How do blind people perceive the world? (2 photos). Incredible abilities of blind people

Congenital or acquired disability is not uncommon among people, and one of the worst types of disability is blindness. Blindness is an extreme form of visual impairment in which a person cannot see anything; about 39 million people in the world are completely blind, and their lives are very different from those of healthy people. Learn a few facts about this amazing group of people in this post!

Blind people are often described in popular culture as being particularly acute of hearing or having good sense of touch, but this may not be the case; many blind people rely solely on their memory or specific sequences of sounds to navigate the world. However, some of them develop something similar to the ability to echolocate.

We often feel awkward around people with disabilities, and at the same time, few of us are not interested in what it is like to be blind. Most often, people who are blind from birth or those who have lost their sight for a long time and have already come to terms with the injury will be happy to answer your questions - because they no longer perceive blindness as a limiting factor.

A blind person can be met with an attendant or alone; when the latter happens, many of us wonder why no one will help him. However, most often blind people are very aware of what is going on around them and are quite capable of coping with everyday situations on their own. They are not at all helpless!

We are used to identifying the blind by a white cane. There are several types of blindness - and the color and shape of the cane varies according to them (for example, there is a completely white cane, and sometimes with a red tip). But not all the blind need a cane - some get by with the help of a specially trained guide dog.

If you have a blind friend, you may find this item helpful. You may have thought that the use of some words (mostly related to vision - "look", "see" or even "point of view") should be taboo in a conversation with him, but this is not so - you can use them freely. Blind people should be treated the same as everyone else, so speak naturally.

The desire to help others is part of human nature, which is why so many people volunteer or donate their money to special funds. We may think that blind people need special treatment and help, such as being led across the street or carried home with their purchases, but many of them are fine with daily tasks on their own, and help they did not ask for maybe even humiliate them.

Although people blind from birth have never seen numbers or objects that can be counted, like sighted people, they are able to imagine a number series - but in the form of a “countdown”: we see numbers from left to right (1, 2, 3, 4, 5…), they are from right to left (5, 4, 3, 2, 1…).

There is a stereotype that blind people are not socially active and that the only reason they leave the house is to shop, pay bills, and go to work. Some blind people behave this way, but others are the complete opposite of the stereotype! They love to learn new things, attend concerts, restaurants and even cinemas, and also go in for sports (including extreme ones). It all depends on the individual, on the interests and preferences of the person himself.

The types of education and employment that blind people manage to fit into, according to psychologists, are directly related to what “bar” of expectations we set for them and how much “positive reinforcement” they receive from us. Blind support programs are created by sighted people, and the more we believe that they are capable of something, the more real small feats they accomplish.

People who are blind from birth do not have a full color palette before their eyes, but they are aware of what "color" means, associate colors with objects (for example, they can realize that roses are red and the sea is blue), and can associate colors with other phenomena (for example, are able to remember that "red" is "hot" and "blue" is "cold"). Those who are not born blind, of course, imagine colors in the same way as sighted people, based on memory and visual knowledge.

Some blind people may feel embarrassed about this due to personality traits, but as a rule this does not happen: most blind people perceive their blindness as a challenge, and not as a limitation. For them, this is no reason not to enjoy life! In addition, studies show that people who are blind from birth experience less anxiety than those who are sighted.

4. Not all visually impaired people are blind

Of all people with severe visual impairment in the world, according to WHO statistics, only 15.88% are completely blind. Others lose their sight partially and can perceive color, light or shape, and sometimes even the blurry outlines of certain objects.

Yes, yes, the blind are able to see very different dreams - they may not see them, but they can feel them in other ways. 18% of them feel taste in a dream, 30% smell, 70% touch something, 86% hear various sounds.

Those who have been blind during their lives remember what it is like to see, and therefore it is natural that they dream at first with real pictures. But, unfortunately, these dreams are based on memories, and memories have a peculiarity - they are dispelled if they are not updated from time to time.

Blind people's nightmares are connected to the reality that is built around them, so they are usually associated with the fear of getting lost, falling, losing a guide dog, or being hit by a car. They have more nightmares than other people because their stressors cannot be completely eliminated from life.

Incredible Facts

According to the World Health Organization, in 2013 there were 39 million blind people on our planet.

These are the people who wake up every day and look at life without the help of their eyes.

