Blind and Visually Impaired Community
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What is your vision with your minds eye like? (self.Blind)
submitted by tessanoia
I hope this is not disrespectful in any way, if so, please let me know! Same goes for wording that needs to be improved.
I'll also put a content warning here, as I'm talking about loss of sight as a naive but curious person with vision, so the way I word things might be triggering, especially for people who are struggling with this topic, as I know it can be hard on people to lose one of their senses. I really don't want to make anyone feel bad with asking this, so please take care of yourself first and answer questions of naive people like me only if you can
So first of all, for those who don't know what "your minds eye" is: it's basically when you see images inside of your head. Your minds eye is the eye that doesn't see the world around you but inside of you, so when you imagine a beach, a picture of a beach shows up.
Not everyone has that tho, it's called aphantasia and means that the minds eye is very weak or, like in my case, completely blind. On the other end of the spectrum there's people with an incredibly vivid minds eye, who can see things as if they're actually there. A friend of mine can basically walk through her home town just in her head.
Now I'm wondering what it is like for people that are blind. I can imagine that it usually shouldn't be affected, as it's something different from the normal eyes and functions in a different way. But what I'm wondering is what those of you, who don't have aphantasia, do see with your minds eye? On one hand folks who were born blind and therefore have never seen the things around them, are you blind with your minds eye too, or do you see something based on how you experience things around you with your other senses? And on the other hands folks who weren't always blind, do you remember how thinks look and see them like that in your mind? Does the way you imagine things with your minds eye change over time, the longer it's been gone since you saw the world around you?
And once again the reminder to please please let me know if I worded things in an insensitive way and should improve and change what I said or remove this post, if you have the energy to do so. I'm 100% willing to learn and improve if needed and know what it can feel like to have an outsider of the community ask things with outdated or wrong or simply insensitive language and wanna do my best to not be that person
I'll also put a content warning here, as I'm talking about loss of sight as a naive but curious person with vision, so the way I word things might be triggering, especially for people who are struggling with this topic, as I know it can be hard on people to lose one of their senses. I really don't want to make anyone feel bad with asking this, so please take care of yourself first and answer questions of naive people like me only if you can
So first of all, for those who don't know what "your minds eye" is: it's basically when you see images inside of your head. Your minds eye is the eye that doesn't see the world around you but inside of you, so when you imagine a beach, a picture of a beach shows up.
Not everyone has that tho, it's called aphantasia and means that the minds eye is very weak or, like in my case, completely blind. On the other end of the spectrum there's people with an incredibly vivid minds eye, who can see things as if they're actually there. A friend of mine can basically walk through her home town just in her head.
Now I'm wondering what it is like for people that are blind. I can imagine that it usually shouldn't be affected, as it's something different from the normal eyes and functions in a different way. But what I'm wondering is what those of you, who don't have aphantasia, do see with your minds eye? On one hand folks who were born blind and therefore have never seen the things around them, are you blind with your minds eye too, or do you see something based on how you experience things around you with your other senses? And on the other hands folks who weren't always blind, do you remember how thinks look and see them like that in your mind? Does the way you imagine things with your minds eye change over time, the longer it's been gone since you saw the world around you?
And once again the reminder to please please let me know if I worded things in an insensitive way and should improve and change what I said or remove this post, if you have the energy to do so. I'm 100% willing to learn and improve if needed and know what it can feel like to have an outsider of the community ask things with outdated or wrong or simply insensitive language and wanna do my best to not be that person
BlindManOnFire 3 points 1y ago
I have my full vision back in my dreams and in my mind's eye, but lately I've noticed my field of vision in my dreams is constricting. It's not as narrow in my dreams as it is in real life but it's not as wide as it used to be, either.
tessanoia [OP] 2 points 1y ago
Thank you so much for your reply, that's very interesting to know
Criferald 2 points 1y ago
I've been totally blind for 8 years, meaning I've spent exactly one fifth of my life blind, and my ability to imagine and remember things visually hasn't dropped a bit. As a matter of fact I do experience hallucinations of seeing the world around me as if I still had residual vision, when I'm concentrating into some tasks like coding I can literally read code out of the images that form in my head, and I have a very good spatial ability powered entirely by my visual cortex, as I can easily picture 2D and 3D object transformations. In addition I'm always sighted in my dreams.
