[NFBMO] An oldie but goodie: Meet the Sighted Month

[Daniel Garcia]

https://nfb.org/images/nfb/publications/bm/bm20/bm2003/bm200318.htm

 

An Apology to a Fine Humorist and One of Our Own

by Gary Wunder

 

In the November 2019 issue we ran an article entitled "Meet the Sighted
Month" and said it had been seen floating around Facebook. Well we should
have been smart enough to know that nothing floats around Facebook without
an author, and how wonderful it is to find that the author is none other
than Angela Fowler, a wonderful mother, humorist, and Federationist. We
apologize for running her article without attribution and take the
opportunity to share it once again, this time giving credit where it is
deserved.

 

Meet the Sighted Month

by Angela Fowler

 

October is Meet the Sighted Month. Throughout the month, sighted people will
hold events where we can mix and mingle and learn about the special
equipment and techniques they use to cope with the presence of eyesight.
Also, many sighted people will post invitations on Facebook encouraging us
to ask them questions, any questions we want, about their sightedness. To
kick off Meet the Sighted Month, I have put together this list of things to
keep in mind when interacting with the sighted.

 

Sighted people are often incapable of traveling, cooking, or doing much of
anything without the aid of light. While we use our other senses to enable
us to function perfectly well in the dark, sighted people have great
difficulty developing these skills. When you welcome the sighted into your
home, don't forget to turn on the lights.

Sighted people often cannot understand synthesized speech, and the text on a
Braille display is almost always unreadable to them. They must depend on
special equipment such as computer monitors and phone and tablet screens to
use their electronic devices. If you let a sighted person use your phone or
computer and forget to turn the screen on, they will be very confused.

Sighted people have difficulty learning from textual and verbal explanations
or tactile models. They often must be presented with pictures. A good rule
of thumb, when writing instructions for the sighted, is to include a picture
with each step.

Sighted people have great difficulty distinguishing auditory cues in their
environment. While we can tell when to cross a street by the sound of
traffic or where an entrance is by the sounds of people entering and
exiting, sighted people often must rely on visual information alone.

Sighted people rely heavily on an inaudible code called color. They use
color to safely navigate by car and perform countless other tasks we can
perform using auditory and tactile cues. Also, they are often quick to judge
us based on what colors we present to the world. It is important to gain at
least a working knowledge of color, so they don't think we're weird.

Sighted people often communicate displeasure using a secret signal called a
dirty look. I'll admit, I'm not exactly sure what this entails, except that
it sometimes causes sighted people to behave in ways which seem
inappropriate to the situation, i.e. telling someone off for no apparent
reason. As blind people immune to the effects of the dirty look, we can only
try to teach the sighted to use their words when communicating displeasure
with us.

So, there you have it. Keep these points in mind, and your next encounter
with a sighted person should be as smooth as a brand new NFB cane tip.

 


-- 

**Private voting is a right, it should not require sight. 
<https://nfbmo.org/PrivateVoting>**



The National Federation of the Blind 
knows that blindness is not the characteristic that defines you or your 
future. Every day we raise the expectations of blind people, because low 
expectations create obstacles between blind people and our dreams. You can 
live the life you want; blindness is not what holds you back.



 
<https://nfbmo.org/>

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