Thank You For Calling The Police On Me At A Store Near Lancaster

Last weekend, an annoying thing happened to me. It was last Saturday.

It begins with my girlfriend and me going to Old Navy in Lancaster because she wanted to check it out, and I did too. I took a quick look, but nothing really caught my eye. She was finding clothes for herself, so she kept looking and had to go try them on. I decided to go outside and wait in her car. The problem is due to my poor vision; I could not find the vehicle in the parking lot, even using my handheld monocular. No problem, rather than wandering around the parking lot and getting in someone’s way, I decided to wait by the door. The weather was beautiful, so why not enjoy being outside? I continued, off and on, using my handheld monocular to try to locate the car because I felt like sitting down. But I wasn’t seeing it. I was not used to the orange vehicle either. Turns out an SUV was blocking it from my view.

I stood there for maybe 15 minutes, then I heard her voice calling me from the parking lot, so I was looking for you, and the next thing I knew, I sensed two people walking towards me, and one said, “I want to talk to you!” I also sensed a third one walking up behind me and thought I was about to get robbed, so I started walking away. When I turned towards the two, I heard, “We got a call saying you were using binoculars to check people out,” and they wanted to know why. Or something similar to that. I was utterly stunned that anyone would even question it.

That is when my girlfriend was there and said, “He’s blind.” The one man said, “That’s a good reason.” Still having an attitude, he asked who she was, and she said My girlfriend. They seemed OK with that, but still had an attitude and then wanted my address and phone number. I asked, “Do you really need my address?” and that’s when I realized they were police because I saw the police car right behind them.

It would have been nice if they had identified themselves as police officers when asking for the information, especially considering I had done absolutely nothing wrong.

I really, truly appreciate the person who called the police and embarrassed me in front of a busy store for just trying to catch a glimpse of the world they surely take for granted, but I will never get to see and enjoy. I like to see the little things, like the colors of cars that may be going past on the street, or the seagull I heard fly overhead, or try to see an airplane passing overhead. At one point, I could see all of those things with the monocular, but my cornea transplant didn’t work out, and I opted not to try another one, so someone else with better odds could have a chance to see. I also understand the police officer’s attitude when they first. Still, it would have been nice if they had identified themselves as a police officer before asking for my address. I don’t typically give that to random strangers; I couldn’t see them well enough to tell they were, plus the three police officers seemed dressed differently. An apology would have been nice and much appreciated as a confirmation that I did nothing wrong, even though I believe I didn’t.

Thank you for making me feel ashamed to go out in public. I am getting over it, but it’s going to take time. Thank you for having the balls to ask me what I was doing yourself, considering most people can tell right away that I am visually impaired.

When I am no longer embarrassed about this ordeal, I guess I can add a parking lot to the places where I am supposed to second-guess whether I should look around (even if that is to help me see cars coming to cross the street where people ignore where they are driving). Also on that list is the movie theater because I get harassed there during the movie that I paid to see about using a camera. I have been questioned by security at the mall, too, because they do not allow cameras, yet thousands of people walk through the mall every day with camera phones and are not bothered. I nicely told the Security guard about that, actually laughing at the irony of it. He was very apologetic and pleasant the whole time. The list could go on.

All I want to do is lead as normal of a life as independently as possible. I want to use the tools available to me to find and see things without having to ask someone for help.