Partially sighted in a blind/sighted world

[cosmolinguist]

I really like this (except for the terrible headline, which I know isn't the writer's fault: we're partially sighted, not partially blind!).

My eye condition isn't degenerative like this person's is, but since I've still recently made the transition from "trying to pretend I'm a sighted person", about a year ago, reading all this was really powerful. I'm not used to seeing these experiences talked about. The recognition and identification feel really comforting.

I absolutely agree that not nearly enough is widely understood about who carries what cane and why, the huge variety of ways a person can have partial sight, and how best to interact with us. While my anxiety is a lot better when I'm using the cane because I'm not being held to a standard I can't reach, it is sometimes worse if I do anything that makes me seem "sighted," like reading or dodging an obstacle I couldn't find with my cane. I haven't had such negative experiences as I read about here, but I recognize them as something I have to be prepared for.

I spent all afternoon at the first meeting of the rebooted Visual Impairment Steering Group I'm now kinda leading, which was great but it was only supposed to last an hour and I'm exhausted now but it's only reaffirmed how much I want to teach sighted people how to be sighted.

Comments

[jenett]

Oh, that's a great article, yeah. (We give out little cards printed on transparent film that give an idea of different vision impairments, which people find very informative.)

[alatefeline]

Quote. how much I want to teach sighted people how to be sighted. Endquote.

If you feel like it, I'd be up for homework assignments on the topic.

I had a longer explannation I'll only post if you want it.

[cosmolinguist]

I've talked about doing a little "Overcoming Your Sightedness" zine or comic or something (I really want it to have illustrations, but I cannot draw...) with this kind of "homework" in. I might try it out on my blog (that seems more likely to happen, at least, since I'm good at blog and bad at drawing!).

[jesse_the_k]

OMG yes there surely is a need for "Etiquette for the Sighted."

My favorite exemplar of upending annoying "disability etiquette" trips is the Institute for the Study of the Neurologically Typical, from autistics.org

http://web.archive.org/web/20101225092135/http://isnt.autistics.org/index.html

[cosmolinguist]

My (autistic) husband loves that. :)

[alatefeline]

Noted.

[lilysea]

Thank you for this post. ^_^

It reminds me a bit of being a wheelchair user who can walk some.

You get so much hostility when you stand up out of your powerchair to get something off a shelf, people asking "Why do you use a mobility scooter when you can walk????" etc etc.

I've decided from now on I'll say "Because I can only safely walk about 24 metres, and most of the world isn't 24 metres from my front door!"

[cosmolinguist]

That is a great response. I'd want it as a pin badge or a sign or something I could just point to -- to help reinforce that this is a stupid question that gets asked all the time.

[jesse_the_k]

Excellent!

[barakta]

Half the issue is that deafies DO use "partially deaf" -- I swear we do it all just to confuzzle the poor non sensorily impaired :D

I liked the article and had wondered if you had seen it!

Liking the teaching sighted people how to be sighted - we need it more!