[Ohio-Talk] Discrimination

[Cheree Heppe]

It is the middle of the Christmas season, 11 December, 2020, when the giving, sharing Christmas spirit is alive and well in Port Clinton, Ohio.

Following the practice I have always engaged in to make a dust cover for musical instruments, I walked to The Portage Shop, a thrift store run to raise money for the less fortunate among us, in order to find something fabric to make a dust cover for my troubadour harp.

Walking in, virtually no one there at about 9:45. Headed toward the counter. Still no hi, how are you, from the cashier, a common greeting when other people enter the store. Got close to the location of the cash register and said, I do hope we don't have to do this the hard way.

Within seconds, there was a woman, I believe her name is Mary, who offered to assist. I described what I would be looking for and she walked ahead. I followed. She eventually discovered that I wasn't going to wait by the counter and directed me too where tablecloths, pillow shams, various small quilts and things got displayed. Merry located a cream colored tablecloth which will make a good cover once fitted and cut correctly and stitched. Then, I wanted to look for more things of course. Mary said she had to go back to the counter.

The problem for a totally blind shopper is identification of color and other things which requires examination of every item, rather than targeting the items we might prefer. One of the other customers assisted me with finding a runner with a Persian theme that had dreadful beads on either end. The beads are now snipped, sorted and bagged in my sewing basket for another time.

Having no assistance from the store people, I found myself in the knickknacks, glasses, etc. section of the store. A set of four glasses that have sailboats or light houses on them caught my fancy and I wanted to find someone so that I could get a cart or basket. In walking to find someone, the edge of my rain cape brushed a knickknack from the shelf edge to the floor and it smashed and broke.

They hurried over, fretting and stewing about broken glass, keeping in mind that I did actually know. A conversation ensued where one store employee told me that I should not come to that store without bringing someone with me.

I responded that customers brush against, damage and break things in their store on a regular basis and they don't ask them to bring minders with them and if they were in a position to think about it, they would assist me and things would go much easier. They claimed they didn't have any availability because of being so busy. Yet, the woman stood around saying nothing, making no sound, but watching after I brushed the knickknack to the floor and broke it.

In order to get the attention of somebody, I dropped my NFB cane which makes a clattering sound, kind of like something dropping and breaking. You could just see them reverting to their stereotypic attitudes and then discovering after they demonstrated their presence that nothing had actually broken.

One of the customers approached me and asked if I needed assistance.

I asked the customer to show me one of the guitars hanging on the wall. It turned out to be not a playable instrument.

They directed me to the pathway to the room where I could get the goods paid for. I asked if they could find a cart.

Hovering in the background, one of the store women employees said that she would get the cart and that the customer didn't need to bother.

So, I had to navigate while pulling a cart.

The customer saw this and assisted me with the cart and asked me some kind of question and I answered that I was the blind person that store staff regularly discriminated against and refused to assist and that I knew that they did not treat other people in the same way.

In the interest of full disclosure, none of the store employees I encountered were wearing a mask, although almost all of the customers I encountered were wearing masks to protect against the virus.

I did say that I was extremely disappointed in their fucking 19th century attitudes. It is also important to mention that in the year that I have attempted to shop at this thrift store, I have damaged and broken nothing. All of these goods are given to these people. Their profit consists of all of the gifts that people are giving to them so they can assist the less fortunate.

I wonder if there is enough blind people near here that I could arrange to bring someone with me the next time, perhaps 10 or 15 of us with travel canes, dog guides and an embedded reporter, in order to better Peru's the store for value and customer service.

But, Port Clinton, you are all not as devolved as the local thrift store. The coffee shop staff at least is civil to my face.

Sent from Cheree's iPhone