Category: News and Views
I've heard some talk about people who wouldn't want to get sight if some new procedure came along that could help. I know I certainly would; I'd love to learn about the world in a new way. How about anyone else? Would you, or wouldn't you, get rid of whatever disabilities you have?
no, i wouldnt, cause this was the way i was meant to be born, so i accept that.
How do you know you were meant to be this way? Do you believe everyone who is born is born the way they are for a reason? Even babies who only live a few days, or children who get cancer, or whatever? I think we hurt the environment causing illnesses, and that mutations also happen naturally, and that we, as intelligent people, should do more to protect the environment. The intelligence of scientists has helped medical science to come a long way so that there are ways for many people to live better lives; why not use the gifts they have for us?
I don't believe in destiny, or things being meant to be, or things happening for mysterious cosmic reasons by the hands of unknowable beings, but far as I'm concerned, I've lived all my life this way and although blindness has its problems and frustrations, I don't really think becoming sighted would make life better and easier overall. I'd just have a whole new set of problems and frustrations to replace the previous set. Nobody has it easy, no matter how rich and famous they are. That's life and I accept it without a complaint. Plus, if I were to see, I doubt I would be able to do things as naturally as somebody born sighted because I'd have to learn everything from square one. My blindness is no cosmic curse for past sins, or lesson for the next life, or morbid and depressing disease, or pathetic tragedy. It is just life.
I don't believe it would be easy; I know I'd have to learn many things over again, but I think sight would add a new, rich dimension to my life.
i always imagine that, if i'm a sighted person, what will happen to me, who am i now, will i be someone better or someone worse than now? i guess from all the questions, i ask myself, and i've never give up for any chance to have a better vision, so i believe that i'm kin to have a miricle happen.
I wouldn't get rid of my disability either, but maybe if I knew I could wish my sight back for say a day or week, I might do that, but just for my 9-year-old nephew and my sister (his mom). (Not just to see them, or course, but because my sister thinks that I could get an eye transplant and that that would make me see. And my nephew always says that he wishes I could see because things would be easier for me; it's hard to explain to him that although things can be hard, that I have accepted it.) But I think if they knew I'd have that chance, it would make them happy. But if this were not an option, I personally wouldn't want it back perminently because this was how I'm meant to be, unless God allows otherwise. I had used to see enough to read large dark print when I was younger, but my sight went little by little. Also, I've already had several surgeries when I could still see, and nothing worked, so that's how I figure I was meant to be blind.
Leilani
urm, i'm not sure about this, cause this is not a question i'll ask myself. if i'm having any disablelity, i think i'll accept it with joy or ... well, i don't know.
Yeah family get on my case on the retina's bionic eye. I refuse to do it, especially when I hear 2 different stories about that implant is in it's beginning phases in one article and another striving for sucess. Look I understand and accept that I'll one day face total darkness, I aint letting years of training go to waste. Besides, my RP is slow going as it is as we speak so right now I just sit here and enjoy life. Family want me to see as thats what I was born with before the RP took over. Thats something they need to accept. Heck I told them I was going for my first guide dog and I got alot of disapointing looks and lectures. Ok I know how to take care of a dog, I own a house pet for 8 years now, I did most of the training, walks, feeding/parking sheesh if god wants me to see t hen he would've never put me in this position. However I feel that something special was in store for me and I think I found it. So to answer your question, No I'd rather not get rid of my disability. This is what made me who I am. And I don't dispise it one bit.
well I think there's something to be said for a disability making someone who they are. After all, if we weren't blind, we wouldn't have met certain people ... done certain things, life would have been totally different. I think though that a lot o the reason people might not choose to change things, is fear of the unknown. Just as someone who can see would be afraid of not seeing, someone who cannot see is equally likely to be afraid of seeing, after all you'd have to learn to do everything from scratch! read and write, get around relying on your eyes, and these things do not come naturally. and imagine looking at people who you never knew what they looked like, seeing trees, houses, buildings, colour even, it would be incredibly overwhelming.