In truth, any blind person has an amazing story behind them, but there are such unique individuals with whom incredible things happen.

10 Blind Film Critic

By it's nature film is a visual medium.

One might assume that a form of art intended primarily for the eyes should not interest a blind person, but not in this case.

Not only does Tommy Edison love watching movies, he also reviews them on YouTube. Though he was born blind Edison always liked watching movies.

Since he started writing reviews three years ago, his videos have attracted hundreds of thousands of viewers.

Edison watches a lot of different films, from The Hunger Games to Reservoir Dogs, but his approach to cinema totally different from how ordinary moviegoers see it.

"I'm not distracted by beautiful special effects and attractive people. I watch a movie to see the action", he once said. Due to the fact that he evaluates films only by what he hears, Edison is not attracted to blockbusters. Although he is a fan of Die Hard.

Even more exciting than his reviews is his second YouTube channel, where he answers interesting questions from his readers. For example, how a blind person learns to smile, can blind people understand the description of colors, and would Edison want to see if given the opportunity.

Edison's simple yet profound personal thoughts provide an amazing insight into the world of blind people.

9. A soldier who sees with his tongue

Craig Lundberg was a 24-year-old corporal serving in Bars, Iraq, when his life changed forever. In 2007, a young soldier was seriously injured, resulting in damage to the head, face and hands. Moreover, this accident left him completely blind.

Doctors were forced to remove his left eye, leaving the right eyeball, which also completely lost its function. Suddenly Craig was in total darkness..

Lundberg took a course on how to live by doing guide dogs when the Department of Defense selected him to test their fantastic new technology called brain port.

After putting on a pair of dark glasses equipped with a video camera, the images from the camera were converted into electrical impulses and sent to a special device located in the language of Lundberg.

Scientists aren't entirely sure what actually started working in this case: the signals went through the tongue, either through the visual cortex, or through the somatosensory cortex (the part of the brain that processes touch). In any case, Lundberg can now see, in a certain sense of the word.

At that time, the sensations from the device on the tongue, according to the soldier himself, are similar for licking the battery, Lundberg can "see" two-dimensional images. He was able to identify simple shapes without having to make unnecessary movements.

Even more surprising is the fact that he can see letters which enables him to read. While the device is in further development, but promises to give Lundberg a new life. At the same time, the soldier himself says that he will never get rid of his faithful guide dog.

Source 8The explorer who conquered the South Pole

Former sailor of the Royal Navy Alan Lock (Alan Lock) always dreamed of becoming a submarine officer, but during training he lost his sight in just six weeks due to rapid macular degeneration.

Lok looks at the world through "frosted glass with white spots". However, he did not allow such a trifle as blindness to pull his life downhill. Inspired by his disability, Lok decided conquer the world.

Between 2003 and 2012, he competed in 18 marathons, climbed Mount Elbrus and became the first blind person to swim across the Atlantic Ocean. However, unsatisfied with this list of achievements, Lok decided to try something else.

With the help of two sighted friends and a guide, the 31-year-old went from the Antarctic coast to the South Pole. Pulling 60 kilograms of cargo behind them on a sleigh and fighting freezing winds, Lok and his comrades spent 39 days on a journey, covering 960 kilometers, eating dehydrated foods and pieces of butter along the way.

Not only that he became the first blind person to reach the South Pole, he has raised over $25,000 to help charities working for the blind.

Blind people: incredible features

Source 7The Blind Woman Who Sees Movement

In 2009, Milena Channing, 29, suffered a stroke that destroyed her primary visual cortex. It was supposed to make her completely blind, but Channing swore that she sees the rain falling on the ground.

She saw a car whistling past her house, she even sees her daughter running and playing. When the doctors analyzed the woman's brain, they thought that Milena was wrong.

It's neurologically impossible for her.: to see something more than a big void. They believed that perhaps the young Channing had developed Charles Bonnet syndrome, in which blind people suffer from hallucinations.

Convinced that these outbursts were real, Channing met with Gordon Dutton, the only doctor who believed her. The Glasgow ophthalmologist suspected that Channing was actually experiencing the Riddock phenomenon, a strange syndrome due to which people can only see moving figures and nothing else.

To test his theory, the doctor in conversation with Channing sat in a rocking chair and moved back and forth. Suddenly she saw his silhouette.

