What do you see with your elbow? There's your answer. Seeing darkness, which is the color black, takes sight.

Well one guy I saw on youtube said that he is blind in one eye. And that the blind eye does not see darkness. It doesnt see at all. He said something like: think of your elbow. You cant see from your elbow and that is how his blind eye is like. There is jutt no perseption of any kind. Unlike those with light perseption. It is usuually dark ffor them unless there is a light source. Not necessarily complete darkness for everyone but this is what ive heard.

I wrote a Masters dissertation that included a chapter on what blindness is (I am VI, I have Retinitis Pigmentosa and have very little frontal vision) and one of the books I read for it talked about the misconception of blindness being blackness. It is more a “lightlessness” like another commenter wrote. I went to an exhibit in Budapest that was done in complete darkness, where you are guided through by a blind guide through various sncironkents such as a home with a kitchen and living area and the out onto a “street” with a market with a display of veggies, then a forest with trees and a stream and walking over a bridge and into a sculpture room. There was zero light the entire time (sound effects were added for atmosphere though). After a bit of time, it felt like it wasn’t black but more a grey, where I felt like I could “see” the things I was touching. I think as someone who is VI I was much more comfortable than my friend (who was also my guide so it was like we switched places!). If you could experience that, you might get a better understanding of what it is like to “see” without your vision.

My nephew has been blind since birth. When he was a toddler he had very very limited perception of shadow images and slight color. He would put his face so close, basically touching the tv so he could get a glimpse of some type of image. Thats when he was 2. Now hes 13 and unfortunately does not remember ever being able to see anything other than complete darkness. I know some people say it's not complete blackness that they see but for him it is.

He cannot distinguish day from night, or tell the difference if a light is on in a room at night time. So many times I've went to his house during the night only to walk into a pitch black house and see him going about his everyday activities. One time (obviously without thinking) I asked, "dude why are you sitting here in the dark?" His reply, not only made me feel completely stupid for even asking but made me realize that his daily life is always in the complete darkness, but he is okay with that. He said, "why would I need the light on, I can't tell the difference if it's light or dark in here." So I asked him if he can see anything, shadows, a difference in perception if he closes his eyes, if the sun is bright outside. He said No, I see black 24 hrs a day. The only way I know if the sun is out is from feeling it on my skin.

So, I guess its safe to say that it depends on who you ask and what their condition is, whether they see complete darkness or not. Just because people are labeled as being "blind" does not mean they all see or dont see the same thing if you know what I mean?

Sight is a sense that must be learnt and cultivated. None of our 7 senses are good when born and ready. If we didn’t have it and didn’t naturally get to use it it’s like it didn’t exist. They don’t have the sense nor know how to use the sense in any way. Imagine a different type of human with no eyes. Just everything else. Vision was just never a factor. Some blind people don’t cultivate 6th or 7th in the sense categories vestibular or proprioception. Long story and explanation. I am a blind person with a good 6th and 7th sense. But yeah......

Another way of explaining this I have heard is to draw an analog to a sense that either of us just don't have. I seem to recall some animals have a certain way to always know where true north is. Or bats, that by emiting ultrasonic frequencies can paint a "picture", for lack of a better word, of their surroundings. We can't do that, just like a fully blind person just does not at all have the ability to see whatsoever, its not blackness, its just a complete lack of that sensory input. I myself am blind to the point that I can only see light and dark differences as it were, and even I can't really properly imagine what that is like as even when I wear a blindfold I am still aware of what I am not seeing.

It is like my eyes were never plugged in.