Well, I believe anything that could make me more productive, more contributing and more independent is something I would never turn down, be it new technology, new way of doing things or, in fact, a chance to get my sight back. Anything we are makes us who we are .. this seems non-sensical .. I mean if I wasn't blind I wouldn't have met the people I've met but the same can be said for every decission I made, if I wasn't born into a good family, had the chance to study, went to the U.S. got a job etc etc, I consider myself very lucky having me the peopple I've met and done the things I've done but I don't consider my blindness a blessing or a deciding factor in my future happiness so, of course, if I could gget rid of it I would even if it was replaced with a host of problems. I wonder if it's different because I lost my sight at age 5 so I know what seeing was like and I, so to speak, know what I am missing out on and I even realize some disadvantages to being sighted, yet if I got the chance I would jump on it, provided it wouldn't provide other health risks or dangers to me in any way..
Cheers
-B
he he he, it'd be great if ya could turn it on and off.... I'm not sure I would want it back. I'm used to being me.
ah but you'd still be you but with a drivers licence!
not in this or any other lifetime.
I'm so used to being blind, I may as well stay that way otherwise I'd have to spend years adjusting. It doesn't particularly bother me that I'm blind, I've survived so far, I'm sure I'll get by some more.
with b 100% ont his one
Hey, i'm glad to see that quite a few people take the same view as me! I have often had people ask me, would you like your sight back if that were possible? Well since i have a condition called septo optic displasia which means basically i have no optic nerve connecting my eyes to my brain it's very unlikely this will be possible, and that's something i've accepted. Also, i wouldn't want to go back to school and learn everything again, like how to read and write? no way! talk about 2 steps forward and 3 steps back... lol! Yeah i admit the driving bit would be pretty cool though. I think out of curiosity if someone offered me my sight for 24 hours i'd take it, but not on a permanent basis.
well so you say, but in 24 hours you could see a lot of cool things, there's always a chance that you would think differently in 24 hours, having seen things you'd never seen before.
And how exactly do you expecta brain which has developed without visual stiumuli, to understand sight hmm? it would panic and be completely confused..it's been proved in studies, with people blind from birth, that the visual cortex replaces sight with sound therefore a blind person, regaining sight,would be at 1st unable to process visual images it would be a feckin nightmare...you would need to re-learn everything and be led around like a child,what kind of person would choose to subject themselves to such humiliation..its nonsense...
well I think the question was purely hypothetical
Hmm, well, assuming you regain sight at, say, age 25 and the brain will actually adjust to it in 2 to 5 years eehm so the qustion is .. are you willing to be led around for 6 months or spending 2 to 3 years learning to write, recognize colors and people and read etc and after that be able to drive, go to movies, go to restaurants or go abroad without any sighted help, or would you take the "easy way" out, not to challenge yourself to learn new things and keep on relying on others, not because you have to but because it's your choice to do so?
To me the choice is obvious, but it depends on the type of person you are I suppose.
I love exploring new things and taking decissions last minute, try out ne restaurants and or theaters or shops or even take a drive to the mountains or river rafting or flying to another country or just walking down a street observing the shops and the people. To me all of these things are more or less impossible .. well not quite but made quite a lot harder by being blind. Sure I can find a restaurants address, call a cab and wait for it and have the cab driver help me (hopefully) to the place, hope it's not on the third floor of a big building, then being sat down somewhere and enjoy having the waiter read the entire menu to me, eat and then call the taxi again and stand outside for an hour waiting for it to turn up, only to find it waited for me somewhere else and never bothered to let me know. For me that ruins the experience of exploring and I feel that I don't get to fully enjoy that unless I'm with a sighted person. Daily things can quite as easily be achieved by a blind person as a sighted one and we can do a lot of things that we want to do and we can learn the way to our favorite baror restaurant or set of stores and thus not be reliant on things like cabs etc, but exploring new and unknown things for us is very much of a hassle and to me that's really the biggest frustration of being blind and one that I would definitely be willing to trade a year or two of learning to fix, were I to gain my sight back somehow.
