Humor or sarcasm?

This is one of the most difficult challenges for me as a blind person. How can I tell when a person is being humorous towards me or are they being sarcastic? The sighted person can easily decipher this through facial expressions, gestures, or body language, but for me it means that I have to depend on one’s voice.

I need to listen very carefully to the person’s tone, inflection, intonation, phrasing, and anything else that I can pick up on. Even if the person were to laugh, I would need to make sure that the laugh is what I believe it to be.

There are persons with dry senses of humor and sometimes it can come across as sarcasm. So I have to depend on my sense of hearing to analyze the tone of their voices, inflections, and whatever else I can determine. All in a day’s work.

I’m Donna J. Jodhan, your friendly accessibility advocate, wishing you a terrific day and asking you to go out there and share my blogs with others. Visit www.nfb.org to learn more.