Just keep in mind that blind people aren't really represented that well in media, so if you choose to have a blind character in your script, we're all counting on you to do right by us. No token blind punchlines with the sunglasses, for instance.

I won't speak for the rest of the community, but I am tired of blind people being portrayed as helpless -- it goes all the way back to the bible, where blindness was treated as an affliction Christ miraculously cured. Just things like that that on the surface may not seem important, but subconsciously help influence how non-blind people see the blind. Just because most people don't ever interact with a real blind person, usually media and blind characters will be their only way to know them. I remember an episode of Arthur when I was a kid that introduced a blind character. She did everything with her friends that sighted people do, including going to the movies and other cartoon adventures. They made her blindness secondary. It wasn't something that defined them in the end. It can be an obstacle to overcome, but it shouldn't be everything defining the character.

I mean well with this reply but I'm very stoned so I'm sorry if it came off rambly. This is a topic near and dear to me. I'd love to read your script when complete.

Just please, no hands reaching out, shaky and groping for the face of someone else, so the poor pitiful blind person will know what the other character looks like. That is so common and so cringeworthy I’m sitting here cringing.

We started watching this TV show called In the Dark, and it was so obvious that the writers had written a scene in which the main character feels someone's face, and the blind people they'd got to consult had kicked up a stink over it. So they gave her lines where she tried to refuse to do it, and another character persuaded her to. I guess that's progress. They had to do it because it was a story point, although we immediately thought of 10 other ways they could have got to the same place in the plot without committing such a cringer. In general that show did an okay job. Other people will disagree, which is sort of the problem.

Whatever you do, someone will scream that it doesn't represent them specifically, and they'll be right. There is no one attitude. People have different views. I'm about to do a lot of generalising but I am saying this to illustrate the huge range of viewpoints that exist. There are many people who buck all the trends I'm about to describe.

People who were born blind tend to be a lot more chill about it but frankly, on average, are affected by it more. Some people are mousy and quiet, some people are loud and forceful, and they will react to the same situation totally differently. If you've been in a situation since you were born that is likely to affect the way your personality develops.

Some things change with time. Approaches in schooling and upbringing forty years ago were well meaning but could be a bit smothering. People who came up through that system often end up working for the charities and stuff, so their whole lives are about the disability. People who lose sight later are more likely to try to live in a way that's less dominated by it because they have experience of what life without the disability is like, and that's what they want.

But as I say people vary. We recently (last couple of days) had someone on here talking about people with mental health issues related to blindness they were born with, which bucks the trend of people being chill about something they've known all their lives. Equally there are people who lose sight and become complete introverts and never go out again. It happens. It depends on the person.

So no matter what you do someone will say you're wrong. There are certain things never to do, but the mechanical stuff about mobility and helper technology is easy to research. Personally I would much rather have someone like Murphy from In the Dark who at least has a bit of attitude and a character beyond the disability. It doesn't have to be a nice character. Blind people can be assholes too. I like to think I'm good at it.

Just don't send your character off to an apartment block where she's never been before to meet someone she' s never met before and show her wandering around with a cane like she owns the place. No. Just no. I wish I could do that.

One of my biggest frustrations about blind characters is the "oh they were blind from birth" okay sure but why? There's dozens of eye conditions and each of them comes with other, different symptoms. Not all blind people are 100% no light perception (very few are actually). Your character could have albinism, retinopathy of prematurity, glaucoma, cataracts, optic nerve hypoplasia, retinitis pigmentosa, CVI, I could go on and on and on. All of these different things affect vision differently (check out simulators online!) And have other symptoms.

Also other comments were right that media is so bad at portraying blindness. A character in a CW show went blind and IMMEDIATELY stopped looking at people when they spoke. It was weird and unsettling and not at all realistic.

If I can answer questions for you at all, please feel free. My daughter is legally blind and I work at a place where a good chunk of my coworkers are blind. I would love to see more blind/low vision representation in media. So I'm not blind myself but I can answer a lot of questions about how people do things with less vision.

Lastly it IS SO IMPORTANT for blind people (just like anyone else who doesn't get a lot of representation) to see themselves in media. I still remember when we went to see Rogue One and she couldn't see the visual cues that there was a blind character (this was when she was being stubborn and refusing to wear the audio description headset, she was 9 at the time and didn't want to be weird) and then the character said he was blind and she just LIT UP like a God damned Christmas tree because there was someone LIKE HER in a movie! So thank you for being inclusive.

(Disclaimer I'm sighted.) If this screenplay becomes a play with a cast, please, please cast a blind actor to play a blind character. Please.

Make us look cool at least. I'd rather see a blind warrior or Wizard or something cool. I hate the thing where the blind person is a prophet because he is blind.

everyone else has already hit the obvious stereo type BS. So thank you my friends. I have a daughter who is a performing artist/actor and she is very aware of what a blind person who suddenly goes blind(me) deals with learning a new way of living and interacting.

I think my advice is have multiple blind resources help you. A few blind people, male and female since we face different challenges and yet emotionally have learned to cope. Then obtain some insights from your state health department services for the blind "shout out to Washington State" your awesome!!

please no face touching to see what people look like, just feels super off something I've only heard about on movies and tv and not in real life!!!!

edit: I think a movie that represents blindness well is Wait Until Dark 1967 with Audrey Hepburn, any fellow blind person whose seen it feel free to disagree.

Thank you thank you thank you to everyone who's commented so far! This is all right along the lines of what I was thinking. It's been helpful and encouraging on so many levels. Here's a little more info for you to help me out with if you feel so inclined -

My character is male/he/him, late twenties - let's call him Manny. His vision loss is the result of a car accident about six years prior (I know, super cliche, it's a work in progress), and he is also a romantic lead. Can any of you gentlemen speak to what it's like dating with little-to-no vision? Thus far, he's got some light perception but not much more than that. What are some things that come up (non-sexually) that might be different for you in an interabled relationship?

First in for most, any normal person wouldn’t have any problem with a sighted person creating a blind character. We exist, so we should be and are represented. A lot of writers and creators seem to forget how big technology is in the every day life of blind people. We are constantly using technology. That would be the first piece of advice I have for you. Good luck with the project.

Reading the responses to this question make me feel so much better about the blind character I’ve designed for a comic I plan to make. I’m sighted and I’ve been trying to do my research and make my character seem like a actual real human and not a walking stereotype

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