Blind and Visually Impaired Community
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Rant: struggles of a completely blind person (self.Blind)
submitted by ShadeOfNothing
I just need to vent about something and I thought this would be the best place to do it. Sorry if it’s not, feel free to take the post down if so. I don’t mean to start a pity party but it just hit me today.
I’ve been using a few streaming sites, sailing the high seas to watch anime that I can’t pay for right now through other streaming services. (Also because the rest of black clover isn’t on Hulu, but not the point) but it just hit me: there are so many anime that I wish I could watch but they’re subbed, so I can’t watch them. I know I made a post on the sub quite a while ago about my struggles of being a completely blind person who loves playing video games and not being able to play certain games, so I guess you could say this is along the same lines as that. I’m truly grateful for everything that I have but it’s so easy to just think about what I don’t have, and there’s no way for me to attain it. This is beyond my control. My options for literally everything right limited and they were limited from the start. I know I have to except this but how can I? I’m trapped between two worlds, engrossed in the world of the cited and the blind, but not belonging in either. My blind friends don’t understand all of the things that I love that most cited people like (not that other blind people don’t like them, but I feel like blind people just have their own community with their own niche interests or something), and sighted people don’t understand what it’s like to know that I just can’t watch something or play something and there’s nothing I or they can do about it.
Then again you could say that from a young age I always Preferred to do things to fit in with sighted people. I obviously had blind friends but I felt like I couldn’t relate to any of them even though we had commonalities besides our visual impairments. From a young age I played video games, watched anime, and got caught up in meme culture and just things that most blind people wouldn’t understand. Like I said, obviously there are blind people who do understand these things, but I guess I haven’t found them yet. One of my Completely blind friends pointed out to me that I tried so hard to engross myself in sighted culture so much that now I feel like I couldn’t relate to anybody, blind or cited.
This is turning into a sad post so I guess I’ll end it here. Society fucking sucks and I wish there was something I or anyone else could do but I just have to except it. I know I have to face it understand that there’s nothing I can do but keep trying to make some thing out of my situation, hopefully something good can come out of it.
I’ve been using a few streaming sites, sailing the high seas to watch anime that I can’t pay for right now through other streaming services. (Also because the rest of black clover isn’t on Hulu, but not the point) but it just hit me: there are so many anime that I wish I could watch but they’re subbed, so I can’t watch them. I know I made a post on the sub quite a while ago about my struggles of being a completely blind person who loves playing video games and not being able to play certain games, so I guess you could say this is along the same lines as that. I’m truly grateful for everything that I have but it’s so easy to just think about what I don’t have, and there’s no way for me to attain it. This is beyond my control. My options for literally everything right limited and they were limited from the start. I know I have to except this but how can I? I’m trapped between two worlds, engrossed in the world of the cited and the blind, but not belonging in either. My blind friends don’t understand all of the things that I love that most cited people like (not that other blind people don’t like them, but I feel like blind people just have their own community with their own niche interests or something), and sighted people don’t understand what it’s like to know that I just can’t watch something or play something and there’s nothing I or they can do about it.
Then again you could say that from a young age I always Preferred to do things to fit in with sighted people. I obviously had blind friends but I felt like I couldn’t relate to any of them even though we had commonalities besides our visual impairments. From a young age I played video games, watched anime, and got caught up in meme culture and just things that most blind people wouldn’t understand. Like I said, obviously there are blind people who do understand these things, but I guess I haven’t found them yet. One of my Completely blind friends pointed out to me that I tried so hard to engross myself in sighted culture so much that now I feel like I couldn’t relate to anybody, blind or cited.
This is turning into a sad post so I guess I’ll end it here. Society fucking sucks and I wish there was something I or anyone else could do but I just have to except it. I know I have to face it understand that there’s nothing I can do but keep trying to make some thing out of my situation, hopefully something good can come out of it.
BexTheMixer 11 points 1y ago
Hey. I feel you, though not quite in the same way.
I think about sighted people driving for instance. I think about how they can just go anywhere whenever they want, and how I will never have that luxury. I will always have to rely on another person, whether it be an Uber driver or a family member or friend, to take me where I want to go, and I hate relying on people. I also hate it because if I'm with a group of sighted people and they wanna go somewhere and do something, I have to ask one of them for a ride. And, I know this might seem silly, but since I will never have a car, I will never get to be in control of its music. That's just one of the instances where I feel separated from sighted people.
I, like you, have niche interests, but unlike you they are not necessarily things only sighted people can relate to,but I can't really talk about them with anyone, blind or sighted, because they are so niche.
So I can relate to you in feeling isolated from everyone despite being surrounded in life by people who want to care and help.
I don't really have any advice, other than be grateful for the commonalities you have with people, however small, because it's better to have small commonalities with people than to have none at all.
I mainly just want to let you know that you're not alone, and I'm sure other blind people have felt this way at one time or another. Hell, everyone has probably felt this way at some point. I don't think it's very uncommon.
So you're not alone friendo, we're all here for you. Hope this helps a little.
I think about sighted people driving for instance. I think about how they can just go anywhere whenever they want, and how I will never have that luxury. I will always have to rely on another person, whether it be an Uber driver or a family member or friend, to take me where I want to go, and I hate relying on people. I also hate it because if I'm with a group of sighted people and they wanna go somewhere and do something, I have to ask one of them for a ride. And, I know this might seem silly, but since I will never have a car, I will never get to be in control of its music. That's just one of the instances where I feel separated from sighted people.
