[nabs-l] Establishing expectations

[JMassay]

Jim,

 

I have several concerns regarding your message about setting up expectations
for people that you might work with or for, or meet in your personal life:

1. In meeting and being with others in a work setting or in a social
environment , it is not everyone else's responsibility to adjust to your
"oddities" of behavior, nor  to move out of your way as you are trailing
your hand down the hall.  (Which, I do at home, because no one else is
around.)

2. Many of us carry and utilize a long white cane, not to identify ourselves
to others, but in order to independently travel.  Plain and simple. When
using the cane, people normally ask me if I need help or how they can
interact with me within our environment, whether work or school. 

3. Lastly, blindness is normal.  When you meet someone, if you feel
comfortable with yourself, you don't need to hand them a laundry list of how
you need to be viewed or "handled". I would much rather someone know for
sure that I'm blind and can confidently travel with my cane rather than look
like a drunk or behaviorally inappropriate. It is respectable to be blind.

 

Jeannie 

Oklahoma