The Right Approach

Worse than being blind is the process of going blind. The blind guy is constantly having to adjust to and accept new, ever-increasing limitations.
Yes, the patient may be resistant to losing yet another element of self sufficiency. There’s a whirlwind of negativity that the patient feels. Self worth and capability decline with sight.
Getting mad at the stubborn blind fool will only escalate the downward spiral.
Ripping a childproof line-up-the-arrows aspirin bottle from the blind guy’s hand will not alleviate his headache. One of my bowling partners deals with me with abrasive humor, something I deal with especially well but may not work so well with other people. After the first time of trying to snatch the bottle away, he employed humor to much better result.
"I’m timing you, and this is getting boring...still timing you...still timing you...still timing you...."
"Taking bets! Fifty says the bottle wins over the blind guy!"
"You’re getting frustrated with that and I’m getting frustrated watching you. Can I help?"
"I’m recording this with my phone, so unless you want your ten minute fight with that all over U-tube, let me help."
Somehow
Those small but growing inabilities add up. The list of things I can do with my remaining vision seems to get shorter every day. Something as simple as opening an aspirin bottle can be a major headache.
Snatching things out of blind hands or just taking over something are not approaches that work without further eroding the patent’s confidence.
My teammate’s approach wouldn’t work on everyone. The lack of malice in the "mean" humor and the sincere offer of help carried it for ne, even while that teammate’s general attitude that developed over years of friendship caused a newer teammate to quit the team.
The best approach to most patients is a nonchalant "If you need help with that, just let me know." The patient will know he has help if needed, but feels free to try on his own., he trained me to just hand over the bottle when I need to open it. Admittedly, that is a lot easier than trying to gnaw open the bottle. This approach appealed to me not just because I have a similar rough sense of humor, but because fewer people interact with me as a whole person. Sometimes I become a project, other times a magnet for quiet unease because people don’t know what to say to a blind guy.