What is Halloween to someone who is visually impaired?
I LOVE Halloween! It isn't my favorite holiday, but I love it because you get to dress up. Who doesn't love being a princess, scarecrow, Dorothy from Wizard of Oz, or even Tigger from Winnie the Pooh? (Winne was my favorite costume ever!) Kids wander around on their own to gather candy from strangers for free! Wait... has anyone ever thought of how sketchy that really is? HALLOWEEN IS SO DANGEROUS! Especially if you're legally blind.
Struggles I had with Trick-or-Treating being Legally Blind
Let's be honest, not being able to see in general sucks. Now let me go running around in the dark in a costume and practically a snowsuit because I live in Canada and it's SO cold usually snowing. Halloween isn't exactly the most accessible activity when it comes to being visually impaired, but I made it work. I always went down my street for trick-or-treating with a bunch of friends from school, usually, some adults would come with us as well. I would walk up to the door with my friends and it was overall a success. I think the hardest part is actually sorting through my candy afterward trying to figure out what everything was. Sometimes I'd just rip the candy open and eat it if I really didn't know.
My Biggest Scare on Halloween
I was the most scared on Halloween when I walked up to a neighbor's house and my friends told me that it looked like there was a man sitting in a chair, but you couldn't tell if it was a real person or a decoration. My friends proceeded to walk right by and tell me that it was fake. I continued to follow them. I didn't actually see this person in the chair because it was dark. As I walked by the figure & the man jumped out at me and I screamed, which caused me to go screaming and running down the driveway. Loud sudden noises scare visually impaired people the most. Now I can laugh, but at the moment I thought I was about to die.
Family Traditions on Halloween
One of my family's favorite traditions is that every year our friends come over and we make an effort to try and scare them. After about 10 years of doing it now, everyone knows what's coming, but we all get a good laugh every time. The best time was when my dad threw a giant monkey off of the roof onto our beloved guests while they were standing at the door. Did I mention that the monkey was also wearing my dad's underpants? Halloween will always hold a special place in my heart of lifelong memories.
Check out this super cool YouTube video about a guy who is an amputee and makes fun Halloween costumes out of it! (Josh Sundquist)
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