On-street greetings

I live in a neighbourhood that prides itself for  being sociable and inclusive. Despite this, my experience is that most of us go about our business without greeting each other when passing on the streets. I don’t know this to be wholly true of course as it may be that sighted people will typically acknowledge each other with a nod or smile, but the only way that I can do it is through spoken greetings.

 

Perhaps because I feel less self-conscious about speaking to strangers in the mornings when there are fewer people about, or because there’s something particular about the start of the day that connects with my desire for expansiveness, I tend to use morning walks for saying good morning when I come upon another pedestrian. I’ve sometimes tried it later in the day, (not saying ‘good morning’) but it never feels as easy. I am clear not to break my step or suggest that I want any prolonged contact, It is merely a fleeting acknowledgement that we are up and starting a new day in the same space.  It feels hypocritical either self-consciously stepping around my neighbours in silence or completely ignoring each other, while spouting ideas about the importance of community and connection.

 

I notice that very few people initiate a (verbal) greeting to me , and less than half of my greetings are reciprocated (or at least I only receive this proportion of verbal replies).

 

As a blind person, I have no idea of the proportion of people who respond, but with a nod or smile; those who have headphones in and don’t hear me; those who,  don’t  (or don’t want to)realise I’m speaking to them; and those who simply don’t want to speak to a stranger at that time in the morning. It would be nice to know, as my only experiences are of either receiving a reply or not.

 

This is not a plea for the ‘Community Spirit Police’ to enforce spoken greetings on the street, or to lobby for blind people’s right to be responded to in an accessible way, but an acknowledgement that while I could well be getting an inaccurate impression of what happens, I’m  nonetheless left feeling some sense of discomfort each time I don’t receive a reply and there is clearly something particular in this for blind people. I find myself wondering whether I’m doing it ‘right’, whether I’m choosing the right moment or distance, how to say it… I try to find my ‘voice’ that is neither an over-enunciated ‘Good morning’ , nor quite a mumbled ‘Morning’. I clearly care enough to put out greetings and therefore am bound to wonder about the reactions I get back or why I don’t.

 

I am interested in how it can be that people don’t realise that I’m speaking to them, given the scarcity of pedestrians early in the morning and that I have a white stick  (even though I may not be accurately looking at them), or why so many sighted people seem not to think enough to respond to a blind person other than non-verbally.