Five years after the stroke, a team of researchers confirmed that the part of Milena's brain that processed movement was intact. Instead of sending signals to the visual cortex, her eyes sent information to the part of the brain that interprets movement.

Fortunately, with the help of Dr. Dutton, the woman gradually learned to see things more clearly. She still can't make out people's faces, because the part of her brain responsible for this is beyond repair, but the fact that she can see anything at all is a miracle.

blind artist

6The Artist Who Can't See His Own Art

Esref Armagan was born in 1953 in Istanbul. However, during childbirth, he was seriously injured. Not only was the family very poor, but his eyes could not even be called eyes. One was the size of a small pea, and the second did not work at all.

Despite this, Armagan was a very curious kid. Wanting to explore the world, he began to touch everything that fell into his hands, and, in the end, began to paint. Starting at the age of six, he went from butterflies and crayons to portraits and oil paints.

Working in complete silence, Armagan renders the image and then sketches with the Braille stylus. He then checks the pencil sketch by examining it with his sensitive left hand.

After that, he uses his fingers and paint to draw a windmill, a villa, and even a Volvo.

In 2009 a Swedish car company hired Armagan to paint their new S60. After examining the contours of the car with his fingers, he hastily painted an impressive picture. Given the lack of sight in humans from birth, it's mesmerizing.

Armagan's paintings were exhibited in the Netherlands, the Czech Republic, the USA and China. He even appeared in an episode of the Discovery Channel show "Real Superhumans".

However, the strangest thing is Armagan has a very unusual brain. Harvard scientists asked the Turk to make some sketches, while they recorded information using an MRI scanner.

Scientists were shocked by what they saw. Typically, the visual cortex of a blind person is scanned as a black spot. This is exactly what Armagan's bark looked like when he was not drawing, but as soon as he picked up a pencil and began to create, his visual cortex lit up like a Christmas tree.

It looked like he was a normal sighted person. Scientists are still trying to unravel the mysterious brain of a man, and so far he transfers everything that happens in his head to paper.

5The Man Who Hacked The Phone System

Joe Engressia was a very unusual guy. He was born blind in 1949 and enjoyed playing with phones, dialing random numbers and listening to voices. It was the only way a boy could entertain himself in the 1950s.

He was also one of those children who really enjoyed whistling. The combination of these strange hobbies and led to the fact that Joe penetrated the secret world of the telephone system.

Joe was eight years old when he made the call and began to whistle, but then the tape suddenly cut off. He tried again and realized that whenever the strength of the whistle reached 2600 Hz, the message was interrupted.

Due to his singing abilities, he was able to fool the system, which "believed" that Joe was the operator. His possibilities were, in fact, endless. He could make free long-distance calls or chat with several people at the same time on a conference call.

After all, he was so well "trained" that sent a call to himself across the world, and received it on a separate receiver.

Obviously, his actions were illegal, so Engressia was arrested twice. Later, he found himself at the very center of a strange subculture. As it turns out, Joe wasn't the only one hacking into the phone lines.

In the 1970s, "phreaking" (the name given to what Joe and his ilk were doing) appeared everywhere, and Engressia became one of the leaders in this activity.

Some of the tech-savvy offspring of "phreaking" like Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak, let's move on. Engression, however, was not so fortunate.

Despite the fact that he had an IQ of 172, an unsettled domestic life, as well as sexual abuse by a teacher in childhood, completely unsettled him. In his later life, Engressia changed his last name to Joybubbles and insisted that he is only 5 years old.

Joybubbles collected toys, talked to imaginary friends, and lived under the care of a welfare organization. Sadly, Joe died in 2007, leaving behind an impressive but depressing legacy.

4The Man Who Invented Cruise Control

Anyone who drives a car should be grateful to Ralph Teetor. In the 1940s, he invented one of the most useful features in a car - Cruise control. This is impressive considering that Ralph went blind at the age of five.

He lost his sight during an accident, however, this did not discourage him from inventing and making things.

In fact, blindness even gave him an advantage that many inventors lack. Not only was he able to concentrate better on his tasks, he was also not limited by what his eyes were telling him.

He was free to create what his mind saw, and he created quite a few interesting things in his time. In 1902, a 12-year-old inventor built a car from improvised means.

