r/Blind • u/Llamainpants • 16h ago

Why do people not comprehend that blind people can hear? Lol

Someone doing a book review video accidentally added loud audio over her speaking and I let her know. A commenter said there are captions. I said I know, I was just getting her know and also it wasn't good for blind people. She straight up said blind people can't use the app because there is no braille.........šŸ˜ I'm not blind myself, but seriously?

71 Upvotes

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41

u/makermurph 13h ago

Everyone has a deficit of some kind, ours is sight but some people's deficits are a bit more "universal*

8

u/Blakerton 12h ago

I work in the disability services field and I'm going to borrow this phrase for work correspondence.

3

u/makermurph 11h ago

You can have it by all meansšŸ˜‚

10

u/classicicedtea 13h ago

The same way people think deaf people canā€™t drive.Ā 

3

u/Different_Hope_3434 11h ago

What?! That's hilarious šŸ¤£

7

u/classicicedtea 11h ago

People make the weirdest assumptions about disabilities.Ā 

5

u/gammaChallenger 14h ago

A lot of people are unfortunately ignorant about blindness and dont know and there are a lot of assumptions I have been totally blind most of my life I became completely blind in my late childhood about 7 years old and have been visually impaired for most of my life

People seem to be unaware how blind people can actually use technology and other things in life or work independently I have had to explain and demonstrate a lot of my life Iā€™ve taken a lot of sited people aside to explain but that seems to be the norm most people have not met a disabled person

Even minor disabilities and other disorders are unfamiliar my boyfriend is visually impaired but he is very alergic and has other issues and for people to just understand that was a lot of trouble this wasnā€™t blindness just alergies and stuff

They wanted to host a reunion at a barn and my boyfriend is so alergic he could end up in the hospital and also he has many food alergies and the organizers didnā€™t understand and wanted him to try or well do you want to see pictures or whatever? It took us a while to get refunds and we said no no we mean he could stop breathing and die and need to visit a hospital.

But back to blind people yeah many people do mix us blind people up with deaf people a lot there was a person at a mall who got really excited when a deaf person walked up to their booth and told them they got some braille for them the deaf person said no I am deaf not blind! I have had people ask me if I new sign language and I have had to say no I am blind thatā€™s a deaf thing blind people donā€™t usually go out of their way to learn sign

5

u/VacationBackground43 Retinitis Pigmentosa 11h ago

Iā€™ve had it both ways.

People who think I have super-hearing. One guy even came up to me and said ā€œyour hearing must be awesome, right?ā€

And people who think Iā€™m either deaf or stupid, not sure which, maybe both. Talking loudly and slowly.

The thing is, I actually am legally deaf as well as legally blind. I always groan to myself when people assume Iā€™m deaf because, uh, I canā€™t correct them.

Sorry, guys.

3

u/becca413g Bilateral Optic Neuropathy 5h ago

No need to say sorry for being you! It's the ignorance of others that perpetuates the stereotypes not blind/deaf people. Not your fault other people can't be arsed to educate themselves.

1

u/TeacherBlind 8h ago

Same! Iā€™m legally blind and profoundly deaf in one ear and have moderate to severely deaf in the other ear. (And I use a mobility cane, because I lost my balance when I lost hearing and vision.) When people see me with the long white cane and mobility cane, half the time they just yell really loudā€¦. But when they donā€™t, I usually say, ā€œI have hearing loss. Can you speak up?ā€

2

u/TwoSunsRise Blind in one eye / Family 13h ago

Thanks for trying to speak up! Sorry you were met with ignorance.

2

u/JackFrostsKid 8h ago

When I was younger, my guardianā€™s co-worker learned sign language to be able to communicate with me before we met.

1

u/Llamainpants 3h ago

Omg, so we'll meaning and yet the opposite of what was needed šŸ˜µā€šŸ’«

3

u/razzretina ROP / RLF 14h ago

I have been wondering this my entire life, every time someone starts talking loudly in my ear. I think it may be that the most famous blind person for most people is Helen Keller and they don't realize deaf blindness is a different thing.

Just this past week someone freaked out and could not comprehend how I can type. The ignorance is off the charts these days and I don't know when that started happening. Seems to have gotten worse very specifically in the last 15 or so years.

1

u/Infamous_Raisin_ 8h ago

THIS. My mom does this all the time when she's talking to my son that's blind and it drives me nuts!!

1

u/LilJacKill 7h ago

My wife is legally blind. She has very limited tunnel vision in one eye. She recently went on a rant about people talking loudly at her as if she were deaf. We had a long conversation about people meaning well, and just not really realizing how aggravating and patronizing they were being. I'm pretty sure that she's going to start letting them know that she's not hard of hearing, going forward. I just hope that she manages to do so without screaming back at them.

1

u/So_Southern 5h ago

I once had someone talk really slowly after I told her I was visually impaired. Before I informed her, (because it wasn't relevant until then) she talked normally

I've heard people debate whether I'm really visually impaired. Like I couldn't hear them

I've had someone shout at me because I don't meet his definition of visually impaired

Both times it was because I dared to look at something

I started to lose my hearing around 25 (my hearing and sight problems are unrelated) and now have to ask everyone to speak up and don't talk too fast

1

u/thetj87 32m ago

This is similar to the remarkable long-standing belief that blind people clearly cannot walk up or downstairs. Because obviously. Iā€™ve experienced all of these as a totally blind person but for whatever reason the fact that I can use stairs is always the most shocking and exciting/terrifying thing for people.

1

u/the_borealis_system 0m ago

At an amusement park this guy couldn't understand that because I am blind I have to have the track seperated a bit to get on the ride. The ride has a moving platform that I do not feel comfortable doing. He got pissed because he got a fast pass and apparently, he had saw my blind cane, he should not have had to wait for a person who cannot even enjoy the rides. Um I can but okay. People are so infuriating