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<center><img src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/af/Blind_Leading_the_Blind_by_Lee_Mclaughlin.jpg" /><br/><br/><sup><sup>Wikimedia Creative Commons: A blind woman leading a blind man <a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Blind_Leading_the_Blind_by_Lee_Mclaughlin.jpg"> under license by Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported</a></sup></sup></center>
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When I was a little guy, every slight strange happenings fascinate me. I could remain glued at a spot for hours looking at the talking box (the radio), wondering how the stuff works and what mechanism it contains. I would most times stand and watch birds hang on a spot in the mid air, with their wings spread out, wondering how they were able to achieve that feat; defeating every laws of physics (I still do this sometimes). <br>
I have ruined most electrical appliances while trying to probe the basis of their working principles; principles I was never acquainted with prior to my "experiments". I would grab at those gadgets and began to unscrew them, not that they were faulty but I was just curious to know what makes them do what they do. I am not a being who believe so much in magic. To me, every little odd affair has a background cause, I am more fascinated by that cause than what the affair appears to be. So, you may consider that a curse or a blessing. To me, it’s all the same.
<div class="pull-left"><center><img src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/f7/Helen_KellerA.jpg/385px-Helen_KellerA.jpg" /><br/><br/><sup><sup> Wikimedia Creative Commons: Helen Keller, deaf-blind American activist, poet, author and lecturer <a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Helen_KellerA.jpg"> under Public Domain</a></sup></sup></center></div> I have always wondered too, how do the deaf think? You know, you and I do usually think in our own native language or other languages we understand well. Right? Make an attempt to think now and you would notice how the conversation goes in your head. Now wonder at a deaf who hasn’t been acquainted with any known vocal language except the sign language, how would he think? Do they think at all? And they do, which they probably do, well would they think with the same sign languages, hands roving and swiping in their heads instead of usual tiny voices you and I are used to? Strange but fascinating, right? And the blinds too, what do they usually see behind those closed eye lids or faulty cornea? What are they perceiving? You wonder too? Or has it not ever occur to you that they just might be seeing something else other than the black and red those with functional eye see?<br><br>
Just the other day in a public bus, I sat beside a blind man. He was in the bus unaided and even paid for his own transport. Although I helped him with the transaction as he had higher denomination of money than the required transport fare so I thought he would need help identifying the change given to him by the bus conductor. I offered to help him and he didn't decline, he thanked me afterward. But then it occurred to me after a while, maybe he doesn't need help after all. You wonder why? Here is why?
Throughout the journey, however, I could not at first stop wondering what he could be seeing, or was he asleep? At a point I realised I was wrong, he was definitely not sleeping as he kept fumbling with his iPhone in his hands holding it close to his ears. He had the VoiveOver accessibility features on and keeps asking Siri where he was at intervals. He could navigate on the phone effectively, could listen to received text messages and even had an app for the blind feature which explains to him things around him. I thought maybe he intended to use that app to identify his change from the bus conductor prior to my offering to help. And though I was amazed by this technological feats but what was more puzzling to me is the happenings behind those close lids.
Let us both examine his state (of blindness according to the medical practitioners and humanities). What does it mean to be blind? What do one see when one is blind? These are the questions we shall be looking at with this post.
Why don’t you grab a book and pen? You might need to jot down some things, you know.
# What does it mean to be blind?
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<center><img src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/54/Assisting_blind_man_walking_mexico.jpg/640px-Assisting_blind_man_walking_mexico.jpg" /><br/><br/><sup><sup>Wikimedia Creative Commons: A blind woman leading a blind man <a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Assisting_blind_man_walking_mexico.jpg"> under license by Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic</a></sup></sup></center>
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What does it mean to be blind? That’s the puzzling question I have set out to unravel.
Often times we've meet with the blind person(s) on the road, in the workplace or office, and the synagogues or place of worships. We’re sometimes friends or family to some and yet most times have we overlooked what it means to be in the state they are. It is quite logical to think them as some people who'd simply “lost their sense of sight”, but sometimes it is not as simple as that.
Globally, over 300 million people are visually impaired owing to different causes, while of these, approximately 50 million are completely blind. Yes, let me clarify this. To be visually impaired is very much different from being blind. Visually impaired persons are those who still has the ability to see but with very much decreased effectiveness which cannot be corrected by any means whatsoever, either by glasses or medical means (surgery or medications). And to be blind means to have lost all forms of ability to see at all. And blindness is what we are presently examining.