After graduating from the University of Pennsylvania in 1912, he developed a new type of rod and reel for fishing, a locking mechanism, and also discovered a way to balance the rotors of steam turbines in destroyer torpedo boats.

Eventually, he opened his own corporation that specialized in piston rings. However, his greatest accomplishment came during World War II, when he was driving a car driven by his lawyer.

As the story goes, the lawyer couldn't talk and drive at the same time. Whenever he started talking, the car started to jerk. Then he stopped and stepped on the gas. From such driving, a blind passenger quickly began to feel sick.

Frustrated by his friend's inability to drive, Titor came up with the concept of cruise control. Ten years later, he decided to patent his invention, and shortly thereafter, this feature appeared in Chrysler vehicles.

Almost every car on the road today has this feature, thanks to a blind inventor and a bad driver.

The life of blind people

Have you ever heard of Laura Bridgman? There was a time when she was the most famous person on the planet. Born in 1829, Bridgman lost four of her five senses at the age of two after suffering from scarlet fever.

Left with only a sense of touch, the young girl graduated from the Peterson Institute in Boston, run by Samuel Gridley Howe. In essence, he was an unpleasant person, but Laura's case struck him very much, therefore, when the baby was seven years old, he decided to teach Laura how to communicate with the outside world.

Bridgman learned to form letters with her fingers, contacting the palm of the "interlocutor", slowly creating words and sentences. She also learned to read by feeling the raised letters with her fingers.

Thanks to the hard work she put in, as well as Howe's constant reporting, Bridgman became a celebrity. Thousands of fans came to her, asking for an autograph and a lock of hair.

Very often, people with good eyesight are interested in the question: what do the blind see. Many people think that they see black with an admixture of luminous spots (this is what we see when we close our eyes). However, this is not quite true. The picture of the world of a blind person depends largely on the age at which he lost his sight. If this happened in maturity, then he will think like a sighted person and perceive the sun as yellow and the grass as green. If a person was born blind, then he simply does not know what darkness or a golden glow looks like. Therefore, asking him about what he sees, most likely, he will answer: “Emptiness”, and will not lie.

Let's do a simple experiment and look at the world through the eyes of a blind person. To do this, you need to close one eye with your hand, and focus on some object with the other. Now answer the question: what does your closed eye see? That's right, he sees emptiness.

Dreams of the blind

Note that the situation is approximately the same with dreams. A person who lost his sight in adulthood will tell you that at first he had dreams with colorful pictures. Then all this disappeared, and the images were replaced by sounds, smells and tactile sensations. At the same time, a person who is blind from birth will see absolutely nothing in dreams.

Suppose we dream of a sandy beach. The sighted will be able to enjoy all the details of this place: the azure ocean, the white sand beach, the colorful hammock and the bright sun. Blind from birth, he will smell the sea water, the breath of the wind, the heat of the sun, hear the sound of the oncoming wave, feel the sand on his fingers. Blind since childhood, video blogger Tomi Edison describes his dreams as follows:

I dream the same as you. For example, I can sit at a football match and in a moment be at my birthday when I was seven years old.

Of course, he does not see any of the above. His dreams are made up of sounds, tastes, touches, and smells. It is these feelings that help Tomy Edison, like any other blind person, to navigate in space in reality and in a dream.

Can the blind see bright light?

For decades, scientists have wondered if blind people can see anything. In 1923, Harvard University graduate student Clyde Keeler discovered in a scientific experiment that they cannot see, but their pupils can react to bright light.

After 80 years, his colleagues at Harvard continued their research and found special light-sensitive cells ipRGCs in the eye. It turned out that they are located in the nerves that carry signals from the retina to the brain. Cells ipRGCs react to light, but do not affect vision in any way. Most people and animals have such cells, so even the completely blind can see bright light.

tunnel vision

In addition to the completely blind, there are also visually impaired. This category includes people with tunnel vision.

According to the Big Encyclopedic Dictionary, “tunnel vision is a painful condition in which a person loses the ability to see peripherally (laterally). The image is perceived only in a certain narrow radius that falls on the central region of the retina.