As an example of how sharp my visual memory is, some days ago I was having a debate with my mother about the location of a dark spot on her face which she claimed to be in a different place from what I remember, so and because my mother's vision is deteriorating as well due to macular degeneration, we asked my sister, I put my finger where I thought my mother's dark spot was, and my sister confirmed that my finger was exactly on it.
As an example of how sharp my visual memory is, some days ago I was having a debate with my mother about the location of a dark spot on her face which she claimed to be in a different place from what I remember, so and because my mother's vision is deteriorating as well due to macular degeneration, we asked my sister, I put my finger where I thought my mother's dark spot was, and my sister confirmed that my finger was exactly on it.
tessanoia [OP] 1 points 1y ago
Wow, that's impressive and I imagine it being really useful in many situations! I'm especially impressed that you managed to put your finger right on that spot, simply based on memory. Hell, I couldn't even describe my mom despite saying "she looks like me but older and more socially considered normal than me" (I have colourful hair and piercings), so it's always mind blowing to me when people can do such things just based on memory
Wolfocorn20 2 points 1y ago
i was born visualy impared and it got to legally blind over time.
i have can see things with my minds eye verry clearly however if i try to see places i whent when i had more sight i can remember them more vivetly than those i whent to after i lost most of my eyesight.
i have can see things with my minds eye verry clearly however if i try to see places i whent when i had more sight i can remember them more vivetly than those i whent to after i lost most of my eyesight.
tessanoia [OP] 1 points 1y ago
Sounds very logical, thank you for sharing your experience!
bradley22 2 points 1y ago
I can see/feel things in my head. If I think of an Apple, I can feel the Apple in my head, if I think of the Apple in my hand, I can feel it in my hand in my head.
tessanoia [OP] 1 points 1y ago
That's very interesting and makes a lot of sense, thank you for your input!
bradley22 2 points 1y ago
No prob.
LilacRose32 2 points 1y ago
I’ve never had a clear mind’s eye and losing sight didn’t affect it really
tessanoia [OP] 2 points 1y ago
Makes sense, thank you for your input
Rhymershouse 2 points 1y ago
I was born blind but have a pretty vivid mind’s eye. It works with my other senses.
wanglubaimu 1 points 9m ago
Hi, reviving an old thread about mind's vision here where you said you have a very vivid minds's eye. I'm curious what exactly you see in your mind if you've never seen things with your eyes. Is it the same or very similar as how people have described seeing to you?
I'd assumed that this isn't possible and that people born blind simply can't imagine images. I wouldn't know how to imagine a color I've never seen for example.
Found an article that talks about this, the last half is about people blind from birth: https://www.wtamu.edu/~cbaird/sq/2020/02/11/do-blind-people-dream-in-visual-images
I know there is no good way to describe things to someone who's never experienced them but do you think the author did a good job trying?
I'd assumed that this isn't possible and that people born blind simply can't imagine images. I wouldn't know how to imagine a color I've never seen for example.
Found an article that talks about this, the last half is about people blind from birth: https://www.wtamu.edu/~cbaird/sq/2020/02/11/do-blind-people-dream-in-visual-images
I know there is no good way to describe things to someone who's never experienced them but do you think the author did a good job trying?
Rhymershouse 1 points 9m ago
That author is accurate. Also visualise is a baad term because say I wanted to imagine an apple. I’d “visualise” it through touch and smell. Also for full disclosure I’ve got enough light perception to see colors of light, so I’ve got some vague idea what red is, but only red light so objects with color still trip me up.
wanglubaimu 2 points 9m ago
Got you, cheers man! Hopefully we're finally getting useful brain–computer interfaces soon, this is such a fascinating topic. Based on conversations I had with friends and family my understanding is that perception of sensory inputs and the way people think varies widely in all humans, even closely related ones. Yet many people aren't aware of that because it's not something that's generally talked about. Everyone simply assumes others know what they mean when they explain things.
retrolental_morose 1 points 1y ago
is it strictly-speaking an eye, then?
tessanoia [OP] 1 points 1y ago
Interesting, thank you!
TechnicalPragmatist 1 points 1y ago
Quite an interesting question really.