# Causes of Blindness
Here, let us examine some of the causes of blindness.
### 1. Cataract<br>
<div class="pull-left"><center><img src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/24/Intumescent_cataract.jpg/320px-Intumescent_cataract.jpg" /><br/><br/><sup><sup> Wikimedia Creative Commons: A Cloud of Cataract on the Eye<a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Impact_event.jpg">Under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International</a></sup></sup></center></div>Cataract is a dense cloudy film of protein that forms in the lens, preventing it from from sending clear images to the retina. that forms in the lens of the eye. It develops slowly and obstruct vision by degrees until it overrides and prevent any light from reaching the retina. It can affect both eyes but not usually at the same time. <br><br>
It is a common cause of blindness in older people. Symptoms include trouble with bright lights, halos forming around light, blurry visions, colours appearing as fades colours, and trouble seeing at night. Causes may include smoking of tobacco and alcohol, aging, trauma, exposure to radiation, deficiency of vitamin C, genetics and some medications such as Corticosteroids.
### 2. Glaucoma:
<div class="pull-right"><center><img src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/13/Acute_Angle_Closure-glaucoma.jpg" /><br/><br/><sup><sup> Wikimedia Creative Commons: Glaucoma <a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Acute_Angle_Closure-glaucoma.jpg">Under Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported</a></sup></sup></center></div> Glaucoma is an eye illness that develops as a result of abnormal rise of pressure inside the eyes which, overtime, erodes the optic nerve thus resulting in gradual loss of vision, and finally blindness. However, not all persons experiencing pressure in their eyes wil develop the illness. <br><br>
The ability of eyes to withstand pressure differs. It actually depends on how much pressure ones optic nerve can withstand which, you will readily agree with me, differs as genetic make up of all persons differs. However, the chances increase in people who has family history of the illness. As a result of these, one is advised to periodically seek medical test on the disease annually.
### 3. Retinal Detachment
<div class="pull-left"><center><img src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/e8/Eye-diagram_no_circles_border.svg/246px-Eye-diagram_no_circles_border.svg.png" /><br/><br/><sup><sup> Wikimedia Creative Commons: Schematic drawing of the human eye<a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Eye-diagram_no_circles_border.svg"> Under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported</a></sup></sup></center></div> This is the type of blindness that arises when the retina detach from the back if the eye. retina is responsible for the sending of the light from an image to the brain through the optic nerve. Detachment of the retina results in its deprivement of oxygen. It's symptoms include appearance of floaters in sight, blurry vision including partial loss of sight. Causes include appearance of hole or tear in the retina, tissue on the surface of the retina shrinks causing the retina to pull away from the underneath layer, or cancer of the eye.
### 4. Subarachnoid Hemorrhage
<div class="pull-right"><center><img src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/f3/Subarachnoid_haemorrhage.jpg/189px-Subarachnoid_haemorrhage.jpg" /><br/><br/><sup><sup> Wikimedia Creative Commons: A Computer tornography showing a human brain with subarachnoid haemorrhage<a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Subarachnoid_haemorrhage.jpg"> Under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported</a></sup></sup></center></div>Subarachnoid Hemorrhage is such internal bleeding that occurs in the area (the subarachoid space that appears between the arachoid membrane and the pia meter) surrounding the brain. <br><br>The subarachoid space is the area where the cerebrospinal fluid circulates; a space that serves as cushion for the protection of the brain. Bleeding into this space has the ability of causing paralysis, coma or evev death. <br><br> Symptoms include seizures, nausea, vomiting, rapid loss of alertness, shoulder or neck pain and numbness. Causes include injury, trauma or bleeding disorder.
# Now what do the blind really see?
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<center><img src="http://www.creative-commons-images.com/highway-signs/images/blind.jpg" /><br/><br/><sup><sup>Creative Commons Images: Blind <a href="http://www.creative-commons-images.com/highway-signs/b/blind.html"> Under Alpha Stock Images</a></sup></sup></center>
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It is very rational to assume that whenever a person lost his or her sight, the person is always left in total darkness. More like someone diving into the depth of the sea, or just closing your eyes and covering your head in blankets or the pillow – everything appears dark, right? So does being blind feels, right? Doesn’t this make sense? It sure does, only that this is not exactly what being blind feels.
