Blind and Visually Impaired Community
↑
6
↓
What do you think “seeing” actually means? (self.Blind)
submitted by FLA_Grown
When you hear people talk about seeing things or having vision, what do you think it means or what it’s like?
I’m trying to imagine there being a sense that I don’t have, and really no way for someone to describe it to me without some frame of reference.
I’m trying to imagine there being a sense that I don’t have, and really no way for someone to describe it to me without some frame of reference.
moonpegasus19 3 points 4y ago
I don't really know what seeing is like. I'm totally blind, at least functionally. I can see some light under very specific conditions. Also it dependss on the time and day. The conditions were so specific in fact ′a′ on my medical records I have no light perception. I only discovered this at all about three years ago. It was honestly kind of terrifying.
MohammedThaier 1 points 1y ago
This is kinda old, but if you still around.
​
How did you feel/react when you first saw light? I can't imagine how would it feel to surprisingly getting a new "sense or sensor"
​
How did you feel/react when you first saw light? I can't imagine how would it feel to surprisingly getting a new "sense or sensor"
retrolental_morose 2 points 4y ago
I don't see - pardon the pun - how you can explain seeing anything without reference to having seen something.
It's all very well to talk about colour as wavelengths of light, for instance, but moving from the technical to the actual has always seemed a bridge too far.
For me, as someone who's never seen more than light, I can't conceptualise anything more. But even describing my light doesn't work. I can mention the heat from a close bulb, but to someone with no nerves or prior experience of heat, I'm stuffed.
It's all very well to talk about colour as wavelengths of light, for instance, but moving from the technical to the actual has always seemed a bridge too far.
For me, as someone who's never seen more than light, I can't conceptualise anything more. But even describing my light doesn't work. I can mention the heat from a close bulb, but to someone with no nerves or prior experience of heat, I'm stuffed.
FLA_Grown [OP] 1 points 4y ago
That’s pretty much what I’m asking. You hear people talk about it but have no way to understand it. So I guess another way to ask this is, would you even be able to describe what you think they are talking about?
retrolental_morose 1 points 4y ago
In that case, no, I suppose...
multi-instrumental 1 points 4y ago
I think it's possible to get pretty damn close. Most blind people have the ability to feel the dimensions of an object, and if you can see light/dark you realize what that is like (to an extent).
The only issue is the color. I'm not sure how someone would even conceive of color if they can't experience it.
The only issue is the color. I'm not sure how someone would even conceive of color if they can't experience it.
retrolental_morose 1 points 4y ago
I disagree. there've been so many well-documented cases of a person given eyesight later in life and how they've had to re-wire their brains.
The problem is maybe one of agreement: who's to say that what you think I see is the same as what I think I see, etc?
The problem is maybe one of agreement: who's to say that what you think I see is the same as what I think I see, etc?
RogueCandyKane 2 points 4y ago
I have some useful vision but I’ve been asked what do the bits you can’t see look like?
Which is a strange question really but what they meant was is it grey? Is it blurry?
For me I can see what I can see - there’s no grey bits. The best way I can describe it is when a camera zooms in. The range gets smaller (the area viewed) but it still fills the screen. That’s ehT my brain does. To me I still have a full screen but actually what I see if a lot fewer than others can see. They get the pulled back 180 degrees image and I get the zoomed in image. The bits that are no longer in the shot just don’t exist.
I guess what your asking is what totally blind people can see. The thing is it’s not like that. If your optic nerves don’t pass info to your brain, for example, then it’s not like there’s even blackness. The way you exist is different. The brain will still fill itself and give a rich understanding of your environment. How it does that will vary hugely.
Another thing to consider as a sighted person. When you close your eyes and think of the Eiffel Tower for example, or a memory from the past, some people will see a mental image. But other people don’t see a mental image. They see words.
I can’t imagine that either.
Which is a strange question really but what they meant was is it grey? Is it blurry?
For me I can see what I can see - there’s no grey bits. The best way I can describe it is when a camera zooms in. The range gets smaller (the area viewed) but it still fills the screen. That’s ehT my brain does. To me I still have a full screen but actually what I see if a lot fewer than others can see. They get the pulled back 180 degrees image and I get the zoomed in image. The bits that are no longer in the shot just don’t exist.
I guess what your asking is what totally blind people can see. The thing is it’s not like that. If your optic nerves don’t pass info to your brain, for example, then it’s not like there’s even blackness. The way you exist is different. The brain will still fill itself and give a rich understanding of your environment. How it does that will vary hugely.
Another thing to consider as a sighted person. When you close your eyes and think of the Eiffel Tower for example, or a memory from the past, some people will see a mental image. But other people don’t see a mental image. They see words.
I can’t imagine that either.
B-dub31 2 points 4y ago
This is very hard to explain to someone so they understand. People ask me if I see gray or black areas. I’m like nope, your brain filters that out. My blind spots have a fuzzy, staticky border and my usable vision has static and floaters in it, but for me at least, it’s not like looking through a pinhole surrounded by dark. It amazes me how much better my brain is at maximizing my usable vision versus when the loss occurred last year.
RogueCandyKane 1 points 4y ago
The brain really is amazing
xXnoynacXx 1 points 4y ago
I suppose it would be kind of like explaining what sound is like to a deaf person. (not really possible without any previous reference) 🙁
Abba-64 1 points 4y ago
I am a seeing person and will try to explain, probably wont help much but i can atleast try.
