In the mainstream world, there are common thoughts about the blind. It’s believed that being blind means there’s no day or night there’s only dark. It means being lonely, separated from those we love, being lost and confused by what is around us and most of all it means being helpless.
When you are having a hard time understanding something there is a saying for how you are feeling — “I am completely in the dark.” When we use phrases like these, we infer some or all of those things.
Seeing does not come with light, nor is blindness a lack of light. True blindness is through lack of education and misinterpretation. Many sighted people are more in the dark than the blind. The reason people feel sorry for the blind is a result of their own fears and ideas of what it would be like to be blind.
You do not see a blind person as he or she is, but rather, as your fears about blindness make them appear. People are afraid of being blind, afraid of being in the dark. People believe that blindness is a terrible and hopeless condition in which to live. What they do not “see” is that these are their fears.
What they “see”, or think they “see” [believe], is that this is the way the blind person feels also.
When you do this, you do not, in fact, see another person but a mannequin dressed in your fears. What you see is not really there; you make yourselves blind to the blind.
Most people see me as blind. I see myself as I really am; happy, capable, resilient and not alone. My way around the elephant in the room is the joke.
Joking about my disorder isn't a defense; it's plain and simple a fact that I accept my disorder, my blindness, and most of all who I am.
I am not afraid. I see myself clearly and it’s not the narrow squint-eyed vision of people who think they're seeing clearly because they have vision. It's hard to feel sorry for someone who can laugh at his own limitations.
The largest issue, I believe, is the fact that the deaf and blind do not have their own language. We have to rely on the same language as the sighted, and this language is heavily dependent on vision.
Think about the everyday sayings that most haven’t given a second thought to, “Let me see that?” when in reality what you are saying is “Let me hold that?” When something is being explained and you suddenly understand what is being relayed you exclaim, “Oh, I see.”
Then there are the phrases that have everything to do with vision but have nothing to do with what we see. It’s always darkest just before dawn.” Meaning it’s always worst just before it gets better.
So let’s explore the English language and how we as blind and disabled “see” the phrases that are so commonly used and in most cases cause the sighted to feel uncomfortable when they are used with the visually impaired.
The English language with its wealth of idiomatic expressions makes the following characteristics of the blind and their daily activities possible.
Please note that this is only ‘the way I see it.’ There are no scientific ‘double-blind’ studies to validate my findings and since I am ‘stone blind’ these are coming to you ‘sight unseen.’
We may be excused for being forgetful because ‘out of sight is out of mind.’ We are very happy because ‘what the eye does not see the heart does not grieve.’ We are also very affectionate because ‘love is blind,’ however, we never have to worry about ‘love at first sight.’
We often ignore things by ‘turning a blind eye’ to them. We may be ignorant because ‘we are in the dark about things’ but do not underestimate us, we can still ‘see the light at the end of the tunnel.’ After all, we are not in the ‘dark ages.’
We are very friendly people and like to keep in ‘touch.’ We also tend to have a real ‘feeling’ for the world around us. Though we may not always be able to ‘see eye-to-eye’ in certain situations, and we may also, sometimes, ‘lose sight’ of certain facts, do not underestimate our ‘vision.’
Despite being blind we can still ‘look forward to something’ and ‘see you later.’ If we bump our heads we ‘see stars,’ and we may not always be able to ‘see what you mean,’ but we are able to have our own ‘view.’
We are not ‘blind to our own faults’ nor to the faults of others. You can try ‘pulling the wool over our eyes’ but you may find that nothing changes much.
We are so good at what we do that ‘we can do it with our eyes closed.’ We may try to burn the candle at both ends but will most likely burn our fingers.
Our medium of writing is easily ‘spotted’ and although it's not ‘pointless’ there is very much a point in using Braille and it is ‘outstanding.’
Blind people enjoy a social life, however, one must bear in mind that if you take someone on a date, it will always be a ‘blind date.’
If we have too much alcohol we may get ‘blind drunk.’ Be warned that rage and fear will always be ‘blind rage and blind fear’
Rather than ‘the blind leading the blind,’ which may ‘not be a pretty sight,’ a white object is tapped about while walking down the street. Uneven pavement can be a real ‘stumbling block.’ ‘Blind alleys’ will not be too much of a problem though. We ‘walk by faith and not by sight.’
We are not allowed to drive but it might be ‘a sight to behold’ provided we stick to ‘blind rises’ and go around ‘blind corners’ and only drive in the ‘blinding snow.’
‘Blind spots’ would not present a problem for us and neither should ‘night vision.’ We will not be ‘Blinded by the light,’ of oncoming cars, and all of these would be ‘a damn sight better’ than ‘flying blind.’
May we all not ‘lose sight’ of the fact that we are living in the age of so-called ‘Enlightenment’ where ‘Visionary leadership’ is very important and where care must be taken not to be ‘blinded by things that are unimportant’ and to always ‘keep your eye on the prize’ because ‘in a country of the blind, the one-eyed man is king.’
Although it’s hard for us to ‘set our sights on something,’ we rarely ‘miss the mark.’ We ‘set our sights high,’ and ‘focus on the goal,’ we take a ‘shot in the dark’ in the slim chance that we may ‘catch a glimpse,’ and hopefully not have ‘a dim view’ to that ‘first light’ before it ‘drops out of sight’ and we are ‘kept in the dark.’
We may not have the best fashion sense and often we will ‘look a sight’ but it is often times a ‘sight to behold.’
These are 'blind facts;' I hope that no one finds the subject to ‘touchy’ and not be ‘so blind as those that will not see.’ Perhaps all this has been an ‘eye opener’ to someone, and that all these facts haven’t left you ‘blinded by science’
Hopefully, all this has provided some ‘light-hearted’ relief and I have ‘shed a light’ on this sometimes ‘gloomy’ subject and no one has been ‘left in the dark.’ After all ‘a nod is as good as a wink to the blind,’ and unless my ‘eyes deceive me,’ I have ‘begun to see the light,’ and received the gift of ‘second sight.’
I hope that this was time well spent and that you do not ‘feel’ that I ‘robbed you blind.’
