain schools.
this guy in my class was all, "yeah, like disabeled people shouldn't go to special schools to get special attention."
I had half a mind to correct his way of thinking.
You should have. lol
Concerning the fragility thing, it sometimes happens that I'm walking somewhere and my cane touches something, which is what it's there fore, and someone freaks out and asks if I'm hurt, if I'm all right, etc. I'm tempted to say, "Look, it's my cane, not my penis!"
This might be a difficult one to express, but I dislike it when people act as if because you're blind, your word or opinion doesn't mean anything. I also dislike it when people assume that lack of eyesight also means one is ignorant of everything or unaware of everything, as if blindness affects your ability to actually use your mind and reason things out or make choices.
lol reclusive. I'd love to be able to say that.. well, actually I wouldn't because that'd be awkward for me, but you get the point.
and awkward for me too cala. *smiles
oh, I'm not saying I don't have a penis of course. rofl...just that if you said that about yourself...ok, I'm digging a hole here...lol
Godzilla-On-Toast, I first encountered the sort of thing you're talking about when I went to college, and I was completely unprepared to deal with it, having gone to a school for the blind until then. So I would be in a dormitory bull session with a bunch of guys, and I would disagree with someone and refute all his arguments, and he would say something like, "Well, but you can't see, so you really don't understand these things." I don't think there's much we can do, in most cases, to overcome this attitude, except to find a small circle of friends who can see past our blindness. As for myself, I was fortunate enough to land in a job where I could demonstrate my thinking and problem-solving abilities to the people around me. When I was the guy in the department who was always solving problems just in time for us to meet deadlines and save all our asses one more time, they had to treat me with respect.
Perhaps, one of the things I hate the most, is the inability to look in to a person's eyes. Especially with a loved one, or an intimate partner
I really can't understand people who choose not to have guide dogs, but I can respect that decision. After all, they know them selves better than I do, and if they say "I really don't want one" or "I really don't think I'm ready for one." that's good enough for me. I will certainly expound on how much I love my dog and encourage them to ask any questions about guide dogs or give any reasons why they don't want a dog, in case they have been misinformed about something or have seen a guide dog team that is not a positive representative of the guide dog using community, but I don't insist that they go out and get a dog, only that they listen for ten minutes or so. Another important aspect of that is, if someone says that they really don't want or need a guide dog, after making an informed decision and they were to be pressured into training with one, it would be a desasterous result for dog and handler both. The face touching thing. I think that touching someone's face is so beautiful and intimate, but that's the point. You don't touch strangers' faces, just like you wouldn't touch a strangers, breasts, bum, thies, etc. The only people who could touch my face with out getting a really weird look and their hand shuvved roughly away would be Mike or Kait, my mother or father, an infant, a small child or my partner, perhaps someone from Life Stream, but no random people off the street. (shudders violently at the thought)
Although I very much enjoy being blind, there are a few things that do bother me, not necessarily about blindness itself, but regarding how other people perceive blindness. In addition to the face touching and people asking questions to whomever I am with rather than to me personally, as has already been mentioned in this topic, I often find myself exercising a measure of patience with people who feel the need to freak out whenever I am riding an escalator, especially at critical points sicj as when i reach the top or bottom. Now, I will usually give these well-meaning sighted people the benefit of the doubt since usually they have not had prior experience with blind people, so I try and patiently explain to them that the extra "assistance" really is not necessary. Also, I sometimes find myself annoyed when people assume that, since I am blind, I must either want/need/have a guide dog. In saying this, I do not want to sound anti-guide dog at all. TO the contrary, I know many guide dog users whom I respect, and believe that guide dogs are an excellent choice for many people. At the same time, however, a guide dog is definitely not for me, and it can sometimes take people awhile to realize this. Just as I try and do with the people who react in the ways I described above when I use an escalator, I will usually be as patient with people who make these guide dog assumptions as possible, although it can be somewhat more difficult to convince them that I do not find need for a guide dog than that I am perfectly capable of using an escalator.
negativity
thats about it
I love my life too much to say that things are hate are because of the way I am
I haven't read this board for a while, but glad I did.
