Being deafblind

There are approximately 10 million blind and visually impaired people in the US (according to the American Foundation of the Blind). There are also about 1.3 "legally blind" Americans. The term "legally blind" refers to vision of 20/200 or less or a visual field of 20 degrees or less.
I have 20/200 vision myself. I wear glasses that correct my vision to 20/100 and 20/80. Even though I wear glasses, I use a white cane when I'm out and about, to avoid the many potholes and sidewalk cracks. Mainly I use the cane as an identification to warn other people that I may not see you or your car.
Well, in a small town of around 5,000 people I've learned that people around here may not have had exposure to disabled people as they would in a bigger city. Some people have no idea what a white cane signifys and I've had close calls with cars nearly missing me because they assumed that I saw them and I was going to "stop and wait for them to pass the crosswalk/driveway". So, I wrote a "letter to the editor" for the local newspaper to introduce myself and explain a white cane. That has helped a lot. So, the misconception of "you can't be blind, you're wearing glasses" is not true. Not all vision problems can be corrected to perfect 20/20 with glasses or contacts.
The same goes for being Deaf, it doesn't mean that I'm in a world totally void of sound. I use a cochlear implant (check out Advanced Bionics) and at the other end of the spectrum is that because I have an implant doesn't mean I have perfect hearing either!
So being dual disabled has it challenges; such as figuring out who is calling from where, or someone pointing out something. "Over here - Over there" does NOT work with me! My husband and kids have had to learn to be a little more descriptive when calling for me or pointing at something. They'll go "I'm on the floor by the couch" or "the bird is on 3rd branch on left".
I am perfectly able to do many things on my OWN! Hence the misconception that blind/deaf/deafblind cannot "survive" without assistance from "ablebodied" people. My husband was in a group one time while I stayed home with the kiddies. He explained to the group that I was deafblind. One lady instantly said "Ohhhhh you are so great to give up your entire life to be her caretaker!" He smirked and said "Me? No! She's the caretaker, takes care of the house and our 2 kids".
Lastly, there's the most annoying misconception of all; "you meet one deaf/blind person, you've met them all". Just because I "share" a disability with another person doesn't automatically mean that we'll share the same interests, hobbies, faith, political affilation, or background. Take for example: I couldn't book a room at a hotel one time because they've had a bad experience with other Deaf people trashing their rooms. Does that mean *I* will go and trash my room? Stop pigeon-holing us!!
I'll come up with more misconceptions later or y'all can share yours.