Blindness Annoyances

Hello, Everyone. Today’s blog is maybe not so educational because it concerns those little annoyances that we talk about as a result of blindness. I rode home from Walmart tonight in a cab, and the cab driver said to me something about how being disabled was bad luck. I don’t remember his exact words, but it was something like that. I responded that it depended on the outlook of the person because I didn’t mind being blind.
But, sometimes, being blind does present some situations that are annoying or aggravating to us, and I feel we should be able to express these to one another as this will help us get them out of our mind so we can forget about the annoyance and resume our happy lives.
One annoyance I have is not being able to just go anywhere at any time I please. I had to wait for the city bus this evening. I live in a little town, and so I called the bus company to tell them where I would be standing, the same place I stand every time they pick me up. There are not many bus stops in my area, and so people just catch the bus anywhere on its route, for the most part. Well, the bus passed me, and I know this because some helpful sighted people happened to mention it to me. It just so happened that they were standing right there as it passed. I called the bus company immediately, and the bus did return. However, this failure of the bus to stop for me is annoying, and it might have meant I couldn’t get out to the mall to shop for my mother’s birthday present and to purchase other necessary items. Again, life goes on, but this is one thing that is aggravating to me because if I could drive, I wouldn’t have to rely on the bus, and I wouldn’t have to wait at Walmart forever waiting for a cab. I did not purchase icecream for my Mom’s party because it would have melted before I returned home whereas if I could drive, I could have gotten it home in time.
While I am complaining about transportation, I might as well mention that another annoyance resulting from my blindness is my inability to live out in the country and to still be able to make it to and from a grocery store or employment position. Sighted people can do this, which I am happy about for them, but blindness means one must live where one can navigate to and from different places. Generally, this means living in a bigger city, though some towns will also work.
Another annoyance to some blind people may be not finding employment as easily as do sighted people. I am not in that predicament at this time, but in the past, I have been. I can remember how all the sighted people in my family could just go get a job at will, but I had to sit at home due to blindness. The world is set up for the sighted, and that means that employment is harder to obtain simply because accessibility and usability are not automatic.
Now, I want to assure you that I do have positive beliefs about the blind; I do believe that a blind person can work in any field he or she chooses. Also, being blind is not the worst thing that can happen to a person. Blind people can live happy, healthy lives, but this specific blog is addressing blindness annoyances. We all have them, and I feel sometimes it is a positive thing to share them with other blind people and to have the opportunity to be around blind people in an atmosphere where it is okay to talk about these annoyances without feeling that doing so will result in others thinking that we have negative attitudes about blindness. I am saying this to encourage others to voice their feelings, both good and bad, about blindness because by doing so, we can release joy and frustration about our condition. It is okay to be blind, and to me, that means it is also okay to share both the benefits and challenges of blindness, and most importantly, to support one another who happen to face similar experiences.