I saw a post from someone at a conference saying that they walked out of their hotel to buy a bagel, and instead ended up in the middle of an unexpected antiques show in the street. It got me thinking about how #disability affects spontaneity.

Not in a depressing, woe-is-me sort of way, but from a practical, logistics point of view. Sadly, for many #blind people, this might've gone something like:

Blind Person (BP) to First Hotel Person (HP1): "I want to get a bagel from <bagel shop name>."

HP1: "We have bagels in the hotel, if you'd like me to take you to the restaurant?"

BP: "No, this bagel shop was recommended to me and I've been looking forward to trying it. It's only across the street."

HP1: "Well... I'm not sure. Let me check if anyone is available."

[BP sits awkwardly in lobby for 10 minutes, not knowing if they'll be there long enough to fold their cane or not.]

HP2: "Hi, my colleague tells me you're heading to <bagel shop>; I can take you there now if you're ready?"

BP: "Yep, let's go."

[BP and HP2 head out of the hotel.]

BP: "Wow, what's all this noise?"

HP2: "Oh, there's... an antiques fair I think it is? Happening this weekend outside the hotel."

BP: "Nice. What sort of stuff do they have?"

HP2: "It looks like furniture, pots... stuff like that. We're just here at the bagel shop, let me get the door. One sec."

[HP2 leads blind person inside, leaving them in the hopefully capable hands of their next unexpecting helper and then running back to the hotel as quickly as they can.]

[BP enjoys a bagel, before repeating the whole charade again to get back to the hotel 35 minutes later.]

What they don't do is: explore the antiques fair, pick out a nice piece for a loved one, wander off to find a quieter spot after finding the whole thing ultimately overwhelming, discover an idyllic inner-city oasis, or any number of other things non-disabled people might do without thinking about them upfront.

Living life as a series of planned transactions, all with a defined end point, can be exhausting and kind of sad.

Note: If you've reached this far and are one of those blind people who would've done things differently in this scenario because you have superpowers, please keep your gloating and judgement of others out of the replies.