I did my PhD in linguistics. My thesis was more theoretical/lit review kind of research as opposed to running experiments sciencey stuff, so I can’t speak to the more hands-on aspects of that kind of research.

It was ALOT of reading. I got some funding to get a copy of Kurzweil 1000 (OCR and reading software), and don’t think I could have managed all of the reading without. It costs a pretty penny, though, along with being able to read digital and scanned text, it had a really good note taking/annotation setup that I used extensively.


I’d expect the reading to take longer, too. Because I was doing all of that reading with a screen reader, I didn’t have the same ability to skim articles for relevant information like my sighted peers, so I spent more time finding information.

I have enough sight that I was able to look at charts and diagrams, and example sentences from other languages. This would have likely caused much more difficulty if I was completely blind.

Also, while I’m happy I did my PhD, grad school is definitely not for everyone, sighted or otherwise. I’m sure I would not have completed my thesis if I didn’t also have a passion for the subject. You’ll most likely want to quit before the end.

You might want to check out this person's website, as they are blind got a phd in chemistry and is now an assistant professor at Northeastern University in Boston.

https://monaminkara.com/about