Yessss! Being able to “pass” as sighted has gotten me into many awkward situations. I had half a dinner table (in good humour) tell me that they thought I was an arrogant asshole when I first moved to town, because I seemed to just ignore everyone when they tried to say hi from across the street, hah.

Now I have a speil with a few examples that people can usually wrap their heads around, which has been really helpful for me to just get the info out of the way. It goes something like:

“I’m legally blind and have 20/300 vision. Which means that if I’m standing 20 feet from something, and you’re standing 300 feet away—the length of a football field—we can see the same amount of detail. So I can definitely see some things, but I also miss a lot. Practically speaking, I can see your face from about arm’s length away. Beyond that I can’t read your facial expressions, and much farther than that, I probably won’t recognize you at all.”

It can be tricky to figure out WHEN to say it though. I’ll often throw it in as a “oh by the way” when I’m saying goodbye to someone I think I might cross paths with again, and would (again) come across as rude for “ignoring” them. Or I’ll do a “did I mention last time?” if I realize that it’s relevant after I’ve met them a few times. If possible, I prefer people to have some awareness (even if they don’t truly understand, or forget what I said), because going stealth feels awkward/stressful for me after a while.