I've got lots of sighted friends and I do a lot of exploring with them and it's a lot of fun but the ability to do it myself would really enhance my life. Curious to know what the rest of you guys think about this.
Cheers
-B
As an afterthought, I would really almost say that if a person turns down the offer of having their sight restored and having the readjustment process paid for turns it down .. well, in my view they should not be eligible for Social Security any more, after all they are not society dependent because of their condition but because they chose to be that way. Of course e.g. if the person is old and it could be argued that they could not effectively readjust to society that's different but if the person is in his/her 20s and there is no good reason why they shouldn't change, well, aren't they then disabled because they choose to be so?
TIt's a bit of a contravertial view I am sure but to me it makes perfect sense.
Cheers
-B
not in a million bloody years I'd had enough of being led around at 8 yrs old, so I would need to be desperate to subject myself to the humiliation and pitiful remarks, as an adult,taking a drive through the mountains is not impossible if you have a good knowledgeable and extremely brave, guide, in the passenger seat I've done it in Torridon. I cant is just another way of saying I wont and dont want to try...nothing is impossible and if you dont or wont try, how on earth, can you say I cant...why waste time wanting what you cant have B, its pointless, and if I may say after all this time a bit pathetic...
not in a million bloody years I'd had enough of being led around at 8 yrs old, so I would need to be desperate to subject myself to the humiliation and pitiful remarks, as an adult,taking a drive through the mountains is not impossible if you have a good knowledgeable and extremely brave, guide, in the passenger seat I've done it in Torridon. I cant is just another way of saying I wont and dont want to try...nothing is impossible and if you dont or wont try, how on earth, can you say I cant...why waste time wanting what you cant have B, its pointless, and if I may say after all this time a bit pathetic...
I don't and don't want to try? isn't that a bit of a contradiction? after all, if you had the chance and you turned it down, then surely you'd be saying ... I won't and don't want to try ...
goblin .. but that's the point .. no matter how brave you may be you need the guide to help you drive, you could not take a drive through the mountains or anywhere for that matter alone, you need that guide .. you are reliant on that sighted person to go with you. And what you said could also be applied to the chanceog getting sight back, that it's a bit pathetic if you don't want to try. I'm not saying we shouldn't try to live our lives to the fullest being blind and being ok with it, I'm just saying if we got the chance of getting our sight back, somehow, I don't think we should turn it down because we're afraid of the consequences of it or we don't want to change our lifestyle.
Ahh but at least you would have driven, isnt that better, than saying damn I need a guide why bother..I would need to have been mad to turn down the chance ...and as far as being afraid of the consequences, I just think there are far better things we could be doing, than waiting for a miracle.
Goblin, no, I totally agree with you but I guess I meant a different thing. I'm not saying we should be sitting around whining about being blind and that getting our sight back is the only important thing in the world. And we can create a bloody good life for ourselves. I travel more than most people I know since I get super good deals on flights and I have friends living in other parts of the country so I don't have to pay for hotel expenses etc, but the idea of what I said was bascially if someone came to you today and told you you could get your sight back through a minor surgery and there was no risk associated with it but it would take you 2 to 3 years to learn everything again ... I think not taking that chance is a little bit strange, that's all I was trying to get across, I was not venting about how terrible it is to be blind .. it's not bad, people could be in a wheel chair or alcoholics or poor or in a developing country with no access to any luxuries etc etc etc .. it's just something we live with but I, for one, would rise to the challenge of getting rid of that condition if I knew that I had a save way of doing so and I wouldn't mind the aspect of retraining and reconditioning myself, I'd enjoy that challenge and I think the benefits would be amazing.
No I would still refuse because its not what I want
so given the choice, you would never want to see your son smile, never want to see the way your partner looks at you when she thinks you're not looking, never want to see your child, when he is older, play sports and look out to make sure that daddy is watching his every move, ... i think not.
See, but in that case I don't think you should get social security, because you choose to be blind .. it'd be hard to justify getting social security I think because you choose to be "disabled", just like if you got offerred a job but refused you should not remain on unemployment benefits forever. But I suppose that's a contentious issue.
