Awhile back I babbled a bit about the general public’s constant inquiry about a handler’s guide dog. More specifically I was noting my own irritation at the implied graciously forthcoming reaction we handlers should have to the relentless barrage of questions hurled at us on a daily basis. One fact that I neglected to really emphasize is that as both a guide dog handler and a blind person, these instances of public interaction demand our best performance. My father once explained this, in reference to me and Dolly as a team: “Whether you realize it or not, people are always watching you. You’re like a blinking, neon sign for being blind now.” Taken literally it’s kind of creepy — and so I try not to constantly think about it — but it he’s actually very much correct about how the public takes notice. Especially when there’s any negativity in what they witness.
I’ll be the first to emphasize the absolute suck that is the short end of this particular stick. I completely embrace the fact it’s a double standard of epic proportions. And if given the option I would stamp my feet, shove my fingers in my ears, and hum as loudly as possible to ignore it. Except I don’t. Not that I have the ability to always reply cheerily with every fact a person might desire. But I do my best to not be curt with people and take the time if I have it. Basically, I try to remember what my father said and keep in mind that this is one more person being educated about blindness and/or guide dogs; hopefully that person will be a ripple in a pond with the information. And for as much as this double standard irritates me, I’ve recently come to realize that I’m even more infuriated by the ignorance on the part of my fellow blinks and/or guide dog users.
Now before you get your canes all tangled up, let me ease your minds a bit. I’m not saying we’re ignorant about being blind or even about how to share worthwhile information about blindness with the sighted public. No, what I’m noticing is a much more profound issue: people who are ignorant of independence. Let’s face it, the general public think of any disability as cause for pity and coddling. They may not mean those things in the context of the supreme negativity associated with the precise definitions of those words, but it doesn’t change the fact. And it isn’t even something that’s distanced to the public — it’s often just as present in a disabled person’s own family.
Where am I going with all this? Well, more and more I’m noticing rather vocal blinks, and guide dog handlers alike, who proudly are announcing to the world how independent they are. And their examples of this absolutely boggle my entire mind. I’ll concede the point that complete self-reliance is nearly impossible. But when you use examples of dependence as your evidence of being independent, it doesn’t make a case for you or the rest of the blind population. It makes us ALL look like a bunch of incompetent schlubs. It only reinforces the public’s feeling that we need to be coddled and that they should pity us for our sad little lives. It sends the message that we really aren’t capable of anything more than adding to that 80% unemployment rate amongst the blind. Going back to my original point, it also breeds all those stupid questions from the public that make me mentally roll my eyes. In short, it makes those of us who actively work at our independence suffer.
What truly bewilders me is how this happened? Is this a chicken-or-the-egg type thing? Was the ignorance of a blind person’s abilities always lost on the blind themselves or has the general ignorance grown so widespread that the blind also have become infected by it?
Either way, I find myself at the same conclusion: Educating the general public is hard enough without needing to educate the blind population, too.
