Funny blind man
June 29th 2008 20:33
You have to have a sense of humour if you are blind. Come to think of it, a sense of humour is useful no matter whether one can see or not, but if you are in the habit of walking into trees, it is useful, to have a sense of humour. So said Charlie, as I drove him to my children’s school on Thursday morning. Charlie is, and has been, blind for a while, having suffered with undiagnosed glaucoma as a young man. He was coming to talk to the Year K students, on the subject of uh… being blind.
I met Charlie through a wonderful man, Ellis who heads up the Sydney chapter of Achilles, a running club that pairs up able-bodied and physically-impaired people so they can run together. Achilles' mission statement is: To enable people from all walks of life, including those with physical impairments, to enjoy the health giving benefits of walking and running in a supportive, social and encouraging environment.
Now once upon a time, Charlie was a great runner, but problems with his knees have impeded his running greatly, which is more than just a pity.
I mentioned to Charlie that a few weeks ago, at the Sydney Writers Festival I attended a session in which Canadian author of Cock-eyed, Ryan Knighton spoke about going blind in his teens from retinitis pigmentosa. Ryan said that ‘being blind is terribly tragic but it is also terribly funny. Get 30 blind people together in a room when there’s a fire, and we’re all going to die.’ Ryan recounted being mugged one night while walking alone, and his attacker yelling at him, ‘what you got?’, to which Ryan replied, ‘a white cane,’ not realizing, as he put it, ‘that I was in the genre of ‘being mugged.’ His mugger ended up apologizing to him.
Charlie, however had an even funnier story to tell, which with his permission, I am recounting here.
Charlie was traveling one day on a train and a man approached him and said ‘Give me your money.’ Charlie told him, ‘Mate, I’ve got no money on me.’ His would-be attacker then started pummeling him with his fists and Charlie just let him, hoping he’d get bored. Then his attacker said, ‘I’m holding something in my hand, guess what it is.’ To which Charlie said, ‘I’ve got no frigging idea what you’ve got in your hand… a piece of paper?’ ‘No, it’s much more serious than that!’ his attacker said. ‘A magazine?’ Charlie asked.
His attacker seemed to get incensed by this attitude and tried to steal his white cane. Charlie said to him, ‘Mate, just think about it… that’s all I have to help me get around. Don’t make my life more difficult than it already is.’ His attacker gave him his cane back and by the time he got off the train, he had given Charlie a hug and apologized to him.
My kids were killing themselves laughing listening to Charlie’s story. And of course laughing at oneself is a great sanity-saver. But his story and the humour with which it was told, says more about the courage of people who brave the outside, which as Charlie says, is a different experience each day. Some days there are potholes where there weren’t before. Some days the stairwell is closed for upgrades and you have to take a detour, but for a blind person this is a traumatic experience because of how much they rely on things being as they were the day before.
Charlie had a huge plaster on his forehead. ‘This is from walking into a tree last week,’ he said. ‘I knew I was covered in blood, but I just decided to get to work and clean up when I got there.’ He also said that he sat on the train all the way to work and not a single person asked him if he was okay or if he needed any help. C’mon, Sydney. That’s just shameful.
Charlie is off for a month to the UK and Ireland to travel. With his white cane, and his sense of humour, I wish him the safest of travels wherever he may go. May no potholes appear before you, no trees stand in your path. May all the vistas of the world become wonderlands your mind’s eye. Travel safely, Charlie and return safely.
Achilles running club
www.joannefedler.com
I met Charlie through a wonderful man, Ellis who heads up the Sydney chapter of Achilles, a running club that pairs up able-bodied and physically-impaired people so they can run together. Achilles' mission statement is: To enable people from all walks of life, including those with physical impairments, to enjoy the health giving benefits of walking and running in a supportive, social and encouraging environment.
Now once upon a time, Charlie was a great runner, but problems with his knees have impeded his running greatly, which is more than just a pity.
I mentioned to Charlie that a few weeks ago, at the Sydney Writers Festival I attended a session in which Canadian author of Cock-eyed, Ryan Knighton spoke about going blind in his teens from retinitis pigmentosa. Ryan said that ‘being blind is terribly tragic but it is also terribly funny. Get 30 blind people together in a room when there’s a fire, and we’re all going to die.’ Ryan recounted being mugged one night while walking alone, and his attacker yelling at him, ‘what you got?’, to which Ryan replied, ‘a white cane,’ not realizing, as he put it, ‘that I was in the genre of ‘being mugged.’ His mugger ended up apologizing to him.
Charlie, however had an even funnier story to tell, which with his permission, I am recounting here.
Charlie was traveling one day on a train and a man approached him and said ‘Give me your money.’ Charlie told him, ‘Mate, I’ve got no money on me.’ His would-be attacker then started pummeling him with his fists and Charlie just let him, hoping he’d get bored. Then his attacker said, ‘I’m holding something in my hand, guess what it is.’ To which Charlie said, ‘I’ve got no frigging idea what you’ve got in your hand… a piece of paper?’ ‘No, it’s much more serious than that!’ his attacker said. ‘A magazine?’ Charlie asked.
His attacker seemed to get incensed by this attitude and tried to steal his white cane. Charlie said to him, ‘Mate, just think about it… that’s all I have to help me get around. Don’t make my life more difficult than it already is.’ His attacker gave him his cane back and by the time he got off the train, he had given Charlie a hug and apologized to him.
My kids were killing themselves laughing listening to Charlie’s story. And of course laughing at oneself is a great sanity-saver. But his story and the humour with which it was told, says more about the courage of people who brave the outside, which as Charlie says, is a different experience each day. Some days there are potholes where there weren’t before. Some days the stairwell is closed for upgrades and you have to take a detour, but for a blind person this is a traumatic experience because of how much they rely on things being as they were the day before.
Charlie had a huge plaster on his forehead. ‘This is from walking into a tree last week,’ he said. ‘I knew I was covered in blood, but I just decided to get to work and clean up when I got there.’ He also said that he sat on the train all the way to work and not a single person asked him if he was okay or if he needed any help. C’mon, Sydney. That’s just shameful.
Charlie is off for a month to the UK and Ireland to travel. With his white cane, and his sense of humour, I wish him the safest of travels wherever he may go. May no potholes appear before you, no trees stand in your path. May all the vistas of the world become wonderlands your mind’s eye. Travel safely, Charlie and return safely.
Achilles running club
www.joannefedler.com
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