(and I'm not saying you in general but anyone that refuses that option when presented to them unless they can site good reasons for doing so)
oh absolutely I think that if you get offered a job and turn it down your unemployment benefits should be taken away, whether you're blind, sighted or otherwise, but I guess that's a topic for another discussion ..
I'd jump at the chance to see, despite having to readjust my life. No, I don't sit around thinking about how bad being blind is, it isn't bad to me. However, if given the chance to enhance my life I would. After all I would finally be able to see the people and things I love so much. I had this very decission to make about 13 years ago...I was 15 and there was opertunity for a surgery that may allow me to at least read large print. My parents didn't decide, they told me, "it's your site, your life, you need to decide". I went for it, and though it didn't work I don't regret it. I tried, and that what matters, and for a little while I had the hope of vision, and for a few minutes I was able to look at my own face...Then my retina detached, and there went it all, but was I depressed? Maybe, only so far as anyone would be when they try something and it fails.
hmm, me with a driving lisence, yeh, i could cope with that, he he. Seriously, i was kinda messing when I posted earlier. Of course, if there were no risks, i'd be there yesterday!
Having completely lost my sight roughly 12 years ago, I'd say yes in a heart beat.
Just think. If we all became hypothetically sighted. society would not have to be tollerant to those they deemed inferior or incompetent. There would just be mandatory curings, no matter how we felt about our situations. We should all have our lives turned upside down and torn apart for the greater good of society and those of us who refuse are nothing but ungrateful cowards! All hail society! LOL!
No because the experience of holding him, feeling his little arms around me, and his heart beating, is more worthwhile and magical to me that seeing it ever could be...being total from birth has intensified even the smallest event so sight would be a colossal disappointment ...
.................
well Labyrinth has joined the 3rd Reich didn't hitler use the excuse of mandatory curing of course in his case, that meant gasing,painful experiements, starving, mass executions and so on..and the ones so desperate to conform and regain sight are playing right into the hands of those who wish we didnt exist!..
Wildebrew I'm not on social security I work for what I spend and there's nothing like the smell and feel, of cold hard cash...that ludicrous idea would leave 100,000's of disabled people destitute, on the streets, and at the mercy of inclement weather,disease, inadequate services already at breaking point,and violence which we accept is higher among disabled people..would you really want to subject disabled people to that .................
did I miss the revolution hmm just when did your version of the 3rd Reich assume power...
So, why are the social services at breaking point? Well, because of the numberof people in need of cash assistance, how could that be fixed? Either by injecting more tax payer dollars into the system or by reducing the number of recipients and separate those who really need social security from those that do not need social security or need s.s. payments less. There are a lot of people I know off personally who can't be bothered to go look for a job because their s.s. payments are not much lower than the money they would earn. Those are people who are perfectly capable of working but prefer not to and are too lazy to go to school. If there was a way to justly sort these people out of the group and give them bigger inceintives for going out and getting jobs you would both be doing them a huge favor socially as well as reducing s.s. payments and even bringing in more tax dollars. If there was a way to insure people sight that would be even a bigger incentive for the same thing and thus would have positive effects in both scenarios. I need to see figures before I believe in the violence against disabled people being higher than against non-disabled peoplle, I have seen no evidence of that where I live in fact so just someone saying it doesn't make it believable to me, if I see figures I'll take note or at least think about them.
And, yes, that idea is a bit radical the way it is expressed but I think a more limited version of it might actually benefit a lot of people, not forcing them to take the chance but giving them both a strong incentive and a choice, just juding by the responses on this board a big ortion of the group would take that choice. And, finally, how do you know holding your son is that much more amazing than seeing him, after all you never have seen him so you can't judge the effects of sight on that exprerience, nor any experience in our life and given the chance you still would choose not to, given your argument above that would afll into what you define as "pathetic" and I am only using your defition here, I am not expressing that opinion myself, it's simply something taken directoly from your words.
