What is it like to be Blind?

It’s inconvenient, but not disabling.

Wear a blind fold for the next few weeks and you will understand.

I guess it’s pitch black 24/7, and sometimes like this #

No, wearing a blindfold would terrify you. You are 90% dependent upon sight. Never having had sight is profoundly different. Losing sight is a horror. Like a death. Never having seen is an inconvenience.

Also, it’s not dark or black- it is the average of the random stimulation, which turns out to be kind of beige-pink. Thaink of the analogy to “pink“noise.

@pdworkin You are saying that blind people “see” nothing but beige-pink?

But if they can never see, then how do they know what color is. then how could they see something dark or beige-pink?

Congenitally blind people have no way of communicating what they see, but many, many people lose their sight later in life, after having become familiar with color, and I rely upon a synthesis of their reports for my speculation about the color. Unless the damage is cortical, the brain still works, and the neurons try to have their firings interpreted, even if the firing is random. Sight is psychophysical. There isn’t such a thing as color being inherent to an object.

My nephew was born with sight. At about the age of 5, his vision began to deteriorate. Now, he is blind. He is 17 now and uses a stick to navigate. He still has memories of things he saw when he had his sight.

Close your eyes for a few hours and try to function. Then you’ll know what it’s like.

@ItalianPrincess1217 No, you absolutely will not. See above.

@pdworkin I already seen it. But unless you can think up a way for them to close their eyes and see pink, just plain closing their eyes will have to suffice. They’ll be able to have a general idea of what losing sight would be like.

When I have more time I will return and explain how you are misunderstanding this issue.

@pdworkin Eh it’s alright. It was just my suggestion. They asked what it was like to be blind. I gave them what I thought would be the easiest way to get an idea if what’s it’s like. I didn’t claim I was scientifically correct.

@oratio, how can that boy play video games? His clicking wouldn’t apply to games.

@Parrappa I could only speculate, but as I am a long time gamer I think I can relate. Sounds, patterns and behavior isn’t vision dependent. There are some games I think I could learn to play blindfolded. Not great, but satisfactory to a point. I would be cheating by learning to do that while seeing, but obviously his siblings helped teach him the moves and combos. This guy also has had many years tuning those skills.

For one food tastes much better. Next time you’re in London try this:

http://www.danslenoir.com/london/

Other interesting approaches are described here

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dialogue_in_the_Dark

From Wikipedia: The foundation stone for the social enterprise Dialogue in the Dark was laid in 1986. At that time the founder, Andreas Heinecke, worked as a journalist and documentary writer for a broadcasting corporation in Germany. One day he was instructed to develop a training program for a colleague who had lost his eyesight. At the first meeting Andreas Heinecke felt above all pity and insecurity. However, he was fascinated by the world of blind people, and he was shocked by the discrimination against them, to which they are still exposed today.

In December 1988 Dialogue in the Dark had its premiere in Frankfurt, Germany. For over 10 years was touring throughout the world as a a travelling exhibition in museums or as a special event on fairs and festivals. The first permanent exhibition was established in Hamburg, Germany (Dialog im Dunkeln) in 2000.

Until now there have been exhibitions in over 25 countries and more than 150 cities in America, Asia, Europe and the Middle East. Meanwhile there are also numerous permanent exhibitions in Japan, Italy, Israel, and the USA, to name a few. The most recent permanent exhibition opened in Singapore on October 2009.

@pdworkin cosmic latte?