I would say mine is in the middle of excellent and bad. If I really focus on that one thing an image then I can see it or color. Otherwise it’s words or concepts and just more or less not that much. It’s not impossible but it’s not super easy for me.
I lost my vision about 8 years old and do remember seeing and colors and what I did or could.
Even with other senses it’s not that much like that for me. If I am sensing something eating or drinking I am able to compare it to past experience sure, but definitely not like majorly
Also I can mind map but that’s may not be minds eyes. I can see and picture the streets in the city but it’s more conceptual and more about the proprioception part.
I would say mine is in the middle of excellent and bad. If I really focus on that one thing an image then I can see it or color. Otherwise it’s words or concepts and just more or less not that much. It’s not impossible but it’s not super easy for me.
I lost my vision about 8 years old and do remember seeing and colors and what I did or could.
Even with other senses it’s not that much like that for me. If I am sensing something eating or drinking I am able to compare it to past experience sure, but definitely not like majorly
Also I can mind map but that’s may not be minds eyes. I can see and picture the streets in the city but it’s more conceptual and more about the proprioception part.
tessanoia [OP] 1 points 1y ago
That makes a lot of sense, thank you for your input!
TechnicalPragmatist 1 points 1y ago
Sure not a problem. As a kid I did like visual things like prisms and kaleidoscopes, and gglow in the dark bracelets. I remember these cards of differing colors.
tessanoia [OP] 1 points 1y ago
I totally get why you liked them and think it's cool that you're able to remember them
TechnicalPragmatist 1 points 1y ago
Yeah, it was pretty cool, I also liked stimulating things like bright shiny things.
I remember colors but not until I specifically think green apple now imagine that does. It come up in my minds eye just reading or thinking of the word green it’s just a word.
Other senses may come a little easier but still not realy.
I remember colors but not until I specifically think green apple now imagine that does. It come up in my minds eye just reading or thinking of the word green it’s just a word.
Other senses may come a little easier but still not realy.
rp-turtle 1 points 1y ago
I went blind years ago but had pretty good vision for the majority of my life. I was a very visual person while I was sighted and still am. Like others, I still see everything around me in my mind and am fully sighted in my dreams with clear and vivid visual memories. While awake, the resolution of things I see around me, similar to using functioning eyeballs, kind of depends on where my attention is at the moment. For example, if I am looking at an object, and really focus on that object, I can make the visual image of it in my head nearly as clear and realistic looking as if I were seeing it with functioning retinas. However, while walking around, things in the background outside my focus kind of blur similar to when a sighted person walks around and isn’t paying attention to most things in their environment. The funnest part of this is when the images in my mind don’t match reality. I’ve gone long periods of time thinking something looked a certain way and always picturing it that way in my head only to find out that I was totally wrong once a sighted person describes it. Since I don’t consciously decide what everything around me looks like, this can happen every so often and it’s always fun for me, the blind person, to tell others what color something is when, in reality, it’s not that color and I simply forgot to ask what color it actually is because I was just rolling with whatever color my mind assigned to it.
Dreams are all over the place in terms of how things look. Most of the time, they look normal but with the saturation turned up a bit so colors are just more vivid overall and less realistic. My dreams have always been that way though for as long as I can remember. I have plenty of dreams where I can see but I still am letting my guide dog drag me around or I’m using a cane as if I need it when I can see everything in my path pretty clearly. It’s funny.
Visual memories can be sort of low resolution at times unless I really focus on them. When I do that, the image seems to become clear again.
Dreams are all over the place in terms of how things look. Most of the time, they look normal but with the saturation turned up a bit so colors are just more vivid overall and less realistic. My dreams have always been that way though for as long as I can remember. I have plenty of dreams where I can see but I still am letting my guide dog drag me around or I’m using a cane as if I need it when I can see everything in my path pretty clearly. It’s funny.