Cheers
-B
tax the super rich,say no to war, abandon the building of yet more unnecessary nuclear weapons, stop supporting america,and most of all categorically remove the benefits from drunks, scroungers, junkies,and those who are playing the system....you really are desperate to see eh and in that blind addiction you fail to realise that not everybody shares your ambition would you force sight on people to save money,your reasoning is insane....I live with my blindness as a happy contented well adjusted man who is happy seeing bugger all,I DO NOT let my disability limit my enjoyment of anything..I've climbed mountains surfed in the ocean recently driven Stevie's brother's new car a very powerful 256bhp Honda Civic Type R...would you do the same or refuse due to neweding a guide...I refuse to waste my time wanting and hoping for a cure my condition is incurable and I couldn't care less...
Also B just how much sight do you expect to have after being total since 5, hmm, I would suspect very little. possibly wildly distorted shapes, a few indistinct colours,
and think on this, you could very well lose what little sight you gain, could you cope with going blind a second time...it's an impossible dream pal, so it's time you faced reality and got on with your life, regardless of your blindness because by wishing for a cure, you are allowing your disability to rule your life,something I never do...see you up Ben Nevis pal!..smile.
Hmm, some good points there. The problem you see is figuring out who is playing the system and, yes, I agree with you on all theother points you made actually, I'd much rather have my tax dollars go to supporting the blind than supporting someone who failed rehab for the 5th time and is obviously using rehab as means to recover between drinking binges, I have no sympathy for those peole unfortunately because I know what they do to themselves, to society and to their friends and loved ones (those that stick by them that is).
And, no, I'm not saying I'm not content living with blindness, well actually, heck, I am not, Ihave a great life, don't get me wrong but I'd jump at the chance to regain sight as soon as it were availible, there are too many possibilities that it would offer and the difference may also be that I used to see and I know what difference it makes in one's life.
But, let me ask you this, is a blind person who is too onfortable on social security to go out and get an education or try to get a job etc playing the system? Some are not able to and that's fine, they may have problems preventing them from doing so, but what can be done to separate those from the people who really would go out and make a difference, in their own lives more than anything else and, yes, it would have a positive financial impact and I have no prolem with supporting that.
you are still living under a delusion that your eyes will miraculously heal and everything will be visable,are you prepared for the fact that it will be incomprehensible and lets not forget you last saw at aged 5 thats a great gap between what your brain knew and what it remembers,can you recall colour, depth, height and shade light and dark..are you ready if you fail to recapture that with this miracle, and are you prepared to accept the cells of a dead feotus to regain this sight you crave so badly..I doubt it you are too damned fixated on seeing it must affect every minute of your life I know because at 5 I was desperate to see but through realisation and acceptance I moved on and grew to appreciate my blindness as a gift rather than the curse people percieve it to be...
nobody is fixated on anything. wildebrew has more than once indicated that he is happy with his life, however, if the opportunity arose, if such surgery existed, which, i might hasten to add, doesn't, people should take the opportunity to be able to see. it was a hypothetical question, "if such surgery existed" and "if it was without risk", the topic post was not, are you desperate to see, and at no point did wildebrew indicate that he was, he purely said that if there was the chance, people should take it, because their lives might be fulfilled in a different way to the way they are now.
goblin, actually, yes, I do remember colors, shades, depth etc, and, no, I'm very happy the way I am living but fully aware of the limitations of my life and if I got a chance for self improvement I would take it just like I would take a milliion dollars if I was offered them, or 100 dollars, doesn't matter. I want to improve my quality of life through education or charity or hobbies or working out or surgery if sight was tha factor that I could improve. I like ambitions and not accepting the status quo, it's not the same as saying one is not happy but I don't see why anyone should ever stop striving to become a better or more skilled person, that would be giving up on oneself.
So, you are not reading what I've said very clearly.
Cheers
-B
it kind of goes along the same lines as ... if you could turn back time would you and where would you go .. etc, and of course everyone knows that is impossible. this was not a debate on whether it physiologically would be possible and what the impact would be on the brain, it was purely a question. and as for people claiming social security benefits, there are a bloody lot of people out there, blind and otherwise, who choose to sit on their backsides and let the government provide, and in my view, people should earn their money unless it has been proven that they are unable to do so.
