Category: Let's talk
I have been blind for pretty much all of my life. Except for a few months. I have been really curious lately just what is it like to be able to see things instead of just feeling them. I mean, If you feel a smooth shirt, It just feels pretty much like a smooth cotton shirt. You might be able to tell a couple more things about it. But sighted people can see what the color is like. What is it like to be able to tell who a person is by just seeing them? Most of you hear are blind but I thought you might be able to remember.
Difficult question. I don't think anyone can answer.
Can you describe to a deaf person what is like to listen to sounds? I don't think so. Anyway i am blind as well.
Maybe sited users might have a different oppinion on the subject. Or maybe blind users who lost their site in a later stage might be able to describe but i don't think anyone really can do it.
People tried to explain colours before in other topicks but i still don't know what is like to be able to see them.
Nikos
Interesting.
oh yes, that is a hard question to answer.
I have some vision. Since I have some vision, I may not need as much help with things such as reading some things like lables on jars. If I do have trouble reading something I will either ask for help or use a CCTV. The CCTV magnifies the print of whatever I put under it. I can even use the CCTV to read the newspaper. For some things I can use a magnifier.
The only thing I wish I could do is drive
What an interesting question. I, too, have never seen and have always wondered what it is really like. For example, what is the sky like? I have had it described as appearing as a bowl over you that moves with you where ever you go outside. That kind of makes sense to me but it's still difficult.
Color? Forget it. I memorized the primary colors (red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet) back in high school, and that's the extent of my knowledge about colors. I know you can mix these colors to get other colors, but I have no idea what these mixtures are, etc.
Another mystery to me is what people look like. I know what my own body is like, and I know, in a general way, how others differ from me (taller, fatter, more muscular, etc.), but I don't see what makes one person ugly while another is beautiful. However, voices are a different thing. Some voices grate on my nerves while other voices or accents are marvelous to hear.
These are just a few of my thoughts on the subject from a blind person's perspective.
Hope some of the sightys on the zone will respond to this thread.
Thanks,
Bob
as a person that has been sighted most of my life. I am having a hard time trying to explain sight. I
have only been blind for six years and had perfect vision until then. I have the same hard time explaining to my sighted friends what it is like to be blind. As far as uglyness, even if I could explain what my version of an ugly person would be. to another sighted person they may look at it as beautiful. Just like we blindy's don't all think the same types of voices sound cute, sight is the same way. Not that this is helping explain what things look like. hehehe but yeah, I'm trying. hehehe! The sky. Most people say it's blue. At times it is. but not always. It can be cloudy and yeah, clouds are like if you were to take a cotton ball in your hand and pull it apart and make crazy shapes with it. that's what the clouds do. They never look the same.
I could be here all day trying to think of ways to explain things, and yet I'm getting no where. lol! sorry I tried. eheheh smiles.
interesting subject. I am sighted and as Angel77 and the rest i think its something very hard to explain or understand. Ya clouds r like a cotton ball and the sky is not always blue. I think its quite difficult to have a totally blue sky, there r always some clouds around. And clouds r not always white. When its going to rain, its grey and so forth. As to how a person looks like. I think the easiest way is to associate it with voice. When u hear a beautiful voice, then the person looks beautiful, or when u hear a unpleasant voice then u can imagine the looks. But the truth is normally those who have a nice voice does not look really beautiful. smile. No one is perfect so. Sighted people depend more on sight. From far u r able to recognise a friend but for blind people u have to hear the voice of your friend to recognise them. Or like from far we know that's a coca cola bottle, but for blind people feeling it n only afer drinking it then u r able to tell what it is. But i think both have their advantages n disadvantages. Sometimes its seeing that makes a sighted person miserable n fall into alot of problem. Or the desire of the eyes that cause them to fall into lots of injuries. So as i say there r pro and cons.
