Blind people should try glasses... but if that won’t work, blind people should leave the attractive men to people who can see them

We’ve recently acquired a new housemate - let’s call her Plum - after the tragic loss of our old one to a bad case of ambition. Apparently we weren’t good enough to keep her here. It’s fine. I’m totally not sad about it at all.

Anyway, I told Plum I was visually impaired shortly after she moved in. It’s not really the kind of thing you could or should keep from people you live with, so I encouraged her to ask any questions she had. I didn’t want her to ever feel uncomfortable or unsure about it.

She began with the usual: “So what can you see?”

…I recited my well rehearsed speech that usually answers most questions

but she, understandably, had many anyway.

“Have you been to the opticians, maybe glasses will help?”

…and as I explained why this is not an option for me…

“Well isn’t there some kind of laser eye surgery you can have?”

“No, no, this is incurable.” Because y’know, I’m just ignoring glasses and cures for fun!

A look of pity swept across her face, so I put on my biggest smile and happiest tone of voice (as I often find myself doing when explaining my sight to people) in an attempt to convince her that I really am happy and ok with my eye condition and she should be, too.

A few days later she got brave.

She decided that now was the time to talk about relationships.

“Do you worry that you won’t be able to find a good man because your eyesight makes you less desirable?”

A cheeky, but fair question. It is well known, I think, that people with disabilities are often seen as less attractive (wrongfully so) as they are often portrayed to be less confident individuals that could be quite dependent on a partner. And that is often not the case - definitely not in mine. If anyone dares to help me too much, I get fidgety and make strange noises in protest.

“It is something that has crossed my mind before,” I replied measuredly. “But I feel that, if I can accept it and do awesome things with the sight that I have, that should be enough for other people to accept it too. So no, it’s not something that worries me.”

She considered. “Ah, okay. But since you can’t see all that well… will you take a less good looking man so that the rest of us can appreciate the good looking ones?”

I thought this was a joke.

On reflection, I think she was sincere.

I mean I literally waited for her to signal that it was a joke, but it never happened.