[BlindTlk] Waving at Someone

[Judy Jones]

Hi,

I have never been fully sighted, but I do remember as a kid my parents telling me to wave, so they must have taught me.  It can be anything from a hand raised toward the person and waggling your fingers, to simply raising your hand  at eye level.  

If your hands are full, try a nod toward the person.

When you're really trying to grab someone's attention in a big way from a distance, the bigger the wave.

The only way I know this is by growing up around demonstrative people and society and observing.  I must have been shown as a small child, for I can't see any motions like that.

Pay attention in books when authors are describing people's body language.

Judy


-----Original Message-----
From: BlindTlk <blindtlk-bounces at nfbnet.org> On Behalf Of Humberto Avila via BlindTlk
Sent: Saturday, June 26, 2021 2:10 PM
To: blindtlk at nfbnet.org
Cc: Humberto Avila <humberto_avila.it104 at outlook.com>
Subject: [BlindTlk] Waving at Someone

Dear fellow Blind community members, 

I have recently come across an article as part of a book I'm reading, which states a very interesting fact about dealing with people. It states, “Nobody waves, but everybody waves back.” From what I can understand this really means that one must take the initiative to interact with a new encountered person one meets, presumably infering that, in addition, people will be more open to approaching one when they are “waved” at. 

I have a question, seeing that this statement seems to only apply to sighted folks, again as how it is written. For those of you who were fully sighted before, do sighted people prefer waving? Do they prefer waving back at someone even when that someone says “Hello?” verbally? Is waving the prefered gesture and in which situations? How do you even wave, for that matter? I understand that, if I am using my trustworthy, awesome white cane, and if I am going to cross a given street at a given moment when someone is waiting for me to cross, that I have the option to wave them out, like moving my arm in a swinging, left to right fassion which would usually allow them to go on and still I can wait. What has been your experiences with waving or waving back,for that matter, as a blind person wanting an interaction? Is waving considered an equivalence to, for instance, saying “hello” to a stranger one may want / need to interact with, or is one better than the other? What do fully sighted folks like and prefer best nowadays? Quite frankly, I don't have that much experience with this concept, and I would like to try learning more about it, for my own networking purposes, as I will be on the market for a new job very soon. 

Thanks for your insights. Have an awesome weekend. 

Best, 

Humberto  
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