Yep, I'd totally go for it
dear dear me such unmittigated justification thankyou for easing my boredom Wildebrew, I was dying of it, and I must thank you for the ammunition it was overly generous of you..enjoy the dream pal because that is all it is...
ammunition? oh sounds like the threat of things to come ... better watch out wildebrew, the goblins are coming to get ya!
<grin> hehe, if I wanted to act on all the ammunition (so-called) goblin has provided on the boards, unjustified personal attacks, inconsistent stories etc hehe, well let's say I could blow up a medium sized country .. so I think I'd rather leave that one alone <grin>
thats a lie for a start it's just a matter of time until your next unjustified personal attack ...is it not..and when the miracle occurs, perhaps you would be good enough to regail us with a commentary of the wondrous vista before you, in minute detail..rather than the blurred inconsistent and probably temporary sight you will have ...if that...
he's off again ...
<grin> ok, goblin, give me quotes of any personal attack against you by me, I'm not asking for where I quote your words and ask for explanations, those are only personal attacks if you can't explain them and not when I criticize an idea that you have .. that's expressing different opinions .. when I say "people who do x are people I can't trust" that is not a personaal attack against you, and you've used it numerous times against others. So, thse three things aside, find a discussion.. since that "truce" if you wil where I have said a bad thing about you or wished you bad things .. actually as an additional exercise find a similar comment by sb and then quote them and we can discuss your idea of personal attacks.
And I've explained my justification for my posts to this discussion boards in every single post I made (that I was only talking about the scenario where sight could be offered to me) .. so your interpretation that I am pining away because of my desire to see is crealy way out of line and not very observant to say the least.
But, well, I've never seen you back up any of your alligations with facts or objective things, only ranting and personal attack and offensive comments and when asked to explain things that people find weird you actually create topics on the boards attacking those peole, making you the worst breacher of any truce cause the personal attack is there clearly for all to see, it's even the subject of a board discussion.
So, I will be looking forward to your posting of exact quotes of a direct personal attack I've made on you pal .. I suspect I'llhave to wait very long indeed.
cheers
-B
Goblin is the only one who ever makes personal attacks, and he makes the worst kind...but he is very good at accusing other people of doing what he does all the time.
He has no evidence, but we have plenty against him.
the lawlord incident which you claim to regret I take it that was a complete and utter lie,the accusation that I was lying and the ensuing provocation, you repeatedly used to force me to give a answer to various questions,then you said you dont need to answer ...that is completely nonsensical...
surely you cant have forgotten already ohh wait you have no conscience, do you, that's completely outside the remit for the particular brand of christianity, you claim to follow personally I think its just a smokescreen to justify your abuse its certainly not recognised by any real christians at least those who possess a conscience,
from what I recall, no one actually said, in as many words, that you were lying. however I shall revisit the posts involved and clarify that for my own benefit. I seem to recall that wildebrew asked if there was something else wrong with your partner considering she had been in hospital for three weeks when the norm is one night and instead of saying ... yes there was something wrong with her, you launched into your usual tyrade of "if I told you you'd use it against me " ... yada yada yada ... so .. again you read into posts what you wanted to read into them. if we told you the sky was blue you'd probably take that as a personal offence ..
Goblin, is that the best you can do. You don't pay much attentionto detail now do you, in my last post I specified "since the truce" and as for the LawLord topic I said that I would feel that way about anyone who criticized other members on the Zone to the level that you did at the time, so it wasn't personal attack, and you are seriously the last person on the planet to talk about morales and conscience my good man. For one thing you keep on claiming how we are consumed with hate and that you are free of such things, at the same time you've said, just to name a few things that sb's husband was lucky to have left her and wished her to become lonely and alone, if you ask me that's a pretty hateful comment. And my questioning your stories when the facts dont make sense at all is not a personal attack either, you could've simply given a good explanation of them, a son who is first 2 years old, then nine motnths, then 18 months then not your son at all but someone else's son with the same name and then 9 months and dancing again .. I mean, pointing out the bizarre natrue of that post is hardly a personal attack now is it. If I logged in claiming to be a man and the day after to be a woman I would expect someone to comment about that fact. Sorry, but you really need to do better than this to eehm reveal my hypocracy and lack of conscience, sadly you have done none of the above so I'll be hoping to see something a little more substential, but not expecting it really.