Visual memories can be sort of low resolution at times unless I really focus on them. When I do that, the image seems to become clear again.
tessanoia [OP] 1 points 1y ago
Wow, that's incredibly interesting. Thank you for this detailed reply! It's still so weird and mind-blowing to me that people can not only see things in their imagination, but even see them as vividly as people with fully functional eyes do, some even more vividly, as you do in your dreams. I imagine this skill being really helpful when blind. And I can also imagine the funny situations it leads to when you just kinda assume that the colours your brain assigned are right, even if they aren't haha. Do you have an example, like a story where that was especially fun or something, that you'd like to share? I'd love to hear that. If not it's totally fine okay of course!
rp-turtle 1 points 1y ago
Yes it’s so incredibly helpful! Being able to visualize things so well has come in handy in so many ways since going blind. I couldn’t even begin to list all the little ways it turns out to be useful. I can think of two stories.
I have a few pillows on my couch for context. Once I was in the living room with a sighted person and they were on the floor and asked me to hand them a pillow. There are two different types of pillows with different textures. Without thinking, I handed one too him while saying, “the blue ones?” Because he didn’t specify which, of the two types of pillow, he wanted. Turns out, those pillows aren’t blue. He quickly corrected me and described what they actually look like lol. I have no idea why they were blue in my mind, they just were and I never thought to ask. On top of that, I don’t know why the other type of pillows on my couch were an off white in my head, they aren’t actually that color either. This sort of thing happens somewhat often with me so everyone around me just moves on from it pretty quickly after correcting me.
Second story, more complex version of the same thing. I watched the entire Netflix show Arcane without knowing it was animated. I watched the whole thing with audio descriptive on, visualizing the entire show, scene by scene, all in live action only to find out that it’s animated while talking about it with a friend way after I watched it. Blew my mind lol. Everytime I thought of the show in my head, all the live action visualizations of the scenes my mind created popped back up just like recalling a memory. To be honest, I was disappointed because that show looked way cooler live action in my head than animated but I’m told the animation style is very lovely too. So after I found that out, I had to rethink about all the scenes and basically like convert them to animation. I still prefer the live action version my brain created so now when I think about the show, most of it is still in live action in my head. I just never thought to ask anyone if the show was animated or not and I never read anything about it before watching, I just found it on Netflix and hit play until I finished it.
I have a few pillows on my couch for context. Once I was in the living room with a sighted person and they were on the floor and asked me to hand them a pillow. There are two different types of pillows with different textures. Without thinking, I handed one too him while saying, “the blue ones?” Because he didn’t specify which, of the two types of pillow, he wanted. Turns out, those pillows aren’t blue. He quickly corrected me and described what they actually look like lol. I have no idea why they were blue in my mind, they just were and I never thought to ask. On top of that, I don’t know why the other type of pillows on my couch were an off white in my head, they aren’t actually that color either. This sort of thing happens somewhat often with me so everyone around me just moves on from it pretty quickly after correcting me.
Second story, more complex version of the same thing. I watched the entire Netflix show Arcane without knowing it was animated. I watched the whole thing with audio descriptive on, visualizing the entire show, scene by scene, all in live action only to find out that it’s animated while talking about it with a friend way after I watched it. Blew my mind lol. Everytime I thought of the show in my head, all the live action visualizations of the scenes my mind created popped back up just like recalling a memory. To be honest, I was disappointed because that show looked way cooler live action in my head than animated but I’m told the animation style is very lovely too. So after I found that out, I had to rethink about all the scenes and basically like convert them to animation. I still prefer the live action version my brain created so now when I think about the show, most of it is still in live action in my head. I just never thought to ask anyone if the show was animated or not and I never read anything about it before watching, I just found it on Netflix and hit play until I finished it.
