A writer asking about blindness from the experts - INTERVIEW(self.Blind)
submitted by medievalmaide_715
This is going to be a weird question, so I apologize in advance if this isn't the site to post on. I am an author who's writing a novelette about a girl who was blind from birth but has just gained sight through futuristic technology. I have a few questions for everyone here, since I am not writing from experience and I could use expertise/personal testimony. Unfortunately, I have not had luck in finding testimonies elsewhere. With this in mind, here are my questions - and I apologize if anything I say sounds insensitive.
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1. What does it feel like to be completely blind, if you have known sight before? 2. How do you cope with your disability? 3. If you got some sort of help that improved or healed your sight, how did it feel to have your vision improved? Can you describe your experience?
Again, I do not ask these questions out of insensitivity, but rather curiosity to gain knowledge of the blind/sight-impaired experience so I can represent people fairly. :)
Edit: Internet loss cut out part of a sentence.
Edit #2: To those complaining about how this is bad representation, I apologize. I should have added that this is a science fiction story that takes place far in the future, when this sort of technology would be available for people. I'm sorry that wasn't more clear.
KillerLag4 points4y ago
Keep in mind that vision loss is deeply personal, and what someone experiences may not be the same as others. I've had clients who broke down crying, I've had clients who grudgingly accepted it, I've had clients who have paid money for medical treatments out of desperation.
I've had a few clients who had the Argus II retinal implant ( https://www.secondsight.com/discover-argus/ ). One big thing that is that it didn't live up to their expectations. They were expecting being able to see.... the device lets you see some things, but nothing so concrete as objects. More like strongly contrasting colours.
Although, many of my client who have had cataract surgery that did not have other complications often report a profound sense of relief at the improvement of their eyesight.
medievalmaide_715 [OP]1 points4y ago
Thanks for the tip. I will make sure to be sensitive in my novelette!
Raf_AL3 points4y ago
This sounds pretty interesting to me.
I really look forward to read your book some day. I love sci-fi, so it probably will be a blast.
It reminds me about a really good book about augmentations. It was called Bionic, but I don't remember who the author is.
Stick813 points4y ago
If your character was blind from birth, and gained sight later, you may want to watch "At First Sight". It's an older movie starring Val Kilmer, his character blind from birth, and gaining sight as an adult from surgery. It's based on a true story, so you may want to pursue that as well. It's pretty well done, and addresses much of the subject matter you describe. To include the hesitance to have the surgery, on his part and his family. His sister opposes it, recognizing that there is nothing wrong with being blind, and that it's his normal. His absent father embraces it, seeing his son as "fixed". It's an endearing story, well cast, and Nathan Lane is great as a mentor to the newly sighted Kilmer. Hope this helps with your research.
medievalmaide_715 [OP]2 points4y ago
Wow. I'll look at that - that sounds super interesting! Love your input.
cookieinaloop3 points4y ago
I would gladly help you but I wasn't born blind and even now I'm not completely blind (actually a very small percentage of blind people are completely, see-nothing-but-black blind).
I think your idea is interesting, though. Update us on the book when you're finished.
medievalmaide_715 [OP]2 points4y ago
Thanks. :) I certainly will. It's written for a contest/challenge as well. I hope I portray it accurately. Thanks so much.
aaronespinozaca2 points4y ago
1. As people have said only a small percentage of people are completely blind. Being blind doesn’t feel real. Life seems like a allusion. 2. It’s all about attitude. Have a positive attitude and you can get through anything. 3. has not happened to me.
noaimpara2 points4y ago
1- when it happens suddently, it feels very confusing. Like you’re all good one day and then boom. I had a retina detachment back in the day, I basically went to sleep and woke up blind in an eye, it was very scary. When both eyes decide to fuck around at the same time it feels almost claustrophobic in a way. When you don’t really know your environnement even though it’s the one you’ve been living in for years, when you can’t be sure where you are or how to go somewhere or how to do something yet.
2- the feelings described above kind of fizzle out once you get used to your environment and how to navigate the world. What also helped me is learning new skills and relearning old skills. Also talking with other blind people asEll as getting involved in communities that have nothing to do with blindness.
3- i’ll give you 3 perspectives
a) after my retina surgery when I got fairly normal sight back after being completely blind for 3 days : it kind of felt freeing, reassuring and amazing. But one thing U didn’t feel was safe. From that point on, I knew that I could go blind again at any goven point. Unintentionally sla your head ? Blind. Go on a rollercoaster ? Blind. Headbangs too hard to good music ? Blind. It feels like the privilege you were given can constantly be taken back. And in the case of retina detached, it will most likely be taken back.
b) when after being visually impaired for a year, I bought a video magnifier. That thing changed my life seriously. I could use it to read and do paperwork, to check prices when grocery shopping, to read instructions, to assist me when drawing, to get a closer look at non-accessible screens and signs… endless other stuff. It felt like a game changer like I was capable of doing everything i thought I could never do again, very revolutionary in a way, but it’s because it was a first time I was helped by a tool that cannot be taken away from me and not by a medical procedure that can stop working overnight. I liked the stability.
c) when I got very fancy glasses. I could never explain how they work as english isnt my first language and it is quite intricate. But i’ll try. You see binoculars ? That, but attached on the right glasses lense (not the left because it’s blind anyway and that stuff costs over 700€) Basically it helps me either see things from veryyyyyy close or I can screw a second lense on the existing thing and see from veryyyyy far. I use the thing to read normal print books, to study, to draw, etc. Anything that I have to do while looking very close at the paper. And i use the second lense at the cinema, at concerts or when watching TV with subtitles. Again this changed the game. A lot more things suddently became accessible and it’s like i discoverered a whole new world I had forgotten about. Again, the fact that it’s a tool and not an invasive procedure that might stop working after a year really helped making me feel safer and like I had found a balance in life. Basically felt like I was finally in control of my life. Really great feeling.
