In most cases, it is a good thing for people to ask questions.
I have no problem with friends, family, acquaintances, or even total
strangers for that matter wanting to know about blindness issues.
I think this is more than fair especially as blindness is not
something most people know a lot about and I wouldn't expect them
to. However, that said, it is prudent for one to think about
what they are asking before said person just starts saying things.
So I thought I would use this post as an opportunity to tell all of
you about the three most ridiculous questions I have encountered
regarding blindness. The first two are ones that were asked to
me and the third is one that was put to some friends of mine. I
hope you all enjoy and for all my blind friends and readers out
there, this is by no means meant to be an exhaustive list. I'm
sure you have plenty of your own and I would enjoy being amused along
with you if you feel like sharing any of them. Also, just a note of
warning, this will be a fairly sarcastic post, it just comes with the
topic.
How do you use a phone?
Now, this was a rather popular question as I was growing up. I
could perhaps give the questioner a bit more slack today, as
touchscreens have pretty much become the standard. It would be
a fair assumption that one who is not around blind persons often
would not be aware of all the access technology that is out there.
As a side note, I will be doing a post about such things in the
future, so stick around for that.
However, all that said, I was asked this 15/20 years ago. This
was in a time period before the mass production of flat, touchscreen
cell phones (writing this sentence is just reminding me how old I
am). The phones that one was inquiring of me how I use, had
this amazing feature called buttons! And these tactile objects were
usually quite pronounced at that. And to make it even more
obvious, often the number five button had a dot or other marking on
it, thus making it even easier to navigate said device. I mean
basically, as long as I could count in a straight row, I would easily
find the numbers I needed to dial. It really couldn't be much
easier.
How do you eat?
No, I'm not kidding. I wish I was, but alas no such luck.
I mean, it's been years and I consider myself a much more articulate
person than I was then, but even now I am still struggling with how
to answer this thought-out question without laughing hysterically.
I mean, perhaps all of my sighted readers can help me out here. You
can't see your own face, right? Do you need to make use of a mirror
when you eat? Are you afraid you will miss your own mouth? When
you're at the movie theater and eating from a bag of popcorn, do you
take your eyes off the screen and stare down at the food every time
you take a bite? Do you pull out a flashlight to see each kernel
clearly if the theater is too dark? How do I eat? Um, I just
do.
Back when we lived in Kansas City, there was this exhibit that was at
Union Station for quite a while. It was called “dining in the
dark.” The premise was that you had to be in total darkness
and attempt to do everyday tasks, such as cutting food, using
utensils and, of course, eating. Luke and I often talked about
us going and I would leave my cane in the car. It would have
been so amusing to do these tasks as I normally would while watching
everyone else (except Luke, he has become accustomed to accomplishing
tasks without light) spill food all over themselves and make other
such messes. I regret that I never amused myself in this way.
Luke could have taken video too! It would have been memorable, to say
the least.
Do blind people have sex?
Again, oh how I wish I were joking. And you thought the eating
question was absurd. Now, remember, I said that this last
question was put to friends of mine. Well, just to further
drive home the point of how utterly absurd this question was, those
asked were a husband and wife. They were introduced to the
people as such. And, oh it gets even better, the wife was
pregnant. I mean, don't most people (sighted or not) often do
said activity in the dark anyway? After all, it is a fairly,
shall we say, hands-on activity. But to give credit where it's
due to the couple, they gave some awesome answer like “No, we
reproduce in pods.”
So I sincerely hope this post will not discourage you from asking
intelligent and thought-out questions about blindness. I do
hope, however, that it will instill the need for common sense when
formulating the questions you would like to ask. Again, to my
blind friends and readers, please feel free to email me with
questions you have been asked, perhaps I could do a follow up to this
post.
