Make some noise!

…your silence makes you invisible.

I have tried to make it a habit to walk through my neighborhood and community a couple of times a day. Lately, I have started to notice a disturbing trend of people stopping in their tracks and going silent as they see me passing by. I am never quite certain if they really stopped or if I missed something and we are now on a collision course. I try calling out a greeting. Sometimes there is really someone there. Others there is no one there to answer leaving me to wonder if there was ever anyone there in the first place. I even get a “were you talking to me?” from somewhere I didn’t expect it sometimes. Having someone go invisible like that can add a bit of uncomfortable excitement to those walks.

Message to people that see me walking by

If I cannot hear you I cannot see you so please make some noise. Anything will work. For example you could try:

• Saying hello
• Tapping your leg
• Shuffling your feet
• Even dancing a jig or singing a song

Do anything that lets me know where you are so I can stop worrying about colliding with you. My safety is ultimately my own responsibility.

I promise that you cannot catch my blindness by talking to me.

Thank you and have a god day.

About this post

This new site and the whole Lemmy/Fediverse thing is new to me. This post was more an exercise in how I can best use my screen reader and other tools to write and post here than anything else. I just decided to write out a thought that has been that has been building in the back of my mind to help give me somewhere to start.

Thank you and remember to take time out to enjoy the day.