One thing that annoys me and makes me laugh at the same time is the assumption that all blind people are the same person. I'll be traveling downtown and someone will say "Didn't you used to be the guy on radio in Washington?" One time, someone was so convinced that I was my brother who is also blind, that I felt the need to argue with him about it. I let it go on for about a minute and suddenly realized I was probably being more dense than he was. I mean, after all, I knew who I was, right?
Lou
Eeeewwww I hate buzzy things, *shudders* I also wish that anyone who drives other folks around for a living, like the bus and cab drivers, I think they al should be fluent in English. I have had several situations where I couldnt understand what they were saying and had them get mad at me for having to ask them to word it better. Wow, I am done here, I cant talk right now, LOL.
I really have a problem with cabdrivers and such who can't keep thir mouthes shut. I had a cabdriver who also did work with financial planning. He was telling me all about this blind person's business, and I really didn't want or need to know. Another was telling me about these two blind people who it sounded like were having an affair. I knew them both, and agan, I didn't want to know.
Lou
I hatre when iI'm at the mall with my dad and everybody is stairing at me. It's like they've never seen a blind person before. And I hate it when people take my arm and try to guide me out even though I tell them I know whare I'm going.
I hate it when people leave things to trip on or run in to in the middle of the floor! spicificly people that should know better!
OMG, that one annoys the shit out of me. i hate it when people move stuff, especially if it's my things, and don't tell me about it, so I have to go and search for it everywhere.
same here. I mean, little kids toys on the floor is one thing, cause they don't kno any better, but people that should moving things, that's just plane rude, and anoying.
and it's only when you're looking for it that they tell you they put it somewhere other than the place where you specificaly left it. Gur'r'r! and tripping over stuff on the floor is annoying, though I haven't had it happen to me, in quite some time. There aren't any small children in this house, and our old toys have been gone for ages.
OK, I'm going to focus things away from sighted folks for a bit. I can't stand blind people with superior attitudes that harshly judge others who may not be as successful as they are or have the same proficiency at some skills that they have. I do wish people would try to lighten up, empathize a bit and get over themselves, but one can dream, yes?
Of course they can.
Ok,
I'm going to focus on things I dislike about blind people since the sighted aspect for me anyway, have already been covered. I do not like it when blind people rock, eyepoke, don't turn their heads when they talk to you, don't lift their heads up off their chests, or bounce all over the place, like they've got springs on them. I also dislike blind people who chew with their mouths open, don't have good manners at all and act like just because they're blind, they should be entitled to this or that, that a sighted person wouldnt get. For example, their food cut up at a restaurant. I don't like it when blind people act sueerior to other blind people like they're the greatest thing on earth and to be worshiped. I don't like blind people who don't like to interact with sighted people, or have sighted friends. I don't like blind people who have to constantly talk about things for the blind, such asscreen readers, talking cell phones and that sort of thing. I don't mind that sort of conversation every once in awhile, but it gets really old to me rather quickly. I believe that not only do all these things hurt our reputation as blind people in a sighted world, but some of them confirm the misconseptions that a lot of sighted people have about blind ones. For example, I know that if I were sighted and had always been so and I came up to a blind person who I tried to have a conversation with and all that blind person could do was start telling me about blind schools, camps for the blind, guide dogs, technology for the blind, jokes that only blind people would get, and on and on, I'd be disgusted and might even think of them as shallow, or at the very least that they live in a different world. Which, in my case anyway, is not so. It's not the case with a lot of my blind friends either. The blind people I've met who have this attitude, I feel sad for, because they don't know what they're missing. I've seen glimpses of them and a lot of them are beautiful people but they don't try to break out of the blindshell that surrounds them. When I talk to a sighted person, I try to talk about things they'd understand. just because blindness is a part of me, it's not completely who I am and I don't like it when blind people seem to think that just because they're blind, they have to completely live in a blind box.