Okey so grab an item, a bottle for example. Then place it on a 4 legged table. Before hand you must feel the shape of the bottle and the table very well. You have to can imagine something that has the same shape as the bottle and the table. Step two steps back and imagine the shapes before you. A bottle sitting on a table.
Well thats my attempt of explaining it. Hope it helped
Okey so grab an item, a bottle for example. Then place it on a 4 legged table. Before hand you must feel the shape of the bottle and the table very well. You have to can imagine something that has the same shape as the bottle and the table. Step two steps back and imagine the shapes before you. A bottle sitting on a table.
Well thats my attempt of explaining it. Hope it helped
FLA_Grown [OP] 1 points 4y ago
I’m sighted too. So I fully understand what your saying. But here’s my question to that. After you feel the bottle, would you have a visual in your mind? It seems like you would, but again, vision is a concept they don’t have. And that’s the thing with my question is trying to communicate what it’s like without using any references. It’s kind of like asking the meaning of the word “the”.
Abba-64 1 points 4y ago
yeah i get what you are saying.
I dont have an anwser to it, it is something i dint think of. And i dont have an awnser to your question, but i highly doubt anyone has, but still i aint a specialist on the topic.
I dont have an anwser to it, it is something i dint think of. And i dont have an awnser to your question, but i highly doubt anyone has, but still i aint a specialist on the topic.
RosyShine 1 points 4y ago
This might be a bit long. I am totally blind, just with light perception, and have been that way since i was born. I still can't understand the concept of sight to be honest, like, I understand that its knowing what's around you with your eyes, but i don't understand how things look. My brain just can't figure out how three dimensional objects can be seen, as when I am able to feel a drawn picture, its a two dimentional thing. I can't understand the idea that you take a picture of a person for example with your phone, and you can recognize that its a person because a three dimentional person has been turned into an image. It's just weird to me.
Uncaffeinated 1 points 4y ago
One other thing to note is that there is a region of the brain that is specially adapted to recognizing human faces. If you turn a photo upside down, people can't recognize it anymore. Some people have damage to that region of the brain and can't recognize faces even though they otherwise have unimpaired vision.
Myntrith 1 points 4y ago
In regards to translating between 3 dimensional objects and 2 dimensional images, it's weird to us (sighted folk) as well, especially with drawings. Drawing 3 dimensional objects is a practiced skill. It's not something one can do easily. It requires a careful study of light and shadow and perspective.
I know this doesn't mean a lot to you, but the point I wanted to get to is that there have been many artists who have used these things to draw optical illusions. Drawings that when you look at them, you can see them as two different things, but not at the same time. You have to kind of twist your brain around to see it as one thing, then to see it as another thing.
Also, there are artists who draw things that look almost realistic, except there's a glitch in the drawing that makes it an impossibility. For example, imagine a square. Imagine on each side of the square, there's a stairway. If you go along one side of the square, you're going down the stairway. Turn the corner, you're going down again. Turn the corner, you're still going down. Turn one more time, and you're still going down, but you end up back at the top of the stairway where you started.
Obviously, this would be impossible in a true 3 dimensional world, but it is possible to draw such a thing on paper. When you see something like that for the first time, it's kind of interesting and weird and confusing and unsettling.
I apologize if I haven't described these things well. I'm just trying to convey that your comment is a bit more on the nose, even for sighted people, than you might realize.
I know this doesn't mean a lot to you, but the point I wanted to get to is that there have been many artists who have used these things to draw optical illusions. Drawings that when you look at them, you can see them as two different things, but not at the same time. You have to kind of twist your brain around to see it as one thing, then to see it as another thing.
Also, there are artists who draw things that look almost realistic, except there's a glitch in the drawing that makes it an impossibility. For example, imagine a square. Imagine on each side of the square, there's a stairway. If you go along one side of the square, you're going down the stairway. Turn the corner, you're going down again. Turn the corner, you're still going down. Turn one more time, and you're still going down, but you end up back at the top of the stairway where you started.
Obviously, this would be impossible in a true 3 dimensional world, but it is possible to draw such a thing on paper. When you see something like that for the first time, it's kind of interesting and weird and confusing and unsettling.
I apologize if I haven't described these things well. I'm just trying to convey that your comment is a bit more on the nose, even for sighted people, than you might realize.
RosyShine 1 points 4y ago
That's honestly probably the best description i've heard in a while, if not ever. even from people who are born sighted and lose their sight later, its hard to explain.
mobiledakeo 1 points 4y ago
I mean most blind people aren’t totally blind so depending on whether or not they were born blind and/of their vision level they might know what seeing means even if it’s just to an extent
As for people born blind they know stuff like how people can generally see things that are far away and know they’re there but they don’t know the full extent of what seeing is actually like
As for people born blind they know stuff like how people can generally see things that are far away and know they’re there but they don’t know the full extent of what seeing is actually like
This nonprofit website is run by volunteers.
Please contribute if you can. Thank you!
Our mission is to provide everyone with access to large-
scale community websites for the good of humanity.
Without ads, without tracking, without greed.
scale community websites for the good of humanity.
Without ads, without tracking, without greed.
©2023 HumbleCat Inc • HumbleCat is a 501(c)3 nonprofit based in Michigan, USA.