Cheers
-B
We wouldn't have these arguments if we stopped trying to convince people how noble we were. Just tell people you're a hypocrite, even if it's a lie, and they'll probably be too damn shocked to raise a fuss! I admit I'm a hypocrite and have probably done things I accused others of doing. C'mon, anybody want to jump on the bandwagon? You'll be the coolest of the cool and the leetest of the leet if you do, right? Hahahahahaha!
LOL, well, that's one way of dealing with the arguing...Now, back to the topic, no one that I've read from yet has come across as pining away...I'm certainly not, but leaving the door open for possibilities has no fault either. After all, if I didn't leave the door open for possibilities; where would I be on fertility? Insane because I'd have to say I'll never have my greatest dream, so, I leave the door open, and maybe one day something like a mericle will happen, but if it doesn't I'll go on with my life and make the most of everything I've been given. I'll admit it is easier to say this about my blindness rather then my lack of a child, but things still remain the same. And, before anyone jumps to conclusions I'll add this. It's easier to say it about my blindness because I couldn't really care less one way or the other, but having a child I do care greatly about...
I think the difference wc is the fact that for some, the need to see again, walk again, hear again, whatever their disability may be, is often an emotional one, whereas the desire to have a child is not just an emotional thing, it's a biological thing. A woman actually feels that she "has to have" a baby. It's hard to explain, and without appearing sexist, it's something really that only a woman would understand as, although men do feel the urge to be parents, the desire is not a physical need ... because the woman doesn't just want to hold her baby, she wants to carry it, feel it moving ...etc.
i wana be able to see more clerly than now, cause if i can see clearly then i can drive and go to places without my ride. and i can do alot more with more sight. i always wanted to play basketball but since i canot see that well, then i just have to sit and just watch the game.
i'm still hoping to get this operated. i hope it goes well.
no. i'm blind and i want to remain that way.
there's absolutely nothing i'm missing out on so i think i'm happy like i am.
My boyfriend played basketball with sighted friends, and he just has light perception. Don't give up just because you can't see.
hmm. I don't really know. I mean, I like to be blind, I guess because I was born that way, I know how to do things and I've become very indepentant. And extra fact (kinda off topic) is that, if I'd been sighted, I wouldn't have met a lot of my new friends--I may have not been on The zone at all. But I would like to be sighted, too. I mean when people "ooh" and "ah" at pictures or awsome sights, I wish I could see them too. But noone can describe them to me. I think I'd like to have sight if I could have my blindness back if I wanted it.
good points alison.
i guess it dosn't matter how you are. just as long as we enjoy our lives lol
Hm. I don't know about this one. On one hand, yes, of course I want to get rid of my disability. On the other hand - I got used to it, and, it would be so hard for my brain to cope with that. t would take a long time until I would be able to see as others do.
Well to tell you the truth, I am happy the way that I am. I except my blindness, and as others have said, God has a plan for me to be blind. So why try to get your eye sight back when ther is no use in it? I mean, look at all that we can do as blind people!! Read in the dark, get wonderful dogs, go to free or half priced camps, many discounts, but that is not to say that we can not work, or pay full price. No!! Not at all! It is to simpily say that in a way, we can enjoy life better than sight people. I feel as if being blind opens up a new world. You get to picture things that you would as a sighted person would think ugly as being a sweet sureen picture. From better hearing, to wonderful senses, God has make blind people to be a part of the world, and not to be out casts.
okay let's put this a diffrent way
if there was a operation tommorow and it could cure any disabillity would you take it?
Well, yes, I think I would.