My Father explained it to me as a child. He said you see everything at once,every colour in the sky, and there are several different shades and tones of blue and grey ect.You see crowds of people, and lines of cars, and streets full of shops, with the windows full of stuff, so you cant make up your mind what to buy. The light constantly changes and moves as the sun goes around..it's not just a few things at once, here and there, we are constantly bombarded with things it's a wonder we dont go mad. I was 6 and desperate to see.
I'm also a sighted person and like many others have already mentioned it is very difficult to explain sight. Often times, however, you can determine what it beautiful and ugly by simply touching an article of clothing and feeling its texture or listening to someone's voice. Beautiful and ugly are very arbritary because everyone has different tastes so if I describe what I believe to be ugly many (blind and sighted people alike) may think it is in fact beautiful. Being blind makes you rely on the other four senses that you have and using those I think you can determine what is ugly and beautiful for yourself without having to see it. Being sighted just lets you see colors, textures, styles, and other individuals, which can in someway be very difficult to describe. I don't know if that puts any perspective to anything, but that's just my take on things.
I too have had sight as well. It’s a funny thing going from sighted to blind. Let me cut to the quick. I gave this topic a lot of thought. I like to think of sight through layers. Sort of like what Goblin said. Try this and see if it works for you. Go into a quiet room. And sit in front of something such as a table or a desk. Something big. Sit faceing the object and don’t touch it. Keeping your head up and faceing the object don’t touch it. Try and feel the object, remember what’s on the object your trying to feel, where things are, and what they are. How far away from you the objects are that are on the object your sitting infront of. Eyes opened or eyes closed it shouldn’t matter. The tri gemenal nerve in the face should pick up the objects as you think of them. Now that we have shape think of what colors the objects should be. I guess for me, sight is having an understanding of what things are and being able to recognize them. That’s why we think in images and not words. It’s easy to see an apple or a shirt in the mind’s eye, but be asked to see a thing a ma jig and your at a loss. Shape, color, depth, contrast, light, dark, movement, I think it’ it more sensed then it is sight. Research has shown that sight is more like a camera taking constant pictures. Or like an old movie projector. Thousands of clicks per second, and the brain adds to the pictures so it looks complete. There are Psychology books with half drawn pictures which people look at. Such as bikes with no tires and cats with no tails. The mind just adds these things in. Well anyway here is just another spin on an interesting question.
Damn this is an interesting topic. I like all the attempts to explain site and I really appreciate it from all who have had site.
For me, DragonFire's explanation comes closest to making sense.
I think, though, you guys aren't specific enough. For example, you say the sky is blue or it is gray, but what is blue or gray.
There could probably be a college course taught on this topic, but who would take it. <grin>
Many thanks to those who have or had sight and try to explain it to those of us who have never seen. Please keep trying, I promise, I'll try harder. I really want to know what sight is like.
Bob
My brother is an artist and even he has trouble describing every single tone of blue or grey. In a rainy Scottish sky, there can be up to 20 shades of grey in one square meter of cloud.The same is true for a partly sunny blue sky, as we have today.
Wow,
This one's interesting! I had my friend to discribe collours to me. It really was interesting. I sorta look at collours like tastes, so when I get into all of thes things like off white, I don't quite get it. I thikn personally, that its one of those things that just can't be explained completely. U almost have to be in it to know it. Although, what some of the sighties or ex sighties said on here's really good! Thanks for the insite guys!
It's a theory used to explain why Van Gogh went mad, he was unable to capture the colours around him in paint, exactly as he saw them.
interesting
Okay, let's forget color and shades of color.
What about facial expressions.
I assume if you see someone with a smile on their face, they are happy (or pretending to be).
But, how does a blind person who has never had sight appear to a sighted person. Do I smile, (I think I do), do I frown (I think I do). I know when I laugh physical things happen to my face. When I'm unhappy, I can feel a difference to my face. However in general, is there a different look to a person who has never seen?
I am almost sure that a person who has had sight for a reasonable period of time, maintains their ability to express themselves through facial expression.
Anybody know?
Bob