After a life of being both sighted and blind, I have found it comforting to be identified as someone who is equal, rather than as someone with a disability. My disability is a part of my reality, but I do not need to be reminded of this by everyone I meet. Whether you do it intentionally or not, as a joke or as a way to be less awkward, you are making me uncomfortable. Blessed then are those who treat me as a normal person. For as a normal person I started, and it is with a few extra steps and tools that I do the same jobs as you yourself.

1. Blessed are you who ask rather than assume, for in asking me if I need assistance, you show me dignity.

• Blessed are you when you tell me you are leaving, for it humiliates me to talk to the air!

 

• Blessed are you who believe that I can, for it frees me to figure out how.

 

• Blessed are you when you speak normally to me, for yelling only damages my hearing!

 

• Blessed are they who treat me like a human being, for like it or not, I am a human being.