Blinded by the sight?

So after my oh so bipolar post yesterday, I have to take a minute and rant. Please forgive the frustration. Its Wednesday, its cold, and people, I believe, are becoming stupider every day.

So, I have a question for you sighted folks out there who I have to run into every single day when I walk to and from school. You know those round sphere shaped things in your head? Parallel with your ears, above your nose? What are those things? Oh, that’s right. Eyes! So, sighted people who I just mentioned, what are those eyes actually used for? Seeing? Well, you know, I don’t have working eyes. I do have the little orbs, but they’re made of plastic. Therefore, they don’t work, and so I don’t see you coming hurtling towards me at your often crazy speeds.

I’ve noticed something very interesting when walking around campus. I know it has always been a problem to some extent, but I never realized the true insanity of it until I started walking to school on a daily basis. People are really truly oblivious! I see them every day. They’re walking and listening to their iPods, looking behind them to talk to friends, and my very favourite, texting!

So, at the moment I can think of two reasons why this drives me absolutely squirrelly. The first is that I have a dog. She is a guide dog. She is trained to do what she can to maneuver me around people, obstacles and random crap that’s in my way. If you’re coming at me head on and you’re moving fast and you’re not looking, she’s going to try to avoid you. But the sidewalk is only so wide. And then on the one side there’s grass, and on the other side there’s a road. Then, when you move and cut Rosamae off, it creates even more issue!

The second problem is, as I said before, I have prosthetic eyes. This has never happened to me before, thank God, but it is very possible that if you hit me hard enough when you slam into me, my eye could come out. Wouldn’t that be fun, random idiot texting? Although you most likely wouldn’t even notice it because you’re too busy with your texts from last night or whatever it is you text about.

So I’ve started to put my arm up in front of my face when I hear people passing me. It sounds mean, but I’m not trying purposely to hit them. I’m protecting my face from idiots who slam into me for whatever reason. I’m really tired of people not paying attention, and I’m sure this is not the first time someone has ranted about this, but really people? Can’t your texts wait? And, if you’re wearing your iPods, can you not look and listen at the same time? Is this stuff hard?

Which brings me, very clumsily, to my next point. I had not one but two people say really dumb things to me today that just made me shake my head.

The first was this morning when I got ready to go to school. I called a cab, since it was rainy and gross and I really didn’t have the energy to walk to school. I called the cab company and they said they’d have a car there shortly. I came outside right after making the call, and stood on my top step to wait for the car. About seven minutes later, I heard a car idling in the road. I walked slowly towards it, and tapped on the window to ask if he was a cab, since nobody was saying anything to me. His response was “Yeah. I’ve been watching you stand there for seven minutes. Why’d you make me wait so long if you knew I was here?”

Really? Just… really? See that black dog walking beside me, Sir? Do you see what she’s wearing? That big yellow and white thing is called a harness. On the harness, there is a sign that says “GUIDE DOGS FOR THE BLIND!” I got in the car and told the man I couldn’t see, and that this dog was a guide dog. He shrugged and just started to drive.

We arrived at Starbux because I wanted a latte. I got out of the car and entered the building. I spoke to the barista at the counter who was taking my order. She politely held out her hand for me to shake, and then she said “You can get your coffee over there at the counter with the yellow lights.”

This one really bugged me. The people at this Starbux know me. They see me come in semi regularly, and she even told me she saw me often. I said “The yellow lights eh?” And she said “Yeah, those ones over there.”

People kill me… They really do. Do I have to start wearing a bright orange vest with “BLIND” on it like I do when I’m on the ski hill? How hard is it to figure out that I can’t see? Does the guide dog not give it away?

For people who are supposed to have sight, it’s apparent that they are either not so bright, or really insanely unobservant. If people could just stop for two seconds and remove their craniums from their rectums, they might actually notice things that are right in front of them.