Ever wondered about how the Loggerhead Turtle and Birds of Migration were able to navigate using the earth’s magnetic field. Knowing their direction at any point in time. Now, imagine yourself approaching any of this amazing animals and informing it that you can’t perceive the earth's magnetic field. The animal, who apparently doesn't know much about the genetic and physiological make up human, is sure to ask, "So what do you feel when you turn to any direction?" Your answer is surely going to be as good as mine, "Nothing."
As seeing blackness is more like seeing a particular colour and being blind from birth) is almost like not being able to identify any colour whatsoever, blind people see nothing.
### Blind From Birth
This is someone who had never had any sight experience whatsoever. Numerous reasons could be the cause. Perhaps improper attention to feutus growth during birth, radiation exposure or inadequate intake of some vitamins by the mother during pregnancy.
Such a person had no previous idea that colour exists. Well, let me denmonstrate to you how such person actually perceive things. Close one of your eye while you focus the other one on something before you. The closed eye, what do you see with it? Nothing, not even the blackness we'd earlier thought we'd see. Let’s demonstrate another example. Spread out your arms until you can see them no more, stretch your palm, now that space between your palm behind your palm, what do you see there? Nothing? Sure. That is exactly what being blind from birth feels.
### Blind later in life
To become blind later in life is to loss the sense of sight due to an an accident or other causes. BBC journalist, Damon Rose, disclosed the following in one of his article featured on the BBC website while describing his experience with blindness having lost his sight as a child.
> [Though I've had the cord cut between my eyes and my brain, it seems that the world has not turned black. All metaphors, similes, analogies, and literary flourishes about blindness and darkness should henceforth cease to be used because I'm saying it's far from dark. It is, in fact, quite the opposite.... The answer - at least in my case - is light. Lots of it. Bright, colourful, ever-changing, often terribly distracting, light... When I first went blind I thought the brightly coloured lights were a sign my eyes were trying to work again. It gave me some hope and I was quite fascinated by it. I used to sit and stare at it. Now I know that it's my brain making up for the fact that it no longer receives any pictures.](http://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-ouch-31487662)
I hope you took your time to read that because I am not going to repeat what he said. At least, he’d saved us a whole lot of trouble. He is our first hand in this case, and a competent first hand, indeed.
# Do Blind People Dream?
<div class="pull-left"><center><img src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/8f/%27Dream_of_Italy%27_by_William_Louis_Sonntag%2C_Dayton_Art_Institute.JPG/320px-%27Dream_of_Italy%27_by_William_Louis_Sonntag%2C_Dayton_Art_Institute.JPG" /><br/><br/><sup><sup> Creative Commons Images: Dream of Italy (Art work by William Louis)<a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:%27Dream_of_Italy%27_by_William_Louis_Sonntag,_Dayton_Art_Institute.JPG"> Under Alpha Stock Images</a></sup></sup></center></div>
Yes. This is another fascinating aspect of this condition. Do blind people dream at all? What do they see when they dream?
No doubt, those whose sight lost efficiency with time would dream of images of earlier days. Someone who’d been born blind dreams too, but not of images. Such dreams do often include sound, feelings, odour or flavors. Psychology Today mentions a portion from a report paper that I will like to reproduce here,
> [“When a blind man is asked if he dreams the answer is immediate: "Yes!" But if we ask him if he sees anything in the dream, the answer is always doubtful because he does not know what it is to see. Even if there were images and colours in his brain during the dream how could he recognize them? There is, therefore, no direct way, through the dream reports, to evaluate the presence of visual activation in the dream of congenitally blind subjects.” --Bértolo, Mestre, Barrio, & Antona, 2017](https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/dream-factory/201712/do-blind-people-see-in-their-dreams)
It is therefore clear to us how the blind perceive things, depending on their nature of blindness. So when next you meet a blind person, you should be able to relate better with them as you are seemingly acquainted with what is going on in their heads as regard visual matters.
Thank you for reading through this article. I hope you learned something today. Let me know if you did, and please let me know how to improve on my writings in case you couldn’t gain very much on here.
Have a great weekend ahead.
References: [ThoughtCo](https://www.thoughtco.com/what-do-blind-people-see-4153577) [BBC News](http://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-ouch-31487662) [Nautilus](http://nautil.us/blog/what-do-blind-people-actually-see) [Live Science](https://www.livescience.com/33682-blind-people.html) [Psychology Today](https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/dream-factory/201712/do-blind-people-see-in-their-dreams).
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