How To Handle The Blind

Opening Notation

What can blind people See?

Nothing.

Blindness is the absence of sight, there is no darkness or shadow or whatever else you come up with in an attempt to understand how a blind person "sees". There's just nothing.

When you close your eyes, you can still perceive light and, consequently, shadow, which is actually what 85% of "completely" blind individuals see. But for that 15%, usually referred to as NLP, there is nothing. NPL = no light perception.

Think about a scene happening behind you. Since you have no eyes on the back of your head (I hope), until you turn around, you're left with only the information that you can hear, smell and touch. And that, my sighted readers, is what a blind person sees.

Most people don't think too deeply about vision. A blind person sees shadows, and visually impaired means you haven't tried glasses yet. But once you get past that, you realize that a person's vision can vary greatly: fully blind, light perception, usable vision but unable to read print, glasses but not corrected enough to not be legally blind, etc.

(Excerpted, and slightly edited, from one of the subject's blog posts at mendingmisconceptions.com)

I am not Daredevil. So while my other senses are good, they're not superhuman. I just rely on them more. If, while walking on a city street, your average Sighted Sally smelled smoke, she might shrug it off, thinking something like, "Maybe I'm just imagining it. I don't actually see anything." Sally would be one of the many who depended on sight for most of her information, only tapping into other senses when the neon odors and glaring sounds refused to be ignored. She might disregard the faint scent of smoke, but the garish wail of a fire engine would give her pause. Whereas a blind person would immediately want to know what was happening. A hunter uses their other senses, a soldier too. Making what I do nothing special. I'm simply using all of the tools available to me, instead of depending solely on one.

Neither am I Storm. While our eyes may be somewhat similar, I have no ability with weather, or flying. And my hair isn't white.

And finally, my cane (not a stick, walking stick, ninja pole, lightsaber or wand) does not infuse me with super powers. And no, I'm not lying about any of the above. Promise.

I haven't actually gotten any of the superhero remarks since high school, but equally unfathomable, are comments like "You're so brave for traveling on your own" or "I can't believe you're not scared riding the train all by yourself." Why? If I said the same to you, you would be confused, right? Look at me like I'm crazy. Being blind, deaf, wheelchairbound, &c does not mean you don't still have a life. And we don't have to have super powers to do it. Just because you can't "understand", "fathom", or "imagine" my situation, doesn't mean I can't still be happy.