There’s a gentleman in our local scene who is blind. He wears sunglasses and uses a white cane, which, when combined, are supposed to signal to people that a person is blind and therefore cannot see you, your face, your movements, or your body language.

While at the A51 event recently, my vending table was right by the entry door. The blind gentleman was on welcome duty at the door, and for most of the time he was there with his submissive, who provided eyes for him. However, when there was about half an hour left of his volunteer shift, his submissive stepped away.

That’s when I noticed something.

People (specifically, guests who don’t know this person already) seem to no longer know what sunglasses plus white cane means. Several times they held up their wrists (wristbands were used to indicate one had paid their entry fee to the event), which he was quite unable to see. They didn’t say anything; they just tried to use a visual cue.

With a blind man.

Both I and the vendor next to me were flabbergasted by this. We were both well aware of what sunglasses plus white cane meant. Plus, the guy’s badge had the word “blind” on it, so it’s not like he was hiding his status as a blind man.

But I noticed that most of the people who didn’t know how to react were younger folks — 30 and under, primarily. And that makes me wonder: do kids these days not learn about how to interact with folks who have disabilities? Are they not taught the various hallmarks of certain disabilities? Do they not know that if you have a long white cane you are most likely visually-impaired? This wasn’t a costume event, so it’s not like he could have been pretending to be a blind man. (Well, I mean, I guess he could have been, but since it wasn’t a costume event, no one would be expecting that.)

I’ve known since I was in elementary school that some people are blind and use mobility aids — some use canes, some use dogs, some use both, some use neither. When I learned about blind people in school, they often wore sunglasses at all times. At least, that’s what I was taught. So either people aren’t taught about this anymore or they just don’t care. And that bothers me. I don’t know if it bothered the blind gentleman — I didn’t ask — but I was bothered on his behalf. (I didn’t say anything because it wasn’t my place, and he is perfectly capable of advocating for himself.)

Seriously, people. Use your brains.