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In the land of the blind. The guy in glasses is...
16 years ago
General
Out of place?
Tonight is another weird little ramble. About being blind(ish) no less.
Warning: Content contains mention of things like trying to find the correct underwear. Reader discretion is advised.
Have you ever gotten an urge to try life without a sense, a limb, even speech?
Every now and then, I do. It might seem strange, but I consider it a worthwhile endeavor. It not only encourages you to view things from a different perspective. But it can also rip you away from your comfort zones, whilst allowing you the luxury of being able to "back-track" should it become too much for you.
A blind man cannot lift a veil. Nor a deaf woman remove her ear plugs...
When you throw yourself into their situation, you learn a little bit of what they go through. Tasks that come so easily to you or I, can come just as easily to them, but from a completely different approach.
Now, please bear in mind that I'm by no means well versed in this stuff. I'm just a random loon who occasionally will do things like put a cover over my eyes, or plug my ears. Even "remove" an arm. Just to see how it might be. This also means I don't get to enjoy what someone who has lived and adapted to their condition gets. For me, it's fresh, unknown, and occasionally, scary.
Tonight, and at the start of tomorrow, I will be sampling the world through sightless eyes.
It began with shampoo in the eyes in the shower. Something that has happened to all of us I'm sure.
Well, as I was reaching blindly for the towel to remove the remnants of soap and dry my eyes. I keyed in on just how much was happening that I wasn't paying attention to when my vision was dominant. Sounds, sensations, smells...
While hardly able to vouch for the claim that all sensations increase to counter a missing one. I can certainly say that you become more -aware- of them.
With the shower coming to a close, nice and clean. I decided to continue the experiment. Moving onto correctly determining my towel based of texture as well as placement. (in the center of three, so it was an easy find.) I wrapped up, and proceeded to walk carefully towards the sink, my hands helping to guide and stop me when there.
Feeling the diameter of the sink quickly, I moved my arms to where I knew my toothpaste and toothbrush were.
Feeling the shapes in my hands, I adjusted them until I felt the bristles of the brush lightly resting against my thumb (using my thumb as a reference to insure the brush tip was where I needed it) as well as the cap of the toothpaste against my other thumb.
Popping the seal of the toothpaste, I guided towards my thumb, trying to just slightly overshoot to hit the brush.
When I began squeezing and felt no difference. I ran my thumb tip lightly over the brush, and sure enough, there was no toothpaste. I'd overshot.
Debating how someone without sight might cope with this. I went with a change of plans. I deliberately started the initial squeeze right onto my thumb, running the paste to the tip and then scraping the little bit extra back onto the end of the brush, and toweling my thumb dry.
Perhaps it's not the right approach. But it worked for me.
Replacing the toothpaste, and turning on/off the water were trivial things. But when it came time to spit, I had to grasp for the sink once more.
Finding the initial center via the overflow hole, I guided my hand the rest of the way to the left, determining where my edges were. From there on, it was easy. When I was done, I rinsed the sink out, making sure to clean up the spot where I'd overshot with my toothpaste the first try.
With my toothbrush back in place, I searched the edge of the sink, and found the ring I got for my 21st. Running my thumb over the top of it, I "built" the pattern on the ring in my head, determining which side was the top so I could put it on.
As my hands found my glasses. I noted something that had been working in my favor even with my eyes closed.
Light.
Throughout the entire room, light was basically creating a weaker version of the room if I cued in on it. Shadows and highlights all over helped place things.
While I know some folks can be blind, but see light, this didn't seem right.
So, grasping around, I found my T-shirt and proceeded to blind myself further.
Complete darkness. Amazingly, it turned out that the light hadn't been making as big a difference as I thought. I knew the bathroom so well, I still had an idea of where everything was relative to myself.
Finding the doorknob, I let myself out and wandered across the hall to my room. Hardly even needing my hands to guide me.
Once in my room, my senses were all put to the test to navigate the minefield that is my room. Hands were out, skimming along the end of my bed to move around it and make my way to my dresser. Once there, I began on the newest challenge.
