[Curiosities] 10 things you didn't know about blind people

[Mindsphere.]

[EN]

 

 

The lives of people with total or partial visual impairments can be complicated in the eyes of outsiders. Many sympathize with them and try to help them, but people of this kind usually accept their lives as they are and try to manage as well as possible, despite the disabilities they suffer from.

Find out 10 things you probably didn't know about blind or visually impaired people. These 10 things will help you better understand how to interact better with people with visual impairments.

 

 

1. These people may have some form of visual perception, if not complete vision.
Vision disorders, or visual impairments, as we can call them, are not the same as complete vision loss. According to the World Health Organization, 15.88% of visually impaired people face total darkness or are blind.

The rest, 84.12% have partial vision, such as color perception, light perception, movement or even shape perception. They are able to see through blurring or to varying degrees of distortion of the clear, real image. As you can see, there are countless ways to have poor eyesight and it is not a binary between sight and darkness.

2. Don't be ashamed because you have visual impairments.
Many blind people report perceiving their visual impairment as a simple physical challenge, and do not see it as a reason to get depressed. In no case do I see it as a weakness or something to overshadow their daily joys. They do not consider being blind to the same thing as their identity. This group of people is as strong, magnificent and capable of wonderful things as any other normal and physically and mentally healthy group.

 

The responsibility to change our attitude is at our discretion, each of us. So, the next time you think, "Oh, poor thing, he's blind!" Think about how you can change some deep-rooted prejudices that play an important role in your behavior when interacting with such people.

3. They do not always need permanent supervision
Blind people are much more aware of their environment and need more freedom than they are entrusted with. They may need as much help as anyone else trying to get acquainted with a new place and learn a new technology.

Those who face visual impairments do not depend in any way on others for their lives. They can lead an independent life. OrCam MyEye has an important contribution in this regard and we are proud of it! We recommend that you address all people with visual impairments in this way. If they need help, they will ask for it themselves. Many blind people are automatically perceived as disadvantaged. Ask them if they need help! Accept if the answer is "No".

4. They are not super-sensory and may not have more developed senses.
From po[CENSORED]r culture we know that if one of a person's senses no longer works, the others become clearer. This is not necessarily true! Although blind people can rely more on their other senses, develop strong memories or be helped more by sound, for example, they do not have a sixth sense!

However, there is evidence that blind people use a process called "echolocation," a process in which sound waves are used to determine the location and size of objects in a particular area. Dr. Gavin Buckingham says, "They will either snap their fingers or bite their tongues to jump over these sound waves, a skill often associated with bats, which use echolocation when flying."

5. They like to be spoken to normally
You should not be reluctant to use a language around them that contains words that describe the visual such as: "Here!" "Look!", "See", "look". Why? They do not feel offended when they hear such words, and they may feel more strange if they realize that you are trying your best to avoid such language.

6. Interact in the same way as any of us with the environment
Yes. People with visual impairments like to explore new places, go to movies or concerts, try new restaurants and even venture into the world of sports, practicing racing, snowboarding, trekking or skydiving.

 

They are just as excited about the environment as we are. Their general condition depends on their personality. Some are introverted and prefer to spend their time alone, or in an environment they consider safe. Others are extroverted and proactive and look for different ways to interact with the world and the environment.

7. And they dream when they sleep!
Their dreams are simply the way they live their daily lives. A rich mix of sensory landmarks. In a Danish study conducted in 2014, on a sample of 50 blind adults, 18% of participants (both blind at birth and with subsequent onset) reported tastings in at least one dream, compared with 7% of participants with blindness. visually impaired. Almost 30% of blind people reported smell in at least one dream. And almost 70% of participants reported touching and 86% hearing.

However, the emotions and themes of their dreams are similar to those of people who have normal vision.

8. I perceive colors in unique ways
Some people who experience visual impairments later in life are reported to perceive colors in the same way as people with normal vision.

For those who cannot have a complex experience with different colors, relating to them by associating them with certain concepts is a solution. For example, fire associated with yellow or sky with blue. People with visual impairments associate colors with certain forms of energy: blue = cold, white = frozen, red = hot.

Sometimes, they can only distinguish bright colors, having difficulty distinguishing dark blue from black or brown, or light pink from white. However, colors have a meaning for everyone, and people with disabilities or the blind understand it.

 

9. They are open to curiosities about their lives as blind people
Maybe sometimes we don't know how to behave with blind people or we want to understand them better. Therefore, it is okay if we ask them about the experiences of their daily lives. The key is not to be curious, but just to have the goodwill to learn and appreciate the uniqueness, to be a person with visual impairments. As I said above, many such people do not consider themselves victims, but can give us interesting information about their lives. We just have to ask them.

10. Their success depends on how we look at them
Psychologists say that the success in life, education and work of people with visual impairments depends on the expectations of those around them. But also the degree of positive attitude they have. The more we believe they are capable, the more they will be. Self-respect, self-esteem and self-image are partially formed through social interaction.

Finally, let us remember that blindness is not a defect or a stigma. It's a feature, and Helen Keller's words perfectly describe this: "I can see, and that's why I can be happy, in what you call the dark, but which to me is golden. I can see a God-made world, not a manmade world. ”