A person with tunnel vision looks as if into a pipe. He does not notice objects moving near him, ceases to orient himself in space. The causes of this disorder may be different, among them: oxygen starvation, severe blood loss, a sharp drop in pressure, hallucinogens and some other drugs, a sharp release of noradrenaline (fight or flight reaction), nitrogen poisoning (caisson disease), complications of laser therapy, cataracts, glaucoma, retinal degeneration and more.

The effect of tunnel vision can be temporary (bleeding from the head of astronauts and pilots is accompanied by such symptoms) and chronic. There is no single scheme to help people with this disease. Some doctors prescribe medication, others suggest using special devices designed for people with tunnel vision. Among them are glasses created on the reverse principle of binoculars. They cover everything that happens from the side. However, this invention is not popular with patients, because. reduces objects, thereby interfering with the objective perception of the surrounding world. There are also glasses with cameras that shoot everything that happens around a person and broadcast the image on small screens.

legal blindness

Another visual impairment is legal blindness. Her stages:

• 20/200 to 20/400: Considered a severe visual impairment or severe visual impairment. A person sees large objects and people, distinguishes colors, but everything is out of focus.
• 20/500 to 20/1000: Considered profound visual impairment or profound loss of vision. The patient loses peripheral vision, ceases to perceive colors. Everything around appears to him in a thick fog.
• Greater than 20/1000: Considered to be near-total visual impairment or near-total blindness. Man does not even see the light.

Recall that visual acuity, expressed in the following values, is taken as the norm: 1.0, 20/20 or 6/6.

monochromatic

Monochromasia is congenital complete color blindness. Monochromats see the world in black and white. In more complex cases, they have photophobia and complete loss of vision.

The disease can be diagnosed in early childhood. The first signal: the child does not distinguish colors.

The thing is that in a healthy person, 3 cone mechanisms are fully functioning, with monochromasia, the work of cones - peripheral processes in photosensitive cells of the retina - is disrupted. Therefore, the whole world around us is painted in black and white. Monochromats often cannot be in the sun without glasses. sunlight, acting on the retina, brings great pain to their eyes.

For accurate diagnosis of the disease, ophthalmologists, as a rule, use Rabkin's polychromatic tables, or electroretinography. If a child has any symptoms of monochromacy, you should immediately seek help from a specialist. However, it is still impossible to completely get rid of the disease.

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A person receives information about the world around us mainly through the organs of vision. However, there are people who are blind from birth. Have you ever wondered what blind people see? What are they dreaming about? You will find answers to these questions in this article.

Try to close your eyes very tightly. What do you see. The black haze is sometimes illuminated by luminous spots. It is this condition that a healthy person means by the concept of blindness. However, we do not know what darkness is for the blind, how he interprets it. It all depends on when and under what circumstances a person lost his sight.

• If the patient is blind at a conscious age, he thinks in pictures that he has already seen and remembered. Images appear before his eyes after he smells a familiar smell or hears a certain sound. For example, such a person hears the sound of water, and represents the sea, the river. Warmth in such people is often associated with the sky and the bright sun.
• A person cannot remember a lot of information to create visual images in his head. However, he can remember and understand the meaning of the color. Basically, such patients perceive the world through sounds, smells and touch.
• People blind from birth perceive the world differently than everyone else. They have never seen with their eyes any images, colors. This part of the brain is turned off as unnecessary. They have absolutely no association between the subject and the image. They can't even understand the expression "see." Blind from birth can learn the names of objects and colors, but when pronouncing these words, he will not have any associations and images.

Echolocation replaces vision for the blind

As mentioned above, a sighted person receives 90% of the information through vision. The opposite is true for the blind. The main facet of feelings for him is hearing. Scientists have proven that blind people have better hearing than sighted people. Because of this feature, one can often meet brilliant musicians among the blind. Charles Ray and Art Tatum are the best proof of this.

The blind not only hear well, but in some cases can use echolocation - the ability to recognize sound waves reflected from an object. With the help of hearing, a blind person can almost accurately determine the distance to an object, calculate its size.

Not so long ago, echolocation was not recognized by scientists. Everyone considered this ability some kind of fiction. Echolocation is an integral part of life for bats, dolphins, and now a blind person. For the first time, Daniel Kish, blind from infancy, ventured to apply the technique. With this ability, he was able to lead the life of an ordinary person. Daniel constantly clicks his tongue. Directional outgoing sound is reflected from the objects around him, and gives him a complete picture of the environment. Unfortunately, Daniel's method has not yet been widely adopted, and is not recognized by scientists.

