Blind and Visually Impaired Community
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What do non-congenitally totally blind people “see” (self.Blind)
submitted by flarbargason
This is probably frequently asked and annoying but I’ve never met someone who was non-congenitally blind. Obviously if someone is congenitally and totally blind (congenitally means from birth) they wouldn’t be able to give me an answer because they wouldn’t have a perception of seeing or color to go off of. I am asking about people who became totally blind later in their life. I know blindness can be defined as being visually impaired but being able to see but you know what I’m talking about when I say total blindness, where you have absolutely no vision. Now, I’ve read that non-congenitally blind people see random arrangements of colors and sometimes hallucinate due to their brain piecing together memories of images and colors and try to fill in the void but is this actually true? I’m sorry if this question is annoying and may be hard to answer but if you wouldn’t mind describing it the best you can it would be really helpful.
Amonwilde 3 points 4y ago
Just read about Charles Bonnet Syndrome:
https://www.rnib.org.uk/eye-health-your-guide-charles-bonnet-syndrome-cbs/understanding-charles-bonnet-syndrome
People can see lots of things, but they vary a lot. Can be flashing light, gray, or even religious or other imagery.
https://www.rnib.org.uk/eye-health-your-guide-charles-bonnet-syndrome-cbs/understanding-charles-bonnet-syndrome
People can see lots of things, but they vary a lot. Can be flashing light, gray, or even religious or other imagery.
AllHarlowsEve 1 points 4y ago
I have this, I'm a very very low partial. I see a lot of faces, skulls, eyes, and other scary shit because my brain's a troll.
Marconius 2 points 4y ago
Here is my response to this exact question from a few months ago:
I'm fully blind and my visual field almost looks like a slightly rounded letterboxed movie, dark bands across the top and bottom with a large field of dark, noisy grey in the middle. It's like very dark TV static in a way, and when in strong light I can sort of sense the color temperature but not much else. Have little flashes of light here and there from random cells reacting to something or flickering every now and then, but ultimately it's dark dark noisy greyness. Will be different for every totally blind person, as I lost my sight 4 years ago. (null)e38w29y
I'm fully blind and my visual field almost looks like a slightly rounded letterboxed movie, dark bands across the top and bottom with a large field of dark, noisy grey in the middle. It's like very dark TV static in a way, and when in strong light I can sort of sense the color temperature but not much else. Have little flashes of light here and there from random cells reacting to something or flickering every now and then, but ultimately it's dark dark noisy greyness. Will be different for every totally blind person, as I lost my sight 4 years ago. (null)e38w29y
FiverNZen 2 points 4y ago
I completely lost my vision between 1 1/2-2 years old. My eyes were removed due to tumors and now I have prosthetics. I cannot remember anything that I might have seen as a baby, and The best way I can describe my vision is: what can your nose or other body part see? The answer is nothing... those body parts simply exist and have no sight. That is exactly what it is like for me; my eyes simply exist in my face but really have no function. I hope this helps! I know the concept can be a little confusing to think about :-) feel free to ask any other questions.
flarbargason [OP] 2 points 4y ago
So you said you don’t remember seeing anything as a baby, which basically puts you in the position of a congenitally blind person where, as I said, you don’t know what color or vision looks likes because you don’t have any memory of what having vision is like. That’s why I said non-congenitally blind (which you are, but because you were so young it you have the same experience) If you remember what it was like to have vision then I would *think* that you would be able to compare the two. I believe you can see something because you still have the occipital lobe and the visual cortex, you just can’t perceive the idea of vision just like I probably couldn’t comprehend being blind.
Sorry if that sounded insensitive, wasn’t trying to be. I just avoid talking any differently towards people with disabilities than to people without them, most people don’t like to be pitied.
Sorry if that sounded insensitive, wasn’t trying to be. I just avoid talking any differently towards people with disabilities than to people without them, most people don’t like to be pitied.
cae_jones 1 points 4y ago
You know what it's like when you're eye is adjusting to a sudden change in light and you can't see anything for a second? Like that, but more so. It's kinda cruel in that it makes it feel like it's going to clear up any second, now.
AllHarlowsEve 1 points 4y ago
I'm not a total, but a lot of people who have had lazer surgery to maintain vision and end up becoming totals see light flashes a la an 80's lazer rock show. There's also people who just see purple or other colors, and people who are totals but swear their vision changes with sunlight, like seeing the color change when they feel the warmth of the sun.
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