A viral TikTok video shows a blind man defending his blindness to a man who allegedly accused him of faking his condition.
Andy Slater (@thisisandyslater) filmed and posted the video on Tuesday; by Thursday, it had over 488,000 views. Slater appears to have started the video already during an argument with a man who did not believe he was blind because he was using a smartphone.
The caption says, “He is why I have no space for bullshit jokes or ignorant assumptions. Blind people can use technology, and it’s none of your business. My body is not your concern. Why the fuck would anybody fake this?”
“You’re trying to tell me that I’m faking that I’m blind,” he tells the man.
The man responds, “I’m asking you.”
“And I’m telling you I’m not fucking faking it, man,” Slater returned.
“Then how are you able—you can keep doing this if you want to,” the man says. “It’s not going to work for you.”
Slater asks him to explain. He says Slater is not “supposed to be using the camera” because he “can’t visually see, so how the fuck are you using the camera?”
Slater asks the man his name, which he refuses. Slater tells him: “You seriously pulling some ableist shit on me for saying I’m fucking faking that I’m blind because I can use an iPhone.”
“You should get on the internet at your own damn house and see how blind people use an iPhone, man,” Slater says. “Leave me the fuck alone. Let me live my life. I don’t need your ableist bullshit.”
Though many wanted to find the man, Slater noted in the comments that the video was posted “to show that this occurs. Not to become a manhunt” and to “listen to the blind voices leaving comments.”
One commenter asked the straightforward question: “Why’s [Slater’s] blindness any of his business?”
“Saying ‘how are you blind if you can use an iPhone’ is the same as asking how he can wear that shirt if he’s not a NASA employee,” another commenter joked.
One woman noted from personal experience that complete blindness isn’t the only blindness.
“Blind is a spectrum,” the commenter said. “I’m legally blind, and people don’t even know til I disclose it.”
In a subsequent video, Slater says the video is two years old. He elected to post the video now to respond to ableist behavior and microaggressions persisting for blind and other disabled communities.
The Daily Dot reached out to Slater for comment.
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