Rediscovering stuff you had forgotten existed or looked a certain way is quite a special feeling honestly. But I don’t know how that would feel for someone who was born blind.
Mysterybanjo1 points4y ago
I agree that there is a lack of disabled representation and it’s definitely harmful but just as bad is the trope that invalidates the disability altogether.
I have lots of examples but I’m going to stop this argument because I’m not going to budge and I think it’s a waste of time to argue.
OP, as a blind/ partially sighted person I will gladly be a sensitivity reader- message me if you want any further info.
medievalmaide_715 [OP]1 points4y ago
This is a science-fiction "what-if" story. I am in no way trying to downplay your experiences or anything of the sort. I will gladly message you once it's done. :)
bscross321 points4y ago
Being visually impaired like I am now, and regaining full vision would be weird I think. I've always been totally blind in one eye, if that eye would then begin seeing, it would be an experience I never had before, depth perception and stereoscopic vision. But there is this aspect too, Anything I've learned relating to judging things, like distance, would be thrown off, and I'd have to learn again, or I'd be like six inches back reaching out for a door knob that isn't there. I imagine it's quite overwhelming really. I can't relate experience, because I don't have any of regaining vision, I'm thinking through the implications though, and I have before as well.
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I'm glad you are embarking on this. It will not be universally received by blind people though. In truth, there have been a lot of bad tropes done about us, like, how we feel faces and so forth - which we don't do. But if you will continue to learn more about how the blind live their lives, and then put that into play when the character is blind, then that's as fair as anyone can ask. As an aside, I was really annoyed when that show - Growing Up Fisher - got cancelled because people started kicking and screaming. That show was funny as hell.
medievalmaide_715 [OP]1 points4y ago
> I'm glad you are embarking on this. It will not be universally received by blind people though. In truth, there have been a lot of bad tropes done about us, like, how we feel faces and so forth - which we don't do.
I'm very glad you've touched (no pun intended) upon this. I will also contact r/writing for common "blind clichés" when doing more research!
bradley221 points4y ago
I’m completely blind so can’t answer your questions apart from saying that blindness is my normal so it’s what I’m used to.
medievalmaide_715 [OP]1 points4y ago
Okay. That is what I thought. :)
Mysterybanjo-2 points4y ago
Stop writing about people losing their vision but ‘not really’ because something fixes it. It’s bad representation, tacky and overdone
cookieinaloop4 points4y ago
The guy is writing science fiction, a field in which disabled people almost never show up. His character was completely blind until technology made it possible for her to see. He's doing a great thing. What's wrong with you?
medievalmaide_715 [OP]5 points4y ago
I'm a girl. But thanks for sticking up for me.
Mysterybanjo-1 points4y ago
What’s wrong with me is i am sick of the ‘disabled BUT not really’ trope. It’s rly ignorant and overdone
cookieinaloop3 points4y ago
Then please tell me where do you see this overwhelming amount of "disabled but not really" in the entertainment industry, because what I experience is the invisibility, as if disabled people, whatever they are born disabled, become or cease to be disabled at some point of their lives, do not exist.
And seeing how you react to someone who was just seeking advice instead of just making up shit because he cares to get blind people well represented I can surely see why this is so, at some extent.
If you are so tired of the "disabled but not really", as you call, then write your own stories the way that most pleases you and stop being rude at people who did nothing wrong.
Stick811 points4y ago
A good example is Felicity Smoak from The Arrow is paralyzed after an accident, but only for a few episodes, when she gets a stimulant implant that helps her regain muscle control in her legs. The have been other examples in fiction, such as Professor Xavier, who regains the ability to walk with drugs. Or Tobit from the Bible who goes blind, but regains his sight, but this being the Bible, maybe I shouldn't include it. I'm not defending the trope, and agree that it arises too often. These examples discount the experience of a disability, providing false hope or a sense of impermanence. I chased cures for my own impairment, to no avail. In the end I had to accept that this was my new normal, and that it was money better spent elsewhere. I'm not saying that anyone should give up, but my situation was not improved by chasing hope. I would have been better served adapting and holding some small hope for a cure later.
However, I'm not going to discourage someone from writing such a story. It's a creative endeavor on their part, and seem to be making an effort to research and present their story well.
medievalmaide_715 [OP]1 points4y ago
Thanks for your feedback.
Mysterybanjo0 points4y ago
Sorry for being so blunt
Mysterybanjo0 points4y ago
I honestly find it offensive. Just let your character be blind? Sick of characters like this. I get that it’s fantasy/sci fi but why can’t we just have disabled characters be disabled
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