Take Care,
Dawnielle
quite right, and the rocking annoys me too. the weird part about that is: even though someone can't see, they can tell when the person they're talking to does it, because their voice moves with them, or something like that. kind of difficult to explain
Now hold on there, Softy! I have to disagree with you on one point. I would not hold a blind person's lack of sighted friends against them because unless I know their side of the story, I'm in no position to say anything and even if I were, who really gives a good goddamn anyhow? See, it's this infuriating double standard I can't stand. OK, so sighted folks judge everything we do because we're blind. I know that, but ya know what? There's no magic way to act or look or anything that'll change that. People can just know one thing about any person or look at them for a second and pass judgment, but people who judge that quickly just don't matter in the long run. As I grow older, I care less and less what others think of me, because most judgment seems to come out of ignorance. It's not helpful and it'll never make me do waht people want me to do. Do we fault Christians for wanting to do things with other Christians instead of gaining more atheist friends? Do we fault African-Americans for not hanging out with enough white folks? Probably not. I also think that if a blind person behaves badly that they are the only ones responsible for that. Again, if a person thinks because you've seen one blind person, you've seen them all, they are fools, plain and simple. I'm frankly tired of having to acknowledg e fools, because if a person is ignorant and is happy staying that way, that is their problem and nothing I can do can fix it. You ahve to be open to learning in order to be educated, ya can't force it.
Well, I hate three kind of situations:
1. When I meet someone and the first question is before asking me name: "How old were you when you become blind?"
2. When people ask to others to tell me something like if I couldn't hear or I'm not good enough to make them talk to me! This makes me really sad;
3. When I'm alone in the street and people take my arms and without saying nothing they take me like an object! I know the intention is good because they want help but the result is terrible because they make me feel less than a human beeing!
Well there are many things more but I don't want be boring! Hahaha! Take care! Jorge
I hate being grabbed by someone, or people moving things around without telling me. That makes me so mad!
I know people have asked if I want any help before, but I've heard that a lot of people will, if the blind person says yes to the help, take their arm instead of the other way round.
Many really good points were raised since I last looked at this topic. The one that concerns me most is the superior attitude some individuals who are blind communicate to other people who are blind. I find it more offensive than a sighted person doing the same thing, because it comes from one who should know better.
Lou
I hate it when someone just saunters up to me when I'm crossing the street, grabs my cane and starts trying to pull me across the street by my cane. My travel and cane skills are good, and I can't take it when someone assumes that, just because I'm blind, that I don't know where I'm going. It's even worse when they can't speak freakin English! "My freen, my freen!"
wow, people grabbing your cane to get you across the street? good Lord, I wouldn't know what to do in that situation.
I've had someone grab my cane, and when I had a dog, someone once came up and grabbed her harness handle, which sent my blood pressure through the roof! I will sometimes tolerate unpleasant situations like this involving myself, but I absolutely won't tolerate people getting involved with my dog. I don't mind letting people pet my dog, but I expect to be asked first. I'm not opposed to causing a bit of pain while removing a hand from my dog's fur. LOL
Yes, I hate to be steered from behind, pushed, I just dislike to be touched at all. A light tap on the shoulder is acceptable, so I know the person is speaking to me, but anything more is rude and intrusive.
As for someone taking your arm, rather than the proper way, just ask if you can take their elbow instead, or say, "I'd rather take your arm, please." and just do so. This usually works.
I have it in for people who come up and first off, ask what the dog's name is. If I'm asked for my name, or some other reasonable, polite intro to conversation, then I'm happy to talk about my dog and even to reveal her name, but I cannot stand to be asked the dog's name first. Strangers do not have a right to know, or to interact with my dog, and I will either pretend not to have heard, or explain that I don't give out her name, or on occasion, I've just given some other name that's not even the dog's real name. LOL Just depends on what sort of day I'm having.