tessanoia [OP] 1 points 1y ago
From what it sounds it's probably a very useful skill in general. Like for example, I love to sew and come up with my own patterns and while thinking through them, it's incredibly hard to do so without doing lots of sketches. I have rough ideas that I can describe, but they're more of a thing I know is there but can't picture until I start creating an picture with pencil or on a tablet or whatever
I love those stories and that you just seem to confidently say what you imagine it to be like as if it's definitely the way it is in your head. And it's great that your friends just correct you and move on relatively quickly, as they're just used to it. Kinda funny how people around you just get used to quirks like that and it's kinda just a "yeah, that's just how they are/ehat they do". Reminds me of when I got to know my partner's sister, one of the first times she was over when I was there. In the middle of the conversation I just got up to get something from the other room. It's just a thing I do when I'm for example cold and need a hoodie. And since I can clearly hear them still, I don't really bother with interrupting them to say that I'm going to quickly get a thing, I just get it. She was very confused and my partner was like "yeah, they just do that sometimes, that's totally normal" as he just got used to it
Have to say btw, that arcane as live action sounds pretty cool too! I agree with those who told you, the style is lovely, I'm a big fan of it, but honestly, if your brain decided to go with live action instead, why not? After all, you're literally creating the whole visual part in your imagination based on the descriptions you get, so might as well just go with what looks best to you
I love those stories and that you just seem to confidently say what you imagine it to be like as if it's definitely the way it is in your head. And it's great that your friends just correct you and move on relatively quickly, as they're just used to it. Kinda funny how people around you just get used to quirks like that and it's kinda just a "yeah, that's just how they are/ehat they do". Reminds me of when I got to know my partner's sister, one of the first times she was over when I was there. In the middle of the conversation I just got up to get something from the other room. It's just a thing I do when I'm for example cold and need a hoodie. And since I can clearly hear them still, I don't really bother with interrupting them to say that I'm going to quickly get a thing, I just get it. She was very confused and my partner was like "yeah, they just do that sometimes, that's totally normal" as he just got used to it
Have to say btw, that arcane as live action sounds pretty cool too! I agree with those who told you, the style is lovely, I'm a big fan of it, but honestly, if your brain decided to go with live action instead, why not? After all, you're literally creating the whole visual part in your imagination based on the descriptions you get, so might as well just go with what looks best to you
rp-turtle 1 points 1y ago
Ooh very interesting! When I could see, I feel like my brain worked in reverse. I could have a very clear image in my head but when I tried translating it to a piece of paper, it never came out right no matter how careful I was. Ergo, I’m a terrible artist. I think it’s cool how working on something like that for you makes it become more and more clear. That seems like it’d be a fun process to go through.
I explain the confidence by telling sighted people, when you walk by something that you’re not paying much attention to and it looks blue, do you stop to question if it’s actually blue? No. That’s kinda the process for me. I don’t bother to stop and question what everything looks like in reality because in my head, it just looks that way and I didn’t put any conscious effort into making it look that way so why bother. It doesn’t even register as a thing I should think about. Yes, it’s very much one of those things like in your story. It does just become a quirk of your personality that everyone just gets use to eventually.
Yes exactly! While watching it, I was like damn the budget for this show was nuts, all this CGI and stunts must’ve cost a fortune. It’s so funny because I had that thought, I also thought hm, they must’ve filmed in like NYC for all these city fight scenes. I thought about how cool the magic/gem stones must’ve looked. I thought that pink dinosaur thing was all CGI + the flowers it ate. The drowning scenes were way more intense in my head when it was live action children. Same goes for some of the death/fighting scenes. I do hear the animation style is cool though, like stylized comic book animations is the description I got.
I explain the confidence by telling sighted people, when you walk by something that you’re not paying much attention to and it looks blue, do you stop to question if it’s actually blue? No. That’s kinda the process for me. I don’t bother to stop and question what everything looks like in reality because in my head, it just looks that way and I didn’t put any conscious effort into making it look that way so why bother. It doesn’t even register as a thing I should think about. Yes, it’s very much one of those things like in your story. It does just become a quirk of your personality that everyone just gets use to eventually.
Yes exactly! While watching it, I was like damn the budget for this show was nuts, all this CGI and stunts must’ve cost a fortune. It’s so funny because I had that thought, I also thought hm, they must’ve filmed in like NYC for all these city fight scenes. I thought about how cool the magic/gem stones must’ve looked. I thought that pink dinosaur thing was all CGI + the flowers it ate. The drowning scenes were way more intense in my head when it was live action children. Same goes for some of the death/fighting scenes. I do hear the animation style is cool though, like stylized comic book animations is the description I got.
aNonHumanRobot 1 points 1y ago
I had very poor vision as a kid and a young adult. When I hit about 30 I lost a lot of vision, including color vision. In my mind's eye - everything is still blurry (i dont know what good acuity is like) but I can still see (imagine?) color. This is a bit comforting to me as the world is completely black and white but I get a little color when I close my eyes.
tessanoia [OP] 1 points 1y ago
I can kind of imagine it being a little bit of comfort, even tho I of course can't actually understand the feeling without experiencing it. I wish you that this little splash of colour will remain and continue to give you a bit of comfort in the future, as it does now
aNonHumanRobot 1 points 1y ago
Thank you for your kind words :)
tessanoia [OP] 2 points 1y ago
You're welcome. Have a nice rest of the week!
aNonHumanRobot 1 points 1y ago
You as well!
