I’ve been blind since birth, so while I wouldn’t want full sight (I’m used to, and comfortable with what I have), I’m not the demographic you’re question is aimed at. I would just say, I hope the story doesn’t read as sight being required for the happily ever after, like this painter can’t fully love her as a blind woman. Instead, the painter could learn about ways to make his paintings more accessible, like making one tactile somehow, or learning to give a really good description of what it looks like, to paint a mental picture for her, things to adapt to his new love’s vision. Show us that he’d love her just the same even if the transplant didn’t work. I hate when blindness is portrayed as something being broken, and where fixing it is the only way for someone to be happy. It leads sighted people to assume we all must be helpless and depressed, and we’re not! So, my two cents.

Yes dude, obviously, but unfortunately i am suffering from retinitis pigmetosa. I still have a little vision left but doctors think its not for long. I am trying make full use of what i am left with.
But if i get the chance to have my sight back, i will take it without any doubt.

I have actually had cornea transplants before! While a cornea transplant may bring back some vision it won't bring it back 100%. Her corneas will also need another transplant at some point. Maybe bring back some of her vision? Just don't make it 100% better.

So I'm a sighted romance writer married to a man who's been blind since birth, and I also know a few blind romance authors via social media. That being said, this is my take from my personal POV as a sighted spouse who's also a published romance author, and unless the cornea transplant contributes to the plot in some way, I would absolutely not do it. If all you're wanting/needing is conflict, you can easily use the topic of the cornea transplant to provide that.

As a romance writer, ask yourself this: should your heroine need to regain her sight in order to get her HEA?

Or to look at it another way, if your heroine was plus-sized, should she have to lose weight in order to find her happy ending? Or if she had a scar from a horrific car accident, should she need to cover that up in order to get her happy ending? If she struggled with infertility or depression or anxiety, should she suddenly be able to get pregnant or her mental health issues no longer exist in order for her to get her happy ending?

If your heroine needs to regain her sight in order to get her HEA, you really need to ask yourself why.

From a personal standpoint, I'm going to be honest--I feel like my blind husband sees me better than any sighted person ever has. Hell, I honestly forget he's blind most of the time, and to me it's just, ok, his eyes don't work. \*shrug\* And there's actually lots of weird stuff that goes along with being a very visual person being with a blind person, and just being a sighted person with a blind person in general. There are a lot of crazy beliefs and biases out there, and I've lost count of the number of times I've been asked if I was my husband's "helper." \*rolls eyes\*

I also know a couple of people who have had cornea transplants. Both of them have had issues. One of them is also a romance writer (who I know through social media). It's not a cure-all, and isn't guaranteed. And as the wife of a kidney transplant recipient, you also really need to take into consideration the fact that in order for her to receive a cornea transplant someone has to die. It's not quite the same as solid organs, since tissue matching doesn't come into play, but there's still the fact that in order for her to regain her sight, someone else has to lose their life. And that is a HUGE thing to think about.

As you can imagine, this issue is hugely contentious for some of us. Personally, if it were possible (it isn't in my case) I would. But I also understand people who say they wouldn't, since they already learned to live without it and it would be quite a change to adapt to having it back.

Please don’t end your book in that way, that’s such a cop out. You should end it with her still being blind so that it showcases that she can be happy without her vision. Just for the record I’ve had to cornea transplant and my body rejected both of them so they don’t always work.

I have been blind for around 21 years. I would in a heartbeat.

I would if I could but I like sad endings so I think she shouldn't get to choose

Yes, I would, every day of the week and twice on sundays.

If you read a lot of the responses here you will discover that a lot of the people who don't care about sight (or we're being told by proxy they don't) have never had it. I went from normal sight to nothing in a matter of a few hours more than twenty years ago, when I was nineteen. I have very complete memories of it and I am very aware of what I am missing, how much slower I am at a lot of things, and how much extra work it takes. It absolutely does not ruin my life, I have a lot of things to be thankful for including a career I really enjoy, the best guy in the entire galaxy (I'm biased), and house to live in, but that does not change the fact that I am basically doing two jobs. My actual job, and then another one which is an endless drag, which I have to do twenty four seven, never get paid for and can't quit.

Your heroine absolutely does not need her sight back for it to be a happy ending, and if you write a book that implies the only happy ending for a blind person is to get their sight back, well, that's wrong. But if she's had sight in the past, the likelihood is that she would sign up to get it back if she could. Not to fall in love, but just for practical reasons, because it makes things so, so much easier.

If your heroine is interesting and outgoing and has a life and stuff to do, she will almost certainly recognise that it would be easier to do all those things with sight. I mean, how could you not.

As a legally blind author I write children’s books about disability so I see it as important as representation. That being said, many blind people would love to regain their vision but for many like myself it’s impossible. So it really depends on the character but personally I love finding characters I can relate to.
:)

I've been visually impaired my whole life due to a genetic condition. The damage is done and my vision is luckily stable. I think all of us would want to see better than we already do. However, I would be happy to see a visually impaired character just being another everyday person instead of making sound like this character gets everything they wanted because they got their sight back.

I get the impression that gaining sight cretes a happily ever after and there are a lo of blind and visually impaired people who find love in real life.

The implication of this is that being blind is "wrong" and her blindness is something that needs to be fixed. People who are sighted and blind/vi can have and are HEA.

She can want her vision back for herself and not for her relationship.

I find it offensive.

As annoying as my right eye can be, scarred cornea and no lens and all, I wouldn’t want my vision back. I feel like I prefer my blind life, I’ve gone out more and I’ve gotten more hobbies because of it I guess? I don’t miss how painful lights are. There are aspects that frustrate me or that I miss, but that’s just life and there’s no point getting down about it. Also, cornea transplants sound like torture. They’re not permanent, there’s the chance of rejection and infections. I was adamant I never want one and my doctors agree that it isn’t a good option. However…maybe it can be a plot device in your story? I hope this was at least somewhat insightful

Well i've never had sight, so there would be nothing to get back. Therefore I wouldn't.

No

Yes, in a heartbeat.

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What a coincidence, my coworker and I discussed this yesterday and I emphatically said na

I think your safest bet would just be playing the odds.

A fairly high percentage of folks who had sight at one time but lost it would love to have it back.


With people who are born blind, it varies a lot more because it would temporarily derail their lives dealing with all this new neural input that their brains have to be trained to handle.

If I am reading correctly, your character belongs to the former group.

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Personally yeah I would choose sight in a heartbeat. =)

I use to be able to see. I was legally blind until I totally lost full vision at the age of 16. I would love to have at least what I had back. It was enough to do most things aside from driving a car and reading small print, but it would be nice. I am okay with the way things are now though even if I never am able to see again.

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