The Witchy Bitches on Nostr: All right, blind people can we talk about human guide for a moment? It used to be ...

All right, blind people can we talk about human guide for a moment? It used to be called sighted guide but at least hear people are using the phrase human guide because blind people can also guide other blind people. Here's the thing no one owes you human guide. If you expect to be guided somewhere that is taking someone's arm, then you need to ask them hopefully in advance. There are many reasons why another person may be uncomfortable providing human guide, perhaps they have a medical or psychiatric condition that make it difficult, unsafe or otherwise uncomfortable. Perhaps they just don't like other people and they don't want the responsibility. Perhaps they are themselves disabled and using a service animal and they feel it would be unfair to put that much responsibility on their animal. So, when you go somewhere and you think you are going to need it, it is better to ask in advance, and if you cannot ask in advance, then I would hope that you would be understanding if the person says no. Your orientation and mobility is your responsibility. Yes I just had this exact conversation with one of my students. I see a lot of entitlement around this issue and I think that more openness needs to be involved and more respect for people who are uncomfortable put into that role. And I am not talking here about walking with friends or family members or with other people whom you know are comfortable providing this type of support. I am talking about people that you don't know and expecting them to guide you. Case in point I cannot tell you how many blind people have just assumed that my sign language interpreter is going to guide them. The sign language interpreter with whom I work most frequently is actually incredibly uncomfortable taking blind people sighted guide because she has very severe ADHD and she is worried that someone is going to get hurt. She has the right to say no and when people have put her in an awkward place by asking her, she doesn't feel like she can say no because what kind of asshole refuses to guide a blind person. She feels like it makes her look like a jerk. So I think it is important to discuss these things and to take ownership of your orientation and mobility, and if you have poor skills in these areas, figure out how you're going to get around and if that is human guide, finding people who are willing to provide the service.