SoapyRiley 1 points 1y ago
Born sighted, now don’t see clearly & with moderately restricted visual field. My mind’s eye is very sharp clear and colorful still. My dreams, however, have always been how my vision is now: grainy or staticky like tv with bad reception or a .3 megapixel photo enlarged to an 8x10 print.
tessanoia [OP] 1 points 1y ago
It's interesting to hear that there's others too who experience a difference between their minds eye and dreams. I'm sure I see vividly in my dreams, but I have no minds eye pictures at all, making me very confused if I really do see stuff in my dreams or not, since I can't recall with my minds eye what I think I've seen in my dream
SoapyRiley 1 points 1y ago
So you think you dream visually, but have no way of recalling the visual part of the dream? That’s wild. Can you recall auditory portions? I have no actual audio in my dreams but I “know” what people are saying. I grew up deaf, had surgery that kind of gave me hearing and now I’m deaf again so I think I’m reading lips in my dreams lol.
tessanoia [OP] 1 points 1y ago
Yep, pretty much. I sometimes recall small details that I'm sure I must have seen in my dream and not just felt like I do in my thoughts, where I have issues with small details and only really feel a rough idea of how things look
As explanation that I mean by feeling pictures, I like to describe it like a thought bubble in a comic or something. It's there, over my head, I know it's there and what's in it, but I can't see it, so I just "feel" that there is this picture.
I'm honestly not quite sure if I can recall auditory portions from dreams, or if my dreams even have audio, as the memory usually gets blurry and fades really quickly and isn't there in the first place if I got woken up by an alarm. Before you asking I was sure to have a good, let's call it minds ear, but I just realised, that the perception of all of my senses in my mind is like my mind eye. I don't actually percieve anything, I absolutely can't recall what things smell or taste like and apparently I also don't hear audio, but know that words are there and what words and what they mean, similar to how I know about the pictures I can't see
The theory that you're reading lips in your dreams definitely makes sense and could be why you know what they say. May I ask what your auditory perception while thinking, your minds ear, is like, if you have that?
As explanation that I mean by feeling pictures, I like to describe it like a thought bubble in a comic or something. It's there, over my head, I know it's there and what's in it, but I can't see it, so I just "feel" that there is this picture.
I'm honestly not quite sure if I can recall auditory portions from dreams, or if my dreams even have audio, as the memory usually gets blurry and fades really quickly and isn't there in the first place if I got woken up by an alarm. Before you asking I was sure to have a good, let's call it minds ear, but I just realised, that the perception of all of my senses in my mind is like my mind eye. I don't actually percieve anything, I absolutely can't recall what things smell or taste like and apparently I also don't hear audio, but know that words are there and what words and what they mean, similar to how I know about the pictures I can't see
The theory that you're reading lips in your dreams definitely makes sense and could be why you know what they say. May I ask what your auditory perception while thinking, your minds ear, is like, if you have that?
SoapyRiley 1 points 1y ago
I definitely have internal dialogue! Most of it “sounds” like how I perceive my own voice-which is not what I sound like if me hearing recordings through my hearing aids is any indication. While reading, I conjure different voices for different characters in books. I can recall old conversations and “hear” them. One of my favorite memories is actually my great grandmother declaring “Sorry!” when we played that game. I can’t remember a single other detail of her voice. Only that word because she would say it loudly. Both of my parents were relatively soft spoken, so I don’t recall their voices. When I think of things they said to me, I hear them in the “anonymous internet person” voice.
codeplaysleep 1 points 1y ago
I don't see images in my head. I never have. My vision's not bad enough that it should be a factor in this, I think it's just how I'm wired. My son, who has relatively normal vision, is the same way. I'm pretty sure we just have aphantasia.
tessanoia [OP] 1 points 1y ago
Sounds a lot like it's simply aphantasia, yeah
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