Seriously, in India, we don't have guide dogs. and we are all depending upon the canes alone. and, we don't have any accessible traffic signals either. in such case, blind persons require sighted assistance in various places like crossing the roads and for identifying the shops which we wanted and so on. and the another main thing is, we surely wanted sighted assistance for knowing the bus numbers since we don't have any announcements here.
I can surely say a blind indian can survive in any other countries since he or she might have faced a lots and lots of practical difficulties in this inaccessible country.
moreover, due to the bloody culture here, mostly sighted women won't come forward to help a blind man. they feel shy for holding a blind man's hands and helping him to cross the roads even.
so totally what I hate here is, if I ask for the bus number, most of them won't say that to me immediately. they will ask, "where do you want to go?" and blah blah blah. and in the meantime, the bus will go off. then the culture thing, which is interepting women's mind to not to help a blind man. also the earlier cane grabbing thing while helping us. this happens a lots here in india too. Likewise, I can keep on giving you the lists which I hate. but I don't wana make y'all to skip my topic so let me shut up and get out of here. eh?
Raaj.
wow! I had totally forgotten about this board, but I'm glad I re-read it. The cane grabbing thing is really anoying, and sometimes I feel like telling the person to put it down and help me the propper way. However, it's really cute when a little kid holds on to it though, cause they don't kno any better, pluse the cane is taller than they are.
I haven't had a little kid rab my cane yet. I was at the movies once and this little girl kept following the cane, and her mom's like, "that helps her see. Don't touch it."
i hate when people talk to whomever i am with instead of me. i also hate breaking dishes accidently.
Probably most of mine have been mentioned already, but here we go anyway. Like with many of you, any buzzing insects totally freaks me out, especially when I'm sitting in a quiet place. I get really nervous about sudden drops or steps, even when I have my cane out in front of me or I know they're coming. And I have the thing where I don't like certain textures. To this day, I won't eat mashed potatoes.
The only time anyone ever asked me to feel their face was a few months ago in England. I'd heard of that happening to other people but not to me. It was really weird to suddenly have this complete stranger come up to us, ask if I was born unable to see, and then offer to let me feel their face since apparently being unable to see all my life I have no idea what a face looks like. Sighted people are strange sometimes.
It's hard being the only blind person most sighted people ever come into contact with. You really have to be on your guard, thinking about what sort of image of the blind everywhere you're sending out. That's why I sometimes have a problem with our current governor. Gov. Paterson is legally blind, but does not use a cane or read Braille. He is escorted around by aides and depends on other people to read everything to him. Now I understand that people with varying degrees of vision have different ways of coping, but I'm really worried about what sort of message this is sending not only to the sighted public, but to the little blind/vi kids out there.
After a long time of reading this board, I think I'll post my thoughts. hahah. First, I hate ALL buzzy things, and all bugs i general. I ca see what u mean chris about Governor Paterson. I am also texture sensitive (I think that's the way to say it). I also don't like the fact that people ask me if I can actualy se the TV or play the game I'm playing. All I have to do is get close to it, and I'm good to go. I don't mind it when people tell me that when I am reading braille that that is so cool. I have some people actualy ask me to teach them, but that has neer really happened. Most of them say it is jsut random "bumps", which I understand because their fingers aren't used to it. I have never had someone grab my cane and pull it across the street. Like some of u, I don't know wht I would do in that situation. Well, that's it for me. l8r, Mike
1. sighted people who won't hire blind people
2. sighted people who wont' hire blind people and tell them, wel, us, how wonderful it is that we made it to the interview all on our own.
3. sighted people who won't rent apartments to blind people
4. sighted people who can get away without doing things that are in their job descriptions like bus drivers who won't announce stops or cab drivers who won't take people with guide
dogs while if we don't do something in a job description we lose the job.
5. government agencies that don't folow the law (like provideing material in formats we can access.
6. People who work for agencies that don't folow the law and feel the need to shame us for it - "don't you have a friend who can read that to you?" as if having friends means they all
gather in your living room every morning to do work for you. Or as if their 100 page print document was the only print you'd ever need to deal with or the only one that is really important.
