> by compensating in others

I think this is what I do. For example, I couldn't date a smoker. Just the thought of kissing someone who smokes grosses me out. They could be the nicest person in the world, with every other quality I look for in a life partner. But the smell of smoke on there clothes, belongings, breath, etc, would just put me completely off.

I also find myself frequently judging people by what accent they have, how there voice sounds, and how they speak. Based on how you sound, I'll make assumptions about your skin colour, ethnicity, intelligence level, gender, sexual orientation, and more. And these judgements are frequently wrong. When I was younger, I didn't realize just how wrong I could be, and made no effort not to make these judgements. It left me with a set of strange, slightly racist ideas about the world for a while. I still find myself judging people this way, but at least these days I attach a mental "first guess, probably wrong" disclaimer to the labels I assign people. I have no idea how to actually stop judging people this way...it's a matter of reflex at this point.

My instant turn-offs are smoking, textspeak and lazy spelling. I also find myself judging by how a person writes. Another big one is people who claim to like music, but only know bits fed to them by radio, the top 40 and who the performers are.

Vision loss has made me less judgemental about the way a person looks and dresses themselves, but health and hygiene are still important to me.

We're just as shallow as the rest of the world. Blindness doesn't endow the person with awesomeness and love for humanity, just makes us unable to see.

I look for cute voices

I'd not say i'm superficial but then again perhaps I am. I would not date any woman who says I dunno to nearly everything I say. I don't think the fact I like chubby women helps me answer this question but I do. If the woman has a chubby belly, and nice accent and is "smart"what ever that is, then i'm interested. Having said that, if there's a skinnny woman with a great personality who is "smart" then I'd date her. I think the chubby belly thing is a... Addon isn't the right word but it's the only one I can think of at the moment and the rest comes down to smartness and personality.

I don't know if this is related to my blindness or not, but attraction for me happens because I like the personality of someone. I don't get interested (in terms of attraction) in strangers or acquaintances. People who are my friends and whom I like are the ones I'm likely to feel attracted to.

That said, even if I do, there can be things about them that put me off, though they're not absolute disqualifications. Smoking is a big one. Having a shrill voice is another.