Member-only story
Disability
How Not To Make A Good First Impression
There’s no need to explain
It’s the first thing he tells everyone when they meet.
“I’m legally blind.”
My new neighbor, Charlie, told me just that when he introduced himself the day I moved in. I guesssed he wanted me to be aware of him not being able to see. He had scratched a landscaper’s phone number on a scrap of paper for me, as well as the number for him and his wife.
When I tried to call the landscaper, it was not a working number. I was not able to reach Charlie for clarification, either. I chalked it up to him not being able to see. My limited mobility kept me from simply walking through the yards to go and ask him for clarification.
I didn’t know “I’m legally blind” was the first thing Charlie told everyone he met until months later when he came up in conversation with a friend who said she knew my neighbors. “That’s the first thing he tells everyone when he meets them”, she said.
I told my friends the story about when my son was in preschool and I would introduce myself by saying my name is Victoria and I had a stroke when I was pregnant with Adam, my son. Maybe not in those exact words, but I somehow felt it was necessary to explain why I had a movement disorder to the other…
