Blind inFlight

I’ve written answers to questions I assume people have wanted to ask me in the past, or questions that people have actually asked me. Today I want to ask you questions, dear reader. No big preamble this time, I just give you ten things I’ve always wanted to ask a sighted person.

1. How can you tell from someone’s back who that person is? Are things like hair and shoulders and walking feet that distinctly personal?
2. Do you ever consciously know what street you’re on when you’re walking? Or do you just go by what looks familiar? (Third option: do I always just ask for directions from people who have to go run ahead to look at the street sign? Or look it up on their phone?)
3. You can tell me all you want about what the sun looks like when it’s setting, or how bright the moon is, but how do those things make you FEEL?
4. How do you get anything done in a day when there seemS to be just so much stuff to read?
5. How do you communicate complex, intricate messages with someone all the way across the room?
6. When you see a person with a disability, do you see other things?
7. What is the single best thing you’ve ever looked at in your life? Or the top five things? Oh, hell, what’s one really good thing you’ve looked at in the past few days? Why was it so amazing?
8. When there are so many people in the world who don’t or won’t or can’t, why did you decide to talk to me?
9. Be honest, do you REALLY know the difference between fire engine red and cadmium?
10. If I could see for just one day, or even just one hour, what should I look at first?