Turn a blind eye
just over 2 years ago I was talking to my consultant in the ophthalmology department and she suggested that I went for a blood test at my local surgery because of the tablets I was taking. Obviously the facial expression I gave transmitted to her that I really did not want to go to my local surgery so she asked me why. I told her that I feel that there seems to be a problem with certain people who work within the NHS and organisations that help the blind that they do not understand that blind people cannot see, and to my surprise she agreed with me even though the nurse sitting in the room seemed quite stunned. The consultant explained to her what I meant and then I went and had a blood test within the ophthalmology department.
One thing you must understand though before you read on is that when I say blind I mean totally blind and not visually impaired because being totally blind means that you cannot understand directions like over there or over here or follow me etc., and if somebody tells you that a switch has been painted red so that you can tell whether it is an emergency switch or just another light switch it is meaningless because I cannot see the switches never mind what colour they are, this all adds to the frustration.
There has also been a lot of situations that have come to light during the pandemic that even though facilities were laid on for members of certain blind organisations they were totally useless if you were blind, such as demostrations over video calls.
I must admit some of the legislation that was bought in by the government to make people safe during the pandemic have highlighted the problem, such as social distancing, and now with the uptake of electric scooters and electric cars it is almost certain to make a lot of blind people housebound because they will not see or hear these vehicles coming.
I suppose these comments are going to upset or annoy a lot of people but it does not only include some of the people who work within the blind community but also some of the members who use them. In the next few posts I will give some of the situations that I have been in and I am sure you can recognise these yourselves if you have also been frustrated by similar responses.
I probably sound very ungrateful for all the help I have been given but I am not , I am just trying to point out that some people can feel like they are being ignored or being accused of being stupid or ignorant because they cannot see what is being referred too.
