OBcean’s Rant: ‘The Truth About Blindness’

By Allison Depner

You’ve probably seen me traipsing around O.B. wearing a tie-dyed T-shirt or dress along with dangly earrings while using my white cane.  Lately, I’ve added sunglasses and a hat to my ensemble. As a blind person, I’ve encountered all sorts of behaviors from sighted people. The most common reaction I encounter is unsolicited help in the form of taking hold of my arm. Other reactions include telling me that a curb is coming up and silencing a conversation until I pass. I’ve also been accused of pretending to be blind or being able to see more than I let on.

Until yesterday, these mostly benign behaviors have been somewhat easy to ignore and could be attributed to ignorance. Sure, sometimes I feel annoyed, and respond with impatience and irritation.  I try to remind myself that the average well-meaning person on the street probably doesn’t know that telling me about the upcoming curb actually distracts me from focusing on the tactile information that I receive from my cane. I realize that most people truly want to help, and their hearts are in the right place.

So, what happened yesterday?

Between 4:00 and 5:00 P.M. as I walked down Cable Street, someone approached from the opposite direction. As this person passed me, he or she said, “Stay out of my way, you disabled retard!” No, I ‘m not exaggerating. I heard the person loud and clear. I truly couldn’t tell if the voice belonged to a man or woman. Then the person said, “I know you can see anyway. You’re just in it for the benefits.”

As I said, I’ve encountered a wide range of reactions to my blindness over the many years. But I’ve never been verbally assaulted with so much hatred and hostility. Well, I told the person what he or she could do with his or her opinion!

Because I know that there is a plethora of incorrect assumptions regarding blindness and blind people, I’ve decided that it’s time to get a few facts straight.

1. Blindness is not an all or nothing condition. It is a continuum. While total blindness does exist, most people identified as blind have some vision. The severity and nature of vision loss varies from person to person. I, for example, have some vision in one eye, though extremely limited. I can’t read street signs, recognize faces, or read print. I’m also night blind and have no depth perception.

I wear glasses, but they only improve my vision to a small degree; they do not correct my vision. Other blind individuals have more vision, but they still can’t drive. Still others have even less vision but still see light and shadows. So, what is blindness? A person is considered blind if the lack of full vision causes the need to use special accommodations to function. Using Braille or large print and placing tactile markings on appliances are such accommodations. Others include using a white cane for travel, using a screen reader to work on the computer as I am now doing, and using extreme magnification to read mail or other documents.

2.      Blind people are not “in it for the benefits”. At no time did I ever think that obtaining Social Security Disability and Medicare would be worth giving up driving and the ability to read print.

3.      No one can walk into a Social Security office and just claim to be blind or disabled in anyway. I may criticize our government, but I’ve never thought SSA workers were that naive or stupid. There are complex forms that a doctor must complete absolutely correctly before Social Security determines whether a person is eligible for benefits.

4.      Competence does not equal fakery. When you see a blind person who travels extremely well or who is able to use an ATM machine without assistance, he or she has worked hard to become a competent and independent member of the community. I’m reminded of a discussion I overheard about a blind man using an ATM. One gentleman said, “he walked up, inserted his card and pressed all the right buttons really fast. So, I know he can see more than he’s letting on.” The blind person under such scrutiny had probably used that same ATM many times and memorized the sequence of which buttons to press in order to make a withdrawal. I’ve done this many times myself. Hearing people make these types of comments is especially aggravating because they make me feel as though I’m being punished for being competent.

In closing, I must express how stunned and deeply hurt I felt after the encounter I described above. I’ve no doubt that the person who called me a “disabled retard” would never have done so if there had been other people present. It’s obvious that he or she has issues that really have nothing to do with me. However, that knowledge doesn’t lessen the pain. Not only was this incident hurtful, but it was scary. I believe it is a sign of the times. People are emboldened to say or do anything. I feel less safe now. And my love for Ocean Beach has been just a little tainted.