Blind and Visually Impaired Community
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I'm writing a short story with a blind narrator, and I was hoping to ask some questions! (self.Blind)
submitted by CharlieMatt
Hello!
As the title says, I'm working on a short story where my main character is a young man who is blinded. I've been doing research in order to be as truthful as possible, but would love some insight from the blind community if anyone here is able to take some time. I don't post on reddit very often and actually this is the first thread I've ever made so apologies if I accidentally break reddit decorum or something. Here we go!
1) My character loses his sight in an accident, and I was wondering if anyone who became blind later in life could offer insight about the early days of blindness. I'm mostly looking for day to day details here -- what happens after the hospital, for example. Is there any kind of therapy or training set up to help a person adjust to being blind, and what does it consist of?
2) Also, what was going through your mind in those early days?
3) How long does it take to learn Braille? Extra points if you know anything about Korean Braille because my main character is Korean.
And that's all I can think of! Thanks very much!
As the title says, I'm working on a short story where my main character is a young man who is blinded. I've been doing research in order to be as truthful as possible, but would love some insight from the blind community if anyone here is able to take some time. I don't post on reddit very often and actually this is the first thread I've ever made so apologies if I accidentally break reddit decorum or something. Here we go!
1) My character loses his sight in an accident, and I was wondering if anyone who became blind later in life could offer insight about the early days of blindness. I'm mostly looking for day to day details here -- what happens after the hospital, for example. Is there any kind of therapy or training set up to help a person adjust to being blind, and what does it consist of?
2) Also, what was going through your mind in those early days?
3) How long does it take to learn Braille? Extra points if you know anything about Korean Braille because my main character is Korean.
And that's all I can think of! Thanks very much!
KillerLag 2 points 6y ago
1) It depends on where the person is getting their rehabilitation. Some places have the rehab intergrated into health care, while others are seperate. Also, some hospitals and nurses are better at assisting those with vision loss than others. For example, a veteran's hospital or a hospital with a lot of elderly get more people with vision loss, and are usually more understanding and can get them access to better resources.
There are usually three aspects of rehabilitation that come into play. Independent Living Skills (ILS), Orientation and Mobility (O&M) and tech (some places had different names for that). ILS is learning the skills that you need on a day to day basis to live (money ID, cleaning, cooking, dressing, etc). O&M is learning how to get around (around your home, your neighbourhood, using public transportation, etc). Tech is learning how to use adaptive technology (VoiceOver for Apple products, JAWS, etc). Once again, how a client would access those services is highly dependent on where they are physically located and the resources that are available.
3) For learning Braille, it depends on how motivated someone is. I've seen someone learn Grade 1 Braille in less than two weeks, but they were highly motivated. (Grade 1 Braille is the basic letters and some punctuation, essentialy). Grade 2 is usually significantly harder due to the contractions and such. Not sure if Korean Braille has a similiar set up.
There are usually three aspects of rehabilitation that come into play. Independent Living Skills (ILS), Orientation and Mobility (O&M) and tech (some places had different names for that). ILS is learning the skills that you need on a day to day basis to live (money ID, cleaning, cooking, dressing, etc). O&M is learning how to get around (around your home, your neighbourhood, using public transportation, etc). Tech is learning how to use adaptive technology (VoiceOver for Apple products, JAWS, etc). Once again, how a client would access those services is highly dependent on where they are physically located and the resources that are available.
3) For learning Braille, it depends on how motivated someone is. I've seen someone learn Grade 1 Braille in less than two weeks, but they were highly motivated. (Grade 1 Braille is the basic letters and some punctuation, essentialy). Grade 2 is usually significantly harder due to the contractions and such. Not sure if Korean Braille has a similiar set up.
CharlieMatt [OP] 1 points 6y ago
Thank you so much for the info!
irishspice 1 points 6y ago
Blind rehab specialist here. Braille is 6 dots, but what they mean depends on the language. There is no special Braille for Korean. I'm also a writer. If you PM me I will help you as much as I can with the hospital and rehab part. Sadly they don't get a lot of help until they get into a rehab program of some type.
fastfinge 1 points 6y ago
Do you speak Korean? If so, see if $1 has a place for people to ask off-topic questions. No idea if they do or not, I don't speak a word of Korean.
CharlieMatt [OP] 2 points 6y ago
Unfortunately, I don't. :(
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