7. the concept of "the sighted world"
8. that there are so few of us yet we hold each other responsible for the stupidity, ignorance, prejudices and discrimination that many sighted people exhibit.
9. The pressure we put each other under to be some ideal of a "perfect blind person" instead of holding ignrant sighted people responsible for not seeing us as individuals.
10. When sighted people use blindness as a metaphor for ignorance and ask us if we mind. And complain if we do.
11. People who yell "why don't you get a dog" when we dont' have one. When I didn't I'd yel back things like, oh, dogs, I ate the last one for dinner.
12. People yelling at us if we have dogs that we should give our dogs time off.
13. People assuming we can't take care of our dogs without the great sighted hope to help us out.
14. People who tell me my dog is thirsty and I'm cruel for not giving them water 2 minutes after I've left my house.
15. People yelling at us when were using canes that we're about to walk into a wall.
16. People yelling at us if we're using dogs that we're about to walk into a wall.
17. People randomly yelling out directions like, "two inches to the left" and getting angry if I don't folow them.
18. having to wait for someone on a street corner or in front of a building and having to answer one person after another asking with worried voices if I need help.
19. Trying to talk on my cell phone in public and having someone buzzing arund me asking if I need help so that I can't hear the person I'm talking to.
20. Sighted people assuming if you're blind and involved in a conversation with someone else, that their need to know how you tie your shoes is more important than what you are
doing.
21. Pokers, patters, pushers and grabbers - people who so desperately need to give me a seat on the subway that they poke, pat, push or grab whichever of my body parts or articles
of clothing they can reach.
22. People who watch other people poke, pat, push and grab parts of my body, including parts and manners that in non-blind women would be considered sexual assault and scold me
when I pull away for upsetting the nice person who just wanted to help me.
23. Having ten or twenty people in a subway car scolding me from every direction for pulling away from the nice girl who just wanted to help me and i should be grateful that people want
to help me and I made her cry.
24. People who make a big show of all the help they want to give me and who don't give me the help I need because it's too much trouble.
25. Dishonesty. People who call my needs special when what they mean is "anoying extra work that we don't want to do." I long for the day I'll get an application form for a conference
that says: "do you have any needs that we'll find anoying and that will make extra work for us but that we have to do to comply with the law?"
26. People asuming that because I have good mobility I'm not blind.
27. People telling me how wonderful it is that I don't look blind and expecting me to thank them for the compliment.
28. People who are nasty to me when I ask for information that is only available visually, then apologize for not seeing my guide dog, then tell me how wonderful it is that I dont' look
blind. Then expect some response.
29. doing my best immitation eye contact to make sighted people feel comfortable just like I'm supposed to and being pushed to tell them all sorts of personal information about my
eyes and how they do or don't work andhow much vision I do or don't have and if I was always blind.
30. Breaking down and ansering someone when they ask personal questions about my eyes and having them say "I knew it" when they actually have no clue.
31. companies that send me large print when I request braille because it's all the same.
32. being pushed to say if I have any vision because soemone "needs to know how to help" as if the two were connected or as if they actually would know
33. People assuming there is some special way to treat all blind people and that they can learn it from a booklet.
34. Blindness agencies that issue booklets about how to treat blind people. I want to run a dorky, tear jerky campaign called "just say hi".
35. Being ggrabged, pushed, prodded, patted and poked and then having the person doing it explain they only did it because they don't know how they're supposed to act around blind
people
36. Sighted people who assume all the rules of courtesy they use with each other don't apply because i'm blind.
37. Walking into a room or bus or train and having people go silent or start talking about the dog they had as a child and clearly following my movement with their voices because it's OK
to stare at blind people because they can't see you.
38. Being with sighted friends or my daughter and not knowing what to do to make them feel better when everyone is staring at us.
39. News broadcasts or debates or other programming on TV that is totally verbal and then they don't say who's speaking or that it's a quote from someone else from 200 years ago
because they wrote it on the screen.