I, like you, have niche interests, but unlike you they are not necessarily things only sighted people can relate to,but I can't really talk about them with anyone, blind or sighted, because they are so niche.
So I can relate to you in feeling isolated from everyone despite being surrounded in life by people who want to care and help.
I don't really have any advice, other than be grateful for the commonalities you have with people, however small, because it's better to have small commonalities with people than to have none at all.
I mainly just want to let you know that you're not alone, and I'm sure other blind people have felt this way at one time or another. Hell, everyone has probably felt this way at some point. I don't think it's very uncommon.
So you're not alone friendo, we're all here for you. Hope this helps a little.
MuddyWatersB 7 points 1y ago
I literally feel this so hard. Same as OP, I feel like I am not in either world. The asking for rides thing seems so small but is actually fucking huge in terms of your independence. It feels infantilizing. And most sighted people do not seem to understand this. Nor do they understand the privilege of just being able to go where ever they please at any moment.
BexTheMixer 4 points 1y ago
Yeah, exactly!
Laser_Lens_4 6 points 1y ago
Hey there. I've no advice to give, but I'm in the same boat as you. I love memes and videogames, and I've always felt that I don't completely fit into either camp. You're not alone, friend.
ShadeOfNothing [OP] 4 points 1y ago
Thank you! I’m so glad to know that I’m not the only one who feels this way.
ginsenshi 3 points 1y ago
Same here missed watching most anime unless there’s dub track or if Netflix has subtitles that voiceover can read on my iPhone or iPad. Can’t get it to work in Mac though for some reason the feature probably just isn’t there yet
flameborn 5 points 1y ago
You can certainly watch subbed anime no problem.
You will need to get hold of a subtitle file (SRT, etc) and load it when playing the video in most cases.
iOS has a built-in feature to read subtitles, after turning it on, and the service supports it, VoiceOver will read the subtitle aloud.
This is also possible on Windows, PotPlayer, and KMPlayer has a built-in feature to read subtitles. On the mac, VLC has this as well, and I believe there's a custom-made program to accomplish the same.
And as for your general issue of not being able to do something independently, one and a half decade ago, nobody dreamed of being able to use a touch screen. What's wrong with believing in a dream? It could be a lot worse, focus on what you have right now.
You will need to get hold of a subtitle file (SRT, etc) and load it when playing the video in most cases.
iOS has a built-in feature to read subtitles, after turning it on, and the service supports it, VoiceOver will read the subtitle aloud.
This is also possible on Windows, PotPlayer, and KMPlayer has a built-in feature to read subtitles. On the mac, VLC has this as well, and I believe there's a custom-made program to accomplish the same.
And as for your general issue of not being able to do something independently, one and a half decade ago, nobody dreamed of being able to use a touch screen. What's wrong with believing in a dream? It could be a lot worse, focus on what you have right now.
ShadeOfNothing [OP] 3 points 1y ago
How do you go about getting an srt file?
flameborn 6 points 1y ago
There are sites specifically for finding subtitles, but just googling the show/episode number + subtitles should work as well.
If your file contains subtitles, that will also work, Unless the subtitle is encoded directly in the video stream, in this case the subtitle won't be exposed, so unfortunately you won't be able to read it that way.
Nothing's lost, however, someone made a realtime OCR addon for NVDA (if you're on Windows), which can periodically OCR the screen or a given screen area, and read the changes. It's not perfect, and it'll likely have OCR mistakes, but it works, when nothing else would.
Hope this helps!
If your file contains subtitles, that will also work, Unless the subtitle is encoded directly in the video stream, in this case the subtitle won't be exposed, so unfortunately you won't be able to read it that way.
Nothing's lost, however, someone made a realtime OCR addon for NVDA (if you're on Windows), which can periodically OCR the screen or a given screen area, and read the changes. It's not perfect, and it'll likely have OCR mistakes, but it works, when nothing else would.
Hope this helps!
BlindRyan1 5 points 1y ago
I describe games to the blind and advocate for borderline cases to be accessible. Audiogames is having a field day with Siralim Ultimate, for example.
thumpetto007 4 points 1y ago
If any of you live in southeast michigan, feel free to message me, I'll drive you wherever you want, you can change the radio station as much as you want, and have full control of the volume, Ill wear earplugs.
I also really like reading about your experiences, even though its hard for you, since I like to try and understand others. Blindness is such a fascinating sense to think about not having. Like nearly everything about me is sight driven. Id love to hear any of you talk about whatever you want, your unique perspectives are sure to change mine...I hope this isnt exploitive.
Does anyone take yall on nature walks or other activities that are physically interactive?
I also really like reading about your experiences, even though its hard for you, since I like to try and understand others. Blindness is such a fascinating sense to think about not having. Like nearly everything about me is sight driven. Id love to hear any of you talk about whatever you want, your unique perspectives are sure to change mine...I hope this isnt exploitive.
Does anyone take yall on nature walks or other activities that are physically interactive?
So_Motarded 2 points 1y ago
I don't know much about anime, but I'm heavily involved with several blind Twitch streamers (most of whom are completely sightless). Maybe it would help to seek a few out, and find a community you jive with. It's always useful to find game and mod recommendations!
[deleted] 0 points 1y ago
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