Clothing.
Thankfully. my dresser is pretty straightforward in terms of layout. So it wasn't a matter of finding the clothes. But rather the clothes I wanted to wear.
Given I'd just had a shower and it was 2AM. PJ's were in order. PJ's for me are underwear, and a shirt.
It's surprising just how much you can tell about a piece of clothing by touch alone. The fabric. The size, if there is elastic, if there's a tear in the clothing. Stuff that you can establish in seconds with your eyes, can be done almost as quickly without them.
A catch is color, as many a mocking joke will attest.
I had the benefit of knowing the colors of the clothing that went with certain designs (something that a blind person with a friend might establish too) though.
So when I grabbed a largish one from the pile, I spread it across my bed, and began to run my fingers over the texture. The backside had a large design. with a few complicated ridges, but by and large. the design was an oval. That narrowed down the shirt to 13 shirts I own. But factoring the size and material, only 5 fit the bill.
Flipping the shirt over, I continued to feel around until I located the small design over the left breast. A bunch of tiny ridges, a small oval theme... Running my hands along, I built the design in my head, Writing, a shield, encased in an oval. I figured I had my Black "Project Olive Harvest" shirt.
Being a cheater, I peaked through my cover, and was surprised to find I was right.
Underwear followed a similar route. Checking the texture of the fabric, then running my fingers over buttons, I found a pair of boxers. But as I'd been checking, I'd noted the fabric felt loose, and checked the backside. Sure enough, a finger poked through a hole in the back, and I tossed the boxers back, checking for another pair with the same feel. a few shirts and a another bad pair of boxer briefs later. I had underwear.
All in all. My brief sampling of blindness tonight was a pleasant change of otherwise mundane tasks. I also believe I'll be continuing the experiment in the morning, right up to the point where I have to drive Tony to work.
I doubt that he, or the local authorities, would be all that understanding about me trying to drive around blind. Mind you, with my eyesight, it's about the same thing if I didn't have my glasses.
Tonight is another weird little ramble. About being blind(ish) no less.
Warning: Content contains mention of things like trying to find the correct underwear. Reader discretion is advised.
Have you ever gotten an urge to try life without a sense, a limb, even speech?
Every now and then, I do. It might seem strange, but I consider it a worthwhile endeavor. It not only encourages you to view things from a different perspective. But it can also rip you away from your comfort zones, whilst allowing you the luxury of being able to "back-track" should it become too much for you.
A blind man cannot lift a veil. Nor a deaf woman remove her ear plugs...
When you throw yourself into their situation, you learn a little bit of what they go through. Tasks that come so easily to you or I, can come just as easily to them, but from a completely different approach.
Now, please bear in mind that I'm by no means well versed in this stuff. I'm just a random loon who occasionally will do things like put a cover over my eyes, or plug my ears. Even "remove" an arm. Just to see how it might be. This also means I don't get to enjoy what someone who has lived and adapted to their condition gets. For me, it's fresh, unknown, and occasionally, scary.
Tonight, and at the start of tomorrow, I will be sampling the world through sightless eyes.
It began with shampoo in the eyes in the shower. Something that has happened to all of us I'm sure.
Well, as I was reaching blindly for the towel to remove the remnants of soap and dry my eyes. I keyed in on just how much was happening that I wasn't paying attention to when my vision was dominant. Sounds, sensations, smells...
While hardly able to vouch for the claim that all sensations increase to counter a missing one. I can certainly say that you become more -aware- of them.
With the shower coming to a close, nice and clean. I decided to continue the experiment. Moving onto correctly determining my towel based of texture as well as placement. (in the center of three, so it was an easy find.) I wrapped up, and proceeded to walk carefully towards the sink, my hands helping to guide and stop me when there.
Feeling the diameter of the sink quickly, I moved my arms to where I knew my toothpaste and toothbrush were.
Feeling the shapes in my hands, I adjusted them until I felt the bristles of the brush lightly resting against my thumb (using my thumb as a reference to insure the brush tip was where I needed it) as well as the cap of the toothpaste against my other thumb.
