My name is Georgie, I’m the current president of CanDo, and I’m blind. Blind in the sense (hah) that I have 10% of the vision of a fully sighted person. Being a young blind person and having some usable sight seems to confuse people, and they temporarily lose the ability to think before they speak. Here are a few of the more absurd things people have said to me, and the comebacks I wish I thought of at the time:
“I’m blind without my glasses too!” — You’ve misinterpreted me. You’re “blind” WITHOUT your glasses (AKA not blind), I’m blind WITH my glasses. Without my glasses, I’ve reached some next level sorcery.
“It’s okay, you don’t look blind.” — What… does a blind person look like?? Because I looked pretty blind when I fell down the stairs approximately 0.2 seconds ago. Stinks of “you’re not like THOSE disabled people” too.
“WHAT’S WRONG WITH YOUR EEEEYES.” — I had a moment of panicked OH SHIT WHAT IS WRONG WITH THEM before realising what this person meant. But apparently I “don’t look blind.”
“Don’t worry, there’ll be a cure one day!” — There’s a cure for douchebaggery too but you don’t seem to have found it yet. Eyes are complicated, brains are complicated, and I’m pretty happy being blind.
“So… what happened?” — I… was born? I don’t know what you want me to say, I don’t have a tragic backstory. Even if I did you need another 50 approval points before unlocking it.
“Have you ever considered laser eye surgery.” — Now this one was incredibly impressive since it came from the person who had the power to accept or deny my disability support.