The blind know the world by touch

How do the blind, who are also deaf, see? Such people perceive the world around them through touch. If the blind-deaf have lost their abilities at a conscious age, then it is enough for them to touch any object so that its image appears before their eyes.

Blind and deaf people are connected with the outside world by touch. Especially for such patients, a system called dactylology has been developed. It allows the disabled person to communicate with others. In addition, each finger sign denotes a specific letter or word. Such people can even read Braille books. In such editions, the letters are raised symbols that are understandable for reading only by the blind and deaf. However, this system has one significant drawback - if a person is disabled from birth, he will not be able to learn the font. Such patients have to learn the world only through vibrations and by touch.

A person receives 90% of information about the world through vision. Only ten remaining are reserved for other senses. But how do blind people perceive the world?

When we close our eyes, we usually see a black color, sometimes with an admixture of luminous spots. By this picture, we mean "not seeing anything". But how do those whose eyes are always “closed” see the world? What is darkness for a blind person and how does he see it?

In general, the picture of the world of a blind person largely depends on how old he lost his sight. If this happened already at a conscious age, then a person thinks in the same images as sighted people. He simply receives information about them with the help of other senses. So, hearing the rustle of leaves, he imagines trees, warm sunny weather will be associated with blue skies, and so on.

If a person lost his sight in childhood, after the age of five, he can remember colors and understand their meaning. In other words, he will know what the standard seven colors of the rainbow and their shades look like. But visual memory will still be poorly developed. For such people, perception is based, for the most part, on hearing and touch.

People who have never seen solar vision imagine the world in a completely different way. Being blind from birth or from infancy, they do not know either the images of the world or its colors. For them, vision, like visual perception, means nothing, since the area of ​​\u200b\u200bthe brain responsible for converting visual information into an image simply does not work for them. When asked about what they see before their eyes, they will most likely answer that nothing. Rather, they simply will not understand the question, because they do not have a developed association of the subject with the image. They know the names of colors and objects, but they don't know what they should look like. This once again proves the inability of the blind, who managed to regain their sight, to recognize objects familiar to them by touch, having seen them with their own eyes. Therefore, a blind man will never be able to explain what color is real darkness, because he cannot see it.

The situation is similar with dreams. People who have lost their sight at a conscious age, according to their own stories, still have dreams “with pictures” for some time. But over time, they are replaced by sounds, smells, tactile sensations.

A person who is blind from birth will see absolutely nothing in his dreams. But he will feel. Suppose we have a dream in which we are on a sandy beach. A sighted person, most likely, will see the beach itself, the ocean, sand, and the oncoming wave. The blind will hear the sound of a wave, feel the sand falling through their fingers, feel a gentle breeze. Vlogger Tomie Edison, who has been blind since birth, describes his dreams as follows: “I dream the same thing as you. For example, I can sit at a football match and in a moment be at my birthday when I was seven years old. Of course, he does not see all this. But he hears sounds that evoke appropriate associations in him.

Sighted people receive 90% of information through their eyes. Vision for a person is the main sense organ. For a blind person, these 90% or, according to some versions, 80%, are by ear. That's why

most of the blind have very sensitive hearing, which the sighted can only envy - in their midst there are often excellent musicians, for example, jazz performer Charles Ray or virtuoso pianist Art Tatum. The blind can not only truly hear and follow sounds closely, but also use echolocation in some cases. True, for this you need to learn to recognize sound waves reflected by surrounding objects, determine the position, distance and size of objects nearby.

Modern researchers no longer classify this method as a fantastic ability. The method of using echolocation for the blind was developed by Daniel Kish, an American blind from early childhood. At 13 months old, both eyes were removed. The natural craving for knowledge of the world in a blind child resulted in his use of a method of reflecting sound from different surfaces. It is also used by bats living in total darkness and dolphins using echolocation to navigate the ocean.

Thanks to his unique way of "seeing", Daniel managed to live the life of an ordinary child, in no way inferior to his more successful peers. The essence of his method is simple: he constantly clicks his tongue, sending a sound in front of him, which is reflected from different surfaces, and gives him an idea of ​​\u200b\u200bthe objects around him. In fact, the same thing happens when the blind tap with a stick - the sound of a cane on the road, bounces off the surrounding surfaces and transmits some information to the person.

