What It's Like: Introduction

When you lack a sense that a majority of the world has, things are bound to be a bit different. Different doesn't always mean bad, though.

Sometimes it does. I wouldn't be telling the truth if I tried to tell you that it's all sunshine and roses with no struggles. But it isn't true that it's all awful, either.

I don't often get asked outright what it's like to be blind. However, I do get asked questions that approach it indirectly.

"How do you use a computer?"

"You've got a smart phone with a touch screen, how does that work?"

"Is it hard to get around?"

I think it's because it's easier to ask me about a specific than to just baldly ask "What is it like?"

It's hard. But it can also be easy. It's frustrating. But it can also be rewarding. It's limiting. But it can also be freeing.

I'm going to try to tackle this whole question of what it's like, but just like those who ask me questions, I'm not going to try to answer it all in one go. That's not blog post material, it would be a book. So instead, I'm going to handle this like a series. Likely not a weekly one, though. I'd get bored writing on the same subject week after week.

However, I want to stress something right out of the gate. My experiences and opinions on this won't be true of every blind person. For one thing, blindness is a spectrum. Some of us live in complete sightlessness. No light, no movement, no nothing. Others of us have vision around the edges. Some of us have vision in the center. Some of us view the world through a thick fog. For another thing, we're all different. We enjoy different things, find different things difficult, and face different obstacles.

All I can do is to write what I know.

I'm going to try to be as candid as possible with these. I won't sugarcoat the negatives, but I'm also not going to shy away from pointing out the positives. My experience with blindness is a mixed bag, and I suspect that each post I make in the series will reflect that.

I was actually going to write a post about what it's like to watch television as this week's post, but I realized there were many more topics in the same vein to explore, and that the idea needed an introduction. I also realized that just tossing that explination onto another topic would be too bulky, so instead you get this post.

If there's any topic that any of you yearn to know about, though, please do leave a comment on my Facebook page's post about this article. The link is down below. Or you can send a message privately if you'd rather not ask there.

So I'll see you next week, probably, with what it's like to "watch" television when I can't see it. Or possibly the week after, like I said, I get a little bored if I always do the same thing here.

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