Category: the Rant Board
Hi. Been a long time since I dealt with any so-called blind bullshit. Other, of course, than the guy who thought I was going to spill my coffee. But anyway, someone comes up to me at work today and introduces herself. I had met her before but it was years ago so I had forgotten her name. Anyway she's like, "So should I tell you who Iam every time I talk to you?" I wonder if she thinks my friends and family introduce themselves on every occasion? Fuck. And, less importantly, I found out that one of my online friends, with whom I have talked off and on for at least three years, basically thinks I am blind and weird. Fuck that too. LOL
Does this person think your weird because your blind? Just ignore stupid people.
Everyone, whether you are sighted, deaf, fat, ugly, skinny, cripoled
And then you have morons like me that push the send button too soon. Anyway, my point is that no matter who u r, u r wierd. Normal is an immaginary thing that people came up with to make themselves fit in.
Ok that's bullshit! people think I'm wierd, so I keep acting wierder! Lol
hey it was worse for me i was in a hospital and they wouldnt let me go to the bath room by my self they were afraid i would ffall just because i was blind they also wouldnt let me do other things for my self they wouldnt let me walk around the unit i was on the psych ward the other kids could walk around when we werent in group or something but i couldnt
Depends on what kind of weird it is. Is it the creative, quirky, amusing kind of wierd, or is it the creepy, psycho, body-parts-in-the-basement kind of weird. I'd think for most of us tagged as weird it would be the former. I always wondered what was so great about being normal in the first place and why so many people seem to want to be that way? Then again, it could be my definition. Normal equals, conformist, bland, average, mediocre, etc. Am I on the right track? Hahahahahaha!
That is stupid! That's why a lot of the sighted community piss me off!
Troy
I don't have too much trouble with wierd sighted people. What the fuck is wierd anyway. I heard it said once that it's strange to be normal and it's normal to be strange.
what really fucks me off, and I mean really fucks me off is the over protective streak in sighted ppl towards blind or vi ppl. some act as if we don't know waht a risk assessment is! It's like, I make a cup of tea, i do that every dammed day of my life and some ppl when they hear that I boil a kettle, and worse still pour the water into the teapot, go right off the handle and call the men in white coats! Man that fucks me off! Another thing that gets me is when over protective *read scared shitless* businesses restrict you from doing waht a sighted person would do, despite the fact you've done it times and times before, and that if you could only show them that it's not dangerous for you, you could keep on doing the thing you were doing before. Like as I said in another post, I've been grooming horses for years, and I approached a riding stable to see if I could go and do said same thing. I was refused, and get this, because the horse might step on me or back me into a corner! For situation one, wear steel toed boots, and for situation two, push the horse away from you! Dam simple, but oh no, they scream insurance and stop us from enjoying ourselves. As if we've not got enough to cope with. I know, let's stop sighted ppl driving cars on the grounds that they are dangerous, which they are. I'll bet there have been more accidents with cars than there have with horses stepping on the toes of poor, helpless blind ppl. Fuck this litigious culture!
As part of the sighted community, I can not imagine how you feel or how some of us piss you off. But I can tell you that I am not like most sighted people.
I will not come grab a blind person or make any kind of judgements about them.
since 5th grade I was friends with a girl suffering from Battens Disease, it's a disease I think of the nerves. It blinded her, and when she could still walk, I helped her, no questions asked. She preferred that I helped her because I was her friend, and she knew I wasn't going to do something stupid with her. She trusted me. Anyway watching her deteriorate from the disease was painful, because we were very close. She died last year.
But just letting you know I am not a bad person becuase i am sighted. We aren't all jerks.
You can talk to me, I am a very nice person, who don't judge people by what they have, don't have, look like etc.
just standing up for myself LOL. But yeah please get in contact with me, it won't hurt.
Hehe, playing the devil's (I mean sighted people's) advocate .. if you guys think about it the sight people who are actually dumb enough to talk to you are the ones you notice. May be 90% of sighted people are totally cool with blind people and so treat the,m like anyone else (i.e. just walk by them in public without stupid comments) and you never notice that. Not to say the situation is this good, I've had a lot of incidents that annoy me but I think, I really do think, people are getting a little better, at least around my work place (then again may be I just want to imagine it). Funny, I had friends with baton's desease, they were siblings and they both died, it was definitely awful to watch them go down like they did .. but that's off topic I guess, just thought it was a funny coincidence. ... Let's just try and forgive the sighteesk <grin> they don't know better I suppose. ;) Yay to weird people!
the public's thought are wierd. cause they think we are wierd we are strange ECT ECT. so what? who cares? yes i'm wierd, i'm strange, so? but i can do better than all of you who think yourselves are normal and think we are wierd. all my fellow members come on, cheers for the blind. even we are blind but our heart is better than those who are sighted. don't you think so?
and my friend wiht battens there are 3 kids in the family who all have it. the 2 girls died. The son is still alive, but is now totally blind. He is deteriorating faster than both the girls.
I don't think our hearts are any better or worse than those of sighted people :) let's just cherish what we are without thinking we're superior nor inferior to anyone and enjoy the uniqueness we have :) or weirdness shall I say. ;)
cheers
-B
Wildebrew, gotta agree with you about how blind folks really are no better or worse than your average sighted person out there. But as to your earlier post about sighted people just walking by you, do you think these folks want to say something and connect but just don't know how or are so terrified of unintentional offence that htey do nothing? It's that other ten percent who are in that same boat but throw caution to the winds and just open up and say something. Problem is, we seem to be perceived as people you say and do kind things to, but outside of that we don't have much at all in common. Just one of my odd observations so of course I could be totally off my rocker here.
You know, this is a cool observation, I didn't think about it.
Yes, sadly I think a lot of people think we're so weird that we can't be talked to, they could commend us on how amazing we are because we can actually walk around by ourselves and even, don't be shocked folks, yes, even take the bus!!! I mean, how coragious are we?
I sort of figured that if folks can't be convinced (those who dare to talk to us) after a 5-minute conversation that we're at least normal people (they don't have to like us or think we're awesome, it's good if they do) and still think we're some sort of special cases they're just not worth our time. But, I mean, generally speaking, how many people stop and talk to strangers, blinded or sighted, at least in Charlotte pretty much no one does, the only time a person stops you on the street it's because it's someone you know, sad but true, at least for here.
I think because of the news or changing times or just general fear, any stranger is seen as a possible threat. But I get the impression that at least some of the public think we're kind of living in our own world and can't relate to the sighted world. How many people act surprised if you mention you went to a movie the other day or are a fan of this or that TV show or that you just can't stand Stevie Wonder or Ray Charles and would rather listen to something totally different? What's missing here?
I don't think I've ever been seen as weird, but if I have, I really don't give a shit what people say about me.
I agree. I think unless you're applying for a job or something similar, when you're just living your day-to-day life most people's opinions just don't hold a lot of water, simply because it's easier to find fault with someone than not to. This is why I'm not so self-conscious about expressing myself, because I think if people use their imaginations or are bored enough, they can come up with a reason to criticize you where none really exists, so you might as well be yourself and stop trying to please the invisible audience all the time. But on the other hand, I still feel a litttle odd when folks say I'm amazing when I'm not doing anything out of the ordinary. Yes, it's better than being seen as a pathetic loser, but I think my thing is that I'm being made out to be something much greater than what I think I really am, and if so, what are my expectations in that person's eyes? Am I a hero or role model of some kind?