However, Daniel's method has not yet become widespread. In particular, in America, where it originated, according to the American National Federation of the Blind, it was recognized as "too complicated." But today technology has come to the aid of a good idea. Two years ago, Israeli scientists developed a special Sonar Vision system that is capable of converting images into sound signals. It works in the same way as the echolocation system in bats, only instead of chirping, a video camera is used built into the glasses. A laptop or smartphone converts the image into sound, which in turn is transmitted to the headset. According to the experiments, after special training, blind people using the device were able to identify faces, buildings, the position of objects in space, and even identify individual letters.

Unfortunately, all of the above ways of perceiving the world around us are not suitable for all blind people. Some from birth are deprived not only of eyes, but also of ears, or rather hearing. The world of the deaf-blind is limited to memory, in case they have lost sight and hearing not from birth, and touch. In other words, for them there is only what they can touch. Touch and smell are the only threads that connect them with the world around them.

But even for them there is hope for a fulfilling life. You can talk with them using the so-called dactylology, when each letter corresponds to a certain sign reproduced by fingers. A huge contribution to the life of such people was made by the Braille cipher - a relief-dot tactile way of writing. Today, raised letters, incomprehensible to a sighted person, are ubiquitous. There are even special computer displays capable of converting electronic text into raised lettering. However, this method is applicable only to those who lost their sight and hearing after they had time to learn the language. Those who are blind and deaf from birth have to rely only on touch or on vibrations!

Absolutely unique in history is the case of an American woman, Helen Keller, who lost her sight and hearing as a result of a fever in infancy. It would seem that she is destined for the life of a closed person who, due to his disability, simply will not be able to learn the language, which means he will not be able to communicate with people. But her desire to know the world on an equal footing with the sighted and hearing was rewarded. When Helen grew up, she was assigned to the Perkins School, which specializes in teaching blind people. There, she was assigned a teacher, Ann Sullivan, who was able to find the right approach to Helen. She taught the language to a girl who had never heard human speech and did not even know the approximate sound of letters and the meaning of words. They resorted to the "Tadoma" method: by touching the lips of a speaking person, Helen felt their vibration, while Sullivan marked the letters on her palm.

After mastering the language, Helen was able to use the Braille cipher. With his help, she achieved such successes that an ordinary person would envy. By the end of her studies, she had fully mastered English, German, Greek and Latin. At the age of 24, she graduated summa cum laude from the prestigious Radcliffe Institute, becoming the first deaf-blind person to graduate. Subsequently, she devoted her life to politics and the protection of the rights of people with disabilities, and also wrote 12 books about her life and the world through the eyes of the blind.

A person receives information about the world around us mainly through the organs of vision. However, there are people who are blind from birth. Have you ever wondered what blind people see? What are they dreaming about? You will find answers to these questions in this article.

Try to close your eyes very tightly. What do you see. The black haze is sometimes illuminated by luminous spots. It is this condition that a healthy person means by the concept of blindness. However, we do not know what darkness is for the blind, how he interprets it. It all depends on when and under what circumstances a person lost his sight.

• If the patient is blind at a conscious age, he thinks in pictures that he has already seen and remembered. Images appear before his eyes after he smells a familiar smell or hears a certain sound. For example, such a person hears the sound of water, and represents the sea, the river. Warmth in such people is often associated with the sky and the bright sun.
• A person who lost his sight in childhood cannot remember much information to create visual images in his head. However, he can remember and understand the meaning of the color. Basically, such patients perceive the world through sounds, smells and touch.
• People blind from birth perceive the world differently than everyone else. They have never seen with their eyes any images, colors. This part of the brain is turned off as unnecessary. They have absolutely no association between the subject and the image. They can't even understand the expression "see." Blind from birth can learn the names of objects and colors, but when pronouncing these words, he will not have any associations and images.

Echolocation replaces vision for the blind

How do blind people perceive the world?

As mentioned above, a sighted person receives 90% of the information through vision. The opposite is true for the blind. The main facet of feelings for him is hearing. Scientists have proven that blind people have better hearing than sighted people. Because of this feature, one can often meet brilliant musicians among the blind. Charles Ray and Art Tatum are the best proof of this.

