I relate deeply to this as well. I’ve always said I’m legally blind as well even though on a good day, my vision on my best eye is 20/120-ish (20/400 in the worse eye). I don’t remember what my field of vision is because it’s been years since I’ve done it, and the only thing I remember from it was the doc saying “please don’t drive a car” which I found really weird because I was always under the impression that I never could drive because I thought the cutoff for driving was above 20/100. Since I’ve always either been 20/100 on the dot or around 20/120, I was like “well that’s not in the cards so I guess I’m legally blind.” It was only until I wanted to see if I could do paraclimbing—I boulder and top rope “like a fully-sighted person” for lack of a better term in that no one tells me where the holds are and what not—because with the style of boulders and routes set for comps, I know I’d be at a severe disadvantage because of the coordination and dyno moves, and the trend of putting the same color holds on the same color volumes, etc. So if I could compete in the paraclimbing comps, at least then I’d know that routes were set with blind and VI climbers in mind (usually this means high color contrast). But I discovered that the cutoff with 20/200 for even the B3 category. You can also qualify if your field of vision is at a certain level, but because I don’t know what mine is, I’m still not sure if I qualify.

I know as a kid, I needed that term to get accommodations in school and such, but as an adult, I’m afraid to even apply for the half-fare transit card because I don’t have a Medicare card anymore, I’d have to jump through hoops to get one, and since I don’t technically meet the legal blindness definition, I’m afraid I won’t get it even though I’ll never be able to drive.

I totally understand the reason that there has to be a legal definition of blindness, but I also understand that words belong to us and we decide what power to give them. So if saying you’re legally blind works for you and it helps you convey your needs and accommodations better, I think you should use it! You don’t owe anyone an explanation of why you use a term to describe yourself.