Popping the seal of the toothpaste, I guided towards my thumb, trying to just slightly overshoot to hit the brush.
When I began squeezing and felt no difference. I ran my thumb tip lightly over the brush, and sure enough, there was no toothpaste. I'd overshot.
Debating how someone without sight might cope with this. I went with a change of plans. I deliberately started the initial squeeze right onto my thumb, running the paste to the tip and then scraping the little bit extra back onto the end of the brush, and toweling my thumb dry.
Perhaps it's not the right approach. But it worked for me.
Replacing the toothpaste, and turning on/off the water were trivial things. But when it came time to spit, I had to grasp for the sink once more.
Finding the initial center via the overflow hole, I guided my hand the rest of the way to the left, determining where my edges were. From there on, it was easy. When I was done, I rinsed the sink out, making sure to clean up the spot where I'd overshot with my toothpaste the first try.
With my toothbrush back in place, I searched the edge of the sink, and found the ring I got for my 21st. Running my thumb over the top of it, I "built" the pattern on the ring in my head, determining which side was the top so I could put it on.
As my hands found my glasses. I noted something that had been working in my favor even with my eyes closed.
Light.
Throughout the entire room, light was basically creating a weaker version of the room if I cued in on it. Shadows and highlights all over helped place things.
While I know some folks can be blind, but see light, this didn't seem right.
So, grasping around, I found my T-shirt and proceeded to blind myself further.
Complete darkness. Amazingly, it turned out that the light hadn't been making as big a difference as I thought. I knew the bathroom so well, I still had an idea of where everything was relative to myself.
Finding the doorknob, I let myself out and wandered across the hall to my room. Hardly even needing my hands to guide me.
Once in my room, my senses were all put to the test to navigate the minefield that is my room. Hands were out, skimming along the end of my bed to move around it and make my way to my dresser. Once there, I began on the newest challenge.
Clothing.
Thankfully. my dresser is pretty straightforward in terms of layout. So it wasn't a matter of finding the clothes. But rather the clothes I wanted to wear.
Given I'd just had a shower and it was 2AM. PJ's were in order. PJ's for me are underwear, and a shirt.
It's surprising just how much you can tell about a piece of clothing by touch alone. The fabric. The size, if there is elastic, if there's a tear in the clothing. Stuff that you can establish in seconds with your eyes, can be done almost as quickly without them.
A catch is color, as many a mocking joke will attest.
I had the benefit of knowing the colors of the clothing that went with certain designs (something that a blind person with a friend might establish too) though.
So when I grabbed a largish one from the pile, I spread it across my bed, and began to run my fingers over the texture. The backside had a large design. with a few complicated ridges, but by and large. the design was an oval. That narrowed down the shirt to 13 shirts I own. But factoring the size and material, only 5 fit the bill.
Flipping the shirt over, I continued to feel around until I located the small design over the left breast. A bunch of tiny ridges, a small oval theme... Running my hands along, I built the design in my head, Writing, a shield, encased in an oval. I figured I had my Black "Project Olive Harvest" shirt.
Being a cheater, I peaked through my cover, and was surprised to find I was right.
Underwear followed a similar route. Checking the texture of the fabric, then running my fingers over buttons, I found a pair of boxers. But as I'd been checking, I'd noted the fabric felt loose, and checked the backside. Sure enough, a finger poked through a hole in the back, and I tossed the boxers back, checking for another pair with the same feel. a few shirts and a another bad pair of boxer briefs later. I had underwear.
All in all. My brief sampling of blindness tonight was a pleasant change of otherwise mundane tasks. I also believe I'll be continuing the experiment in the morning, right up to the point where I have to drive Tony to work.
I doubt that he, or the local authorities, would be all that understanding about me trying to drive around blind. Mind you, with my eyesight, it's about the same thing if I didn't have my glasses.
Nothing saying they won't design cars down the road that use IR signals and whatnot to help compensate to the point that blind drivers might actually start popping up.