*sigh*
Overheard as I was walking (using my cane) to go retrieve the retriever from the groomer:
Chirpy-type young woman walking past me in the other direction, loudly to ... her friend(?), her phone(?) ...
"Oh yeah, I should tell you. Stacy accidentally kicked a blind person's cane...? And he fell over ...?"
It sounded more like she was amused by the whole thing.
Then I get to PetCo, am about to step up onto the sidewalk, and another woman steps in front of me ...
"Are you turning? Going straight?" (Not a problem question, I answer by turning, checking the height of the step up, and take it.)
In chirpy, I'm-talking-to-a-five-year-old-voice she continues though, "There's a step up there. It's a big one! (It wasn't that bad) THEEEEERE you go."
My cane skills are rusty, and I overshoot the entrance I'm looking for, but as I'm approaching the next door, a guy says, "You're not trying to go to the Mac Store are you?" I mean, I wasn't, but why term it that way? Why not, "Are you looking for the Mac Store?"
I mean, I've heard that phrasing my entire life, "You're not trying to take this (math, automechanics, cooking, tai chi, yoga, computer ...) class are you? You're not trying to get (this job, this audition, the same chance) are you? You don't expect (to be treated reasonably, to be served in as timely a manner as any other customer, to be spoken to as an equal) do you?"
Is it any wonder I've almost given up* on sighted people?** The sense of ableist entitlement and "I know things better than you do" arrogance I encounter on a regular basis is stunning. And this was all within about 3 blocks of home.
And yet I don't automatically assume that any random sighted person I meet is mentally deficient. Maybe I should though. Odds seem to be in my favor.
That said, surprisingly, when I got inside PetCo, I had no problems at all. (That particular store has not had the best customer service in my experience.)
* I don't give up on my friends, and this is generally about strangers and random encounters, and trying to meet new people.
** Blind people are no great bastian of intelligence and thoughtfulness either, but their/our issues are a different ball of wax, and are generally not things I have to expect to encounter at random.
Chirpy-type young woman walking past me in the other direction, loudly to ... her friend(?), her phone(?) ...
"Oh yeah, I should tell you. Stacy accidentally kicked a blind person's cane...? And he fell over ...?"
It sounded more like she was amused by the whole thing.
Then I get to PetCo, am about to step up onto the sidewalk, and another woman steps in front of me ...
"Are you turning? Going straight?" (Not a problem question, I answer by turning, checking the height of the step up, and take it.)
In chirpy, I'm-talking-to-a-five-year-old-voice she continues though, "There's a step up there. It's a big one! (It wasn't that bad) THEEEEERE you go."
My cane skills are rusty, and I overshoot the entrance I'm looking for, but as I'm approaching the next door, a guy says, "You're not trying to go to the Mac Store are you?" I mean, I wasn't, but why term it that way? Why not, "Are you looking for the Mac Store?"
I mean, I've heard that phrasing my entire life, "You're not trying to take this (math, automechanics, cooking, tai chi, yoga, computer ...) class are you? You're not trying to get (this job, this audition, the same chance) are you? You don't expect (to be treated reasonably, to be served in as timely a manner as any other customer, to be spoken to as an equal) do you?"
Is it any wonder I've almost given up* on sighted people?** The sense of ableist entitlement and "I know things better than you do" arrogance I encounter on a regular basis is stunning. And this was all within about 3 blocks of home.
And yet I don't automatically assume that any random sighted person I meet is mentally deficient. Maybe I should though. Odds seem to be in my favor.
That said, surprisingly, when I got inside PetCo, I had no problems at all. (That particular store has not had the best customer service in my experience.)
* I don't give up on my friends, and this is generally about strangers and random encounters, and trying to meet new people.
** Blind people are no great bastian of intelligence and thoughtfulness either, but their/our issues are a different ball of wax, and are generally not things I have to expect to encounter at random.