(This page is meant to educate, not to criticize.)

My name is Tony. I’m legally blind. I have some vision, but it is poor enough to warrant the above legal classification. My IQ is about 135. Weird, ain’t it. A "blind" man can actually be that smart? I have friends who are totally blind. They’re smart, too. They travel alone, live alone, hold jobs… We do all these things. We also feel.

In my travels, I have seen how the sighted community treats the blind. We are stared at, laughed at by children whose parents don’t know enough to tell them to stop. If we must hold printed material extremely close, like me, we are asked why we don’t get glasses. We are not poor. We can afford glasses. They don’t help.

You would not ask a man with one leg why he doesn’t buy a wooden one, would you? Please use some common sense. These remarks are RUDE. They are also annoying and embarrassing.

I have here a list of things that really hurt and annoy the blind.

1. Those of us who have some vision and are gawked at for reading things close.
2. Those of us who have some vision and are asked why we don’t get glasses.
3. If you wish to help a blind person across the street, ask. Your help will be appreciated, but please just don’t go and grab someone’s arm out of the blue. It’s scary and offensive.
4. Refrain from the word "disabled." We have the "ability" to do plenty. If someone has some vision, "visually impaired" is good. If someone has no vision, "blind" is fine.
5. We’re not dumb. Don’t talk extra slow to us. We understand English and many other languages.
6. We don’t want to "feel" your face. If we want to know what you look like, we’ll use our imaginations.
7. Guide Dogs serve a purpose. Please don’t pet them or have your children pet them. They are vital for mobility and are to be left alone.
8. Please try to watch out for our canes. They are very delicate. If they are stepped on, bent or broken, we can’t get home.
9. If someone is using a cane but appears to have vision, he or she probably has "partial" sight. They are not "faking" anything.

Once again, I don’t mean to criticize. I mean to educate.

Perhaps if you read this, you’ll know more and stare less.

By the way, I, a legally blind man, typed this all by myself. Amazing, huh?

Tony J. Mirabella