The blind not only hear well, but in some cases can use echolocation - the ability to recognize sound waves reflected from an object. With the help of hearing, a blind person can almost accurately determine the distance to an object, calculate its size.

Not so long ago, echolocation was not recognized by scientists. Everyone considered this ability some kind of fiction. Echolocation is an integral part of life for bats, dolphins, and now a blind person. For the first time, Daniel Kish, blind from infancy, ventured to apply the technique. With this ability, he was able to lead the life of an ordinary person. Daniel constantly clicks his tongue. Directional outgoing sound is reflected from the objects around him, and gives him a complete picture of the environment. Unfortunately, Daniel's method has not yet been widely adopted, and is not recognized by scientists.

The blind know the world by touch

A blind person is guided by sounds

How do the blind, who are also deaf, see? Such people perceive the world around them through touch. If the blind-deaf have lost their abilities at a conscious age, then it is enough for them to touch any object so that its image appears before their eyes.

Blind and deaf people are connected with the outside world by touch. Especially for such patients, a system called dactylology has been developed. It allows the disabled person to communicate with others. In addition, each finger sign denotes a specific letter or word. Such people can even read Braille books. In such editions, the letters are raised symbols that are understandable for reading only by the blind and deaf. However, this system has one significant drawback - if a person is disabled from birth, he will not be able to learn the font. Such patients have to learn the world only through vibrations and by touch.

Blindness- a medical term that implies the complete absence of vision or its serious damage.

Distinguish total blindness amaurosis) and partial loss of the field of view ( scotoma) or half of the fields of view ( hemianopsia). In addition, they distinguish color blindness ( color blindness). Subject having blindness - Blind, blind.

WHO definition

The tenth revision of the WHO Statistical Classification of Injuries, Diseases and Causes of Death defines partial vision as the ability to see less than 6/18 but greater than 3/60, or a narrowing of the visual field up to 20 degrees. Blindness is the ability to see less than 3/60 or a narrowing of the field of vision to 10 degrees.

Causes of blindness

The World Health Organization lists the following among the common causes of blindness (in parentheses is the percentage of cases of blindness), three-quarters of all cases of blindness can be prevented or treated:

• cataract (47.9%)
• glaucoma (12.3%)
• vision loss associated with aging (8.7%)
• corneal clouding (5.1%)
• diabetic retinopathy (4.8%)
• blindness in children (caused in particular by vitamin A deficiency, cataracts, and retinopathy of prematurity (RP)) (3.9%)
• trachoma (3.6%)
• onchocerciasis (0.8%)

Among others, blindness can also be caused by traumatic eye injuries, infections (for example, blennorrhea, syphilis, etc.). Blindness, which develops with age and is also caused by uncontrolled diabetes, is increasingly common in the world. On the other hand, as a result of public health actions, the number of cases of blindness due to infection is decreasing. Thus, the number of people suffering from trachoma leading to blindness decreased from 360 million in 1985 to 40 million in the early 2000s.

Developing countries

Blindness is present on a much larger scale in the developing world than in the developed world. According to the WHO, 90% of all blind people live in developing countries. Of these, cataracts are responsible for 65% (22 million cases). Glaucoma causes blindness in 6 million cases per year, while onchocerciasis is responsible worldwide for approximately 1 million cases of blindness per year.

The number of people blind from trachoma has dropped dramatically over the past 10 years from 6.0 million to 1.3 million cases per year, making it the seventh leading cause of blindness worldwide. Xerophthalmia affects 5 million children each year; 0.5 million damage the cornea, and half of them go blind. Corneal scarring from all causes is currently the fourth leading cause of blindness in the world.

People in developing countries are significantly more likely to experience visual impairment as a result of conditions or diseases that could be cured or prevented than people in the developed world. Although visual impairment is most common among people over 60 years of age in all regions, children in poor communities are more likely to suffer from diseases that lead to blindness than their more affluent peers.

The association between poverty and treatable visual impairment is most evident when regional comparisons are made. Most adult visual impairment in North America and Western Europe is associated with age-related macular degeneration and diabetic retinopathy.

Childhood blindness can be caused by pregnancy-related causes such as congenital rubella syndrome and retinopathy of prematurity.

Injuries

Retraining of the wounded. A blind French soldier learns to make baskets