A few of my blind female students had truly traumatic encounters when accused that they were not blind as ‘they did not look blind’. The students I am talking about do care what they look like. Immaculate cloths, nice haircut, always wearing makeup in public. The fact that they are white cane users was not convincing enough. (By the way, please, avoid using the term ‘white stick’.) Do blind women of all ages should have messy hair, wear untrendy cloths and should not – under any circumstances – wear makeup? The accusations were made by individuals working for, hence representing, very respectable institutions.
For example, I work with a young woman, who was born totally blind (meaning, she does not have light perception – a very rare condition, as apparently sometimes people who do not have eyeballs may detect light). She very carefully choses colours of her clothes. She has never seen a colour. She has never seen anything (the verb to see is used in its literally meaning). Wearing dark colours is one of many ways she expresses her personality – by the way, she appears as a happy person, with a great sense of humour and laughing genuinely. Another blind female I have worked with, was dying her hair regularly, even though she has lost the ability to see colours. She probably lost most of her visual memory too (I might write about visual memory another time).
The question posted at the beginning of this text should never be asked by a sighted person. Some people say that there are no stupid questions. I usually tend to agree with this opinion. Then, I suggest using an adjective ‘discriminatory’ to describe this question, because any answer to this question will be discriminatory too.
Can you ask a blind woman (or any blind person for that matter) when you are curious? Yes, you can. Start by asking: ‘Can I ask you a question?’, or ‘Can I ask you a personal question?’ or ‘Can I ask you a question related to your blindness?’. If the answer is ‘yes’, then ask what you want to ask. For example: ‘How do you buy your clothes?’ Actually, this question (or a similar one) was asked by a journalist and directed to Christine Ha, a blind chef who competed for Master Chef. And she explained how her girlfriends support her in this matter.
This text is about blind women but relates to any blind person despite what gender they identify with. Let me then write one of the last sentences about a blind man. One of my lecturers was blind and his arms were covered in tattoos. Another way of expressing yourself which is not reserved to sighted folks.
Photo shows a woman who is standing back to the camera. She is wearing a white shirt and styling her long dark-blond hair. Pink background. (Photo by Element5 Digital on Unsplash).