I'm sure most of us can say we except our blindness. Just because you choose to get your site back doesn't mean you don't! I would do it in a heart beat. I guess having only been blind for um almost five years, I know what both sides are like. I can see where it would be scary for those of you that have never seen before. But life is scary itself. that's something we have to overcome! I have always said if the day ever comes that I could get my site back, I'm waiting a while. Let them practice on someone else for a while! Make sure they get it correct! lol smile- angel
Keep in mind that I speak from the prospective of being blind for life and I'm 36 years old. My blindness is about the only thing in my life I don't have any real issue with. This is largely because I don't know any other way. If I understood the original intent of this topic correctly, the poster wanted to know what we would do if we were told our disability could be made to go away. I don't consider myself to be too terribly disabled but keep in mind what I said at the start. That said, I would be curious to know how the other side lives. It would be interesting to have colors, big screen tv's, hot cars, hot chicks, the sun and all that other sight related stuff have more meaning. Now then, I'd take the chance of having to relearn my life which would be required of course for one main reason. If it all didn't go for whatever reason, I wouldn't end up any blinder than I am now so what the hell.
I don' want my sight back. I have a sorta bitterness about that, that i won't get in to on here. I am ok with what I am, and have accepted it. I think having sight would freak me out. If I had sight, that would give me a reason to judge people by their looks, and I don't want to do that. It's cruel
The answer to this question is a bit dependant on how the reinstitution of my sight would be achieved: If, as I'd heard, I'd need to keep a camera plugged into my head, or if I had to wear sunglasses with built-in electronically controlled and monitored lenses, or if I had to have a part of me mechanically enhanced or replaced, then the answer would be a definite *NO!*. I believe the human body is an emaculate work of art and should not be defamed and brutalized by "human innovations". That applies to any other fields... prostetic limbs, mechanical vocal cord replacements, etc. That only applies to me, of course, and not really to others. If however my sight were to be restored by, say, recreating my cellular structure (cloning), then the answer would be "definitely". If they could take my cells and clone them to create new, working, and genetically compatible optical organs (I lost what little vision I had through genetic rejection), then why not? It'd essentially be me still, even if artificially reproduced. While I am a big advocate of natural cause and effect, I also miss having my sight. I want to be able to see trees, flowers, butterflies, a woman's face, a child's smile, a sky deep blue... I'd give anything I had if I could get that sight back and in a genetically sustainable way. Machines are not genetically sustaining, lol.
Let's say I am not longing and wishing for an operation like that, but if there was a posibility and the risk wasn't too high, I think I would take this chance.
no, I wouldn't want to have to re learn everything, how to read, just think what all would be involved. I've made it 30 years so far I can finish out the play!
True Dawson ... but imagine you can see all your relatives and friends just how they look like (without judging of course, hehehe) or how flowers really look like ... sometimes I really wish I could see.
I enjoy learning, so the learning part would interest me. Also, if it gets too overwhelming then you can close your eyes and use the old technology, and gradually implement visual skills into yourlife. Wraith, why do you feel the way you do?
If I could get rid of my disability, I wouldn't. I've been blind since birth, so therefore, what am I missing out on exactly? Somebody please enlighten me! If you've had sight in your lifetime and then lost it, then of course I fully understand the reasoning for wanting your sight restored, because you know firsthand what you're missing out on. But even if someone told me all the "supposed wonderful things" I'm missing out on like "colours" what are colours anyway? I'd love to find a person who has seen, or can see explain to me what colours are, and give a detailed discription so as I could understand it! but in all my life I haven't, I think that one of the reasons is that colours are interpreted differently by different people, another reason why I wouldn't want my sight. Firstly, I'd have to learn what things were, then how to distinguish between objects. then, of course the question of colours? If I saw for the first time, I wouldn't know what red or black or white were, even though I was seeing them, I'd have to get people to tell me what I was seeing, and as I've said, colours are something which seem to be interpreted, how would I ever be entirely sure what I was actually seeing? I know some colours are easily distinguishable in terms of not being maybe misinterpreted like black and white, but I still would have serious reservations about having my sight, in fact I wouldn't do it as stated before not even if it was free.