I loved reading this, it made me emotional. I've always been afraid of losing my sight and this made me feel less scared.
What it's like to go blind (2015)
21–30 of 49 posts
Re: What it's like to go blind (2015)
#22Definitely not as bad as the author, but slowly losing quality of vision is a nightmare for me. I'm very sensitive to any kind of changes and ~4 years ago my eyesight began to rapidly decline. It's still in very low numbers, but it already affected the comfort of how I live. Without glasses everything is blurry and gives me nausea, with glasses I can see, but it's not the same as having perfect vision. Myopia + Presb…
I would expect doctors to check your retina too. It doesn't sound right. There are incurable diagnoses, but there should be one.
Re: What it's like to go blind (2015)
#23My doctor has just referred me (at 36) for possible normal tension glaucoma due to obstructive sleep apnea so reading this piece is timely.
Interestingly enough the Quora account it sources from has been deleted.
Re: What it's like to go blind (2015)
#24I recently had a thought about LLMs and vision models. Unlike ever before, the blind can now listen to a description of the world around them, with no other person required. The computer can just tell them what is around them. I don't know if that's worth anything or would have too much hallucinated information, but it does seem worth exploring.
Or convert it to music? Because music has much higher bandwidth than just words.
Re: What it's like to go blind (2015)
#25If you want another perspective I would recommend this documentary (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8pD_9Ym6k70) about Pete Gustin, a blind voice actor whose voice you probably recognize... and who also surfs. https://www.youtube.com/c/BlindSurfer
Re: What it's like to go blind (2015)
#26Milton was blind when he wrote Paradise Lost and left us a beautiful description at the start of Book 3: Hail holy light, offspring of Heaven first-born, Or of the Eternal Coeternal beam May I express thee unblamed? ...but thou Revisitest not these eyes, that roll in vain To find thy piercing ray, and find no dawn; So thick a drop serene hath quenched their Orbs, Or dim suffusion veiled. ...as the wakeful Bird Sings…
Jorge Luis Borges also wrote about his blindness as a writer. I remember some interviews, but the most popular of his works on the topic is his "Poem of the gifts" [1], a poem he wrote about being named director of the Argentine National Library around the same time as he went completely blind.
[1] https://thefloatinglibrary.com/2009/01/06/poem-about-gifts-j...
Re: What it's like to go blind (2015)
#27[dead]
Re: What it's like to go blind (2015)
#28I recently learned BOTH of my sons have inherited some retina issues similar to what she has and will be legally blind. It's really difficult for me so far. They're dealing incredibly well with it, at least so far.
Re: What it's like to go blind (2015)
#29I haven't gone blind, but I have been blind since birth. I think especially in the realm of technology, there's very little I can't do. I write code for my dayjob, I write different code for fun, and even do some audio engineering and music production.
I can also ride bikes. I have to know the area well of course, and be prepared for the inevitable accident, but I had a ton of fun doing it as a kid. Also climbing trees or participating in airsoft or laser tag matches.
I've also been able to drive a car. My family thought it would be cool to give me two practical driving lessons as a birthday present. So they called up a driving instructor and just asked. And it happened. Not on the street of course, but on a pretty big and open paved field that they generally use for their first motorcycle lessons.
I also travel. By myself. I have to do some prep work and I do have to ask for assistance a lot, but it's absolutely possible. Especially nowadays where we have phones that can do so much, from image recognition to GPS to video calls.
Naturally there are a lot of limitations. I can't just go out and explore a new place. Or if I have to travel somewhere for work and stay at a hotel I've never been at, getting around can be anxiety inducing and stressful. And of course I miss out on a lot of beautiful things. Like I can only imagine what nature looks like in all it's different forms. I can hear it, but I can't see it.
There's a lot more I could go into, but I just wanted to comment and give another little piece of anecdata. Of course, I imagine going blind later in life is a lot more terrifying than what I'm experiencing. Just like how I dread losing another one of my senses. I have no idea what I would do if I lost my hearing, even though I know there are deaf blind folks that do amazing things. We just do the best we can with what we have. And sometimes that turns out to be quite a lot of things.
Re: What it's like to go blind (2015)
#30[dead]
This is also called a "scam".