40. hearing about somehitn that is of interest on TV and then hearing "for more information call"
silence.
41. Watching a movie that seems to end on an up beat and then the whole theater grows quiet and knowing something bad happened but it's written on the screen.
42. Peple asking if I need help and then, when I say no, asking "are you sure"
43. People who write 42 points in answer to one question when anything past 20 belongs on the rant board.
A note on Governor Paterson. I think that however he accomplishes what he does is irrelevant. While the skills he doesn't have can be important, they are important in order to achieve
things that he manages to achieve without them. He has turned into a great spokesperson for blind people and disabled people in general. if you read the interviews Paterson has given
since becoming governor, you'll see he quickly turns every conversation about his blindness back to issues like the high unemployment rate among blind and deaf people and how that
needs to be changed. And he doesn't get into how much vision he has, He owns his blindness, jokes a little about it, and moves on
he dos epitomize what we all seem to claim - that blindness isn't the relevant factor in how a person does their job.
Stepping down off my soap box, folding it up, and going off to bed.
Things I hate: (Not in any order)
1 People who make you touch their face or someone else's
2 not being able to drive
3 The cost of blindie stuff (cookware, talking watches, computers)
4 Not being able to look at books or magazines or CD's at my leisure, (I have to either scan it, or ask for someone to look at it for me)
5 People who make you feel like you should be kissing the ground they walk on for doing stupid shit like walking you to your destination or reading something
6 (in the US.) Not being able to know what my bills are unless I fold them a certain way oR unless I buy some stupid machine to tell me that's wrong half the time anyway
7 Same with qe color of my shirt or the color of my son's socks
8 When people say, "It looks like somebody blind dressed you," or "You look handicapped when you don't look at people when they talk to you."
9 Not being able to freely get around in my area where I live unless I make special arrangements
10 People either saying you should get eye-surgery or healing so you can see (I have no desire to see, nor will I ever have a desire to see)
11 When old people kiss you and pat on you and call you a poor thing and say they're so sorry for you, all because you can't see
12 When you say, "I watched that movie," or "I saw my mom today," and people go, "You can't see, so don't say that."
13 When people, even little kids think they can just disrespect you just because you're different than them
14 When certain books you want aren't accessible to you
15 Not being able to see my son's smile, his eyes, or even when he's looking in to my eyes or smiling at me from across the room
I could probably come up with tons more, but I don't wanna bore you, so, there's my list.
Jesus thats alot of bitching!
i dislike
1. People who "bitch" about "bitching" (lol, see above), just kidding by the way. I ahve experienced most of the stuff you all have talkg and I guess waht hurts me the most and really gets to me is prejudice. Stupid, brainless idiots who go like "you are blind so you don't know" or "you are blind so it doesn't matter." Or people who make assumptions: "oh, so I guess the computer keyboard has braille you can can feel it and blah blah blah." As soon as I hear any of these things I really take the shrugged face and put it on and exclaim, "excuse me but how would you know? close your eyes and then after living that way for 10 years we'll talk again." Well the living for 10 years part is not added usually, but the "how wuold you know" part reminds people about their assumptions, and you know what happens when you assume... discrimination on an employment basis can really be fixed... you just have to gather the help from groups and organizations. Make the peopel who hire be competent: "I guess i shsould work at KFC instead of here then, because they are able and willing to hire people regardless of their disabilit... thanks for your tiem anyway." Then just leave. Leave as quickly as you can. I would rather give people a taste of their own medicine rather than keep myself quiet. It works. You might get bitter treatment from other people but it is true.
I dislike:
1. people wanting to help u even after u said "no" three times and won't accept it.
2. to need help by buying some CD's
3. not being able to read all books, cause they aren't accessible!
4. people touching me, just because they want to help me and don't say a word.
5. not being able to register on some websites, just because there is a graphikcode on it!
There is lots or more, but I am to lazy to tell it all.
urs Sharpay
i hate when people turn me and push me in another direction which totally comfuses me.