Have you ever wondered what it's like to be blind?

Yeah. It always leaves me shocked at how much I rely on sight to even conceptualize things.

I had a professor who was blind. The TA would walk arm and arm with him to class every day, and they would usually walk down my row (so we would make sure our bags were tucked underneath our desks.) He was such an engaging professor, and he was so precise with language, making abstract science concepts seem so tangible. I really enjoyed him. At some point I realized he had no notes with him—he isn’t the only professor I’ve had who works without notes (they know their stuff) but I did notice it more with him, probably more because of all the specific figures he knew off the top of his head. I remember once he couldn’t quite recall a figure, so he pulled out Siri and had her tell the class. Behind him, TA was taking notes on the chalkboard for everyone.

The class was incredibly rude. Many thought since he couldn’t see, they somehow had the right to leave halfway through class (after roll, of course). And they’d slam their chair around as they got up, thud with each step, and the door would slam behind them. I was furious—why they thought that he somehow wouldn’t hear them simply because he couldn’t see them. Now as I think back, I realize they probably didn’t even care: if he couldn’t attach their sounds to a face, I guess they figured he couldn’t dock their attendence.

The link is really cool. I love how this guy is bringing awareness to himself, and others in a friendly, open way. I think I could do a better job of describing than some of them, but I am very encouraged by all the willingness to try there.
Neat.

Not blind. For me, I’m a very visual person, and couldn’t even think of losing that sense. I have wondered about being deaf. In fact, there are days I wish I could turn my hearing on and off.

I’ve lost vision in my right eye twice due to ocular migraines. The episodes lasted 5–15 minutes. They were terrifying. I’m a visual person and photography is my passion. Losing my eyesight is a great fear of mine.

My paternal grandmother had macular degeneration and went blind and my father is suffering from its onset. My odds aren’t good.

I was just thinking about the other night when I was in bed. It constantly pops into my head. I also frequently wonder what it would be like to be deaf. Like @dammitjanetfromvegas I started panicking when I had my one and only (so far) ocular migraine. I didn’t go completely blind in the eye it affected, but had black and white zigzagging lines that I couldn’t see beyond and it scared me so much I was getting ready to have someone rush me to the hospital. I draw, paint, take pictures… so losing my vision would devastate me. Not being able to see any loved ones would also be unbearable.

Really neat link, though.

Sometimes in the dark I move through the house with my eyes closed to try to get a sorta feel for what blindness might be like. Also to kinda test myself on how well I can navigate the house without sight.

When I was school age I remember doing an exercise about not being able to see or hear. I remember watching a movie about Helen Keller too.

Being blind would be so incredibly difficult for me. I hate walking in the pitch dark now, I need to see where I’m going. My husband gets angry when I put on a light to walk to the bathroom in the middle of the night. He can’t understand how I haven’t figured out that route yet “blindfolded.” I’ve been around blind people in brief spurts. Amazing how they adjust; at least the people I have met.

In the last ten years I have become more and more aware of how simple things that please the senses bring me happiness. Visual is definitely a big part of my ability to calm myself and feel part of the universe. Just looking outside at a blue sky and green flora can change my mood. I rely on it. Add in not being able to visually read or watch TV (well, I just listen to the TV a lot of the time so some of that I could deal with I guess) or not seeing things like a ballet gain? It would be a huge loss for me.

I, too, have bad eyesight that only seems to get worse as I get older, and blindness is a terrifying thought – how could I read books?

But losing sight is so much a different life experience than never having it in the first place. That’s what really stuck with me about these videos.

He has no concept of sight, no concept of color. He talks about being afraid to gain sight, because having to learn what everything looks like sounds exhausting, and a lot of hard work. He wonders why we don’t get tired much more than we do.

He talks about sight like I talk about mountain climbers.

And then, it’s his normal to only eat things that feel good. Like, on his fingers. He laughs about people putting meals on Instagram, and says melted chocolate is one of his pet peeves.

Anyway, TL;Dr: interesting step outside the world I take for granted.

No, not since I was a kid at least. Playing games where one of us had to close our eyes & count to 20 or whatever, I remember feeling how awful it must be to live in darkness.
That’s all I got.

Aw… Dammit. I shared the wrong video. Must have hit the back button too many times.

I encourage you to see some of his other ones, like “How do blind people dream?” And “what are your favorite things to touch?”

A person who is totally blind can see no light, nor detect the absence of light. Hard to imagine!
I took a co-worker and his young son to a the site of a mining operation my grandfather operated back in the 60’s. We went into a old zinc mine, so far back that there was no light from outside. The co-worker told me to turn off my flashlight, then explained to his son that “this is what it’s like to be blind.” I could have laughed out loud, but I said nothing.

Not really.

I’ve consistently thought about what it would be like to be blind and then see for the first time. The movie At First Sight with Val Kilmer has always intrigued me. I’ve always imagined what it would be like if I knew someone in real life who got their sight for the first time and trying to help them understand the world they can now see when they could only feel it before. Being such a visual person myself (I’m an artist).. I would be devastated to lose my ability to see and the thought frightens me.

Those videos are awesome! I often navigate the house at night just for this reason just to see if I could do it without getting a black eye or worse. Meditating with my eyes closed will take me to a world of visions I never see with my eyes open and imagine it to be similar to what a blind person experiences as these images I experience are never anything I have seen before.

In the video about dreams, he says he smells in his dreams. I don’t smell In my dreams. Do any of you?

I think I smell in my dreams… it’s never the most prominent sense—that’s definitely sight—actually it’s probably the least prominent sense—but if there’s food in the dream I smell it. Settings have different scents, too. I had a dream near the ocean and the air had that fresh-salty smell… and forests have mossy-damp smells. It’s only ever peripheral, but it’s one of the reasons I rarely realize I’m dreaming.

@Soubresaut, I read the first part of your first sentence and was going to recommend Dream deodrant…

I’ve never thought about it. My dreams are very vivid. I know they’re definitely visual and tactile. I know I can hear in dreams. I will try to be mindful in the near future and see if I can give an answer on the olfactory dream response.

@Earthbound_Misfit—LOL oops! Well, I hope I don’t smell that way in my sleep, but my sentence sure stinks! ... happen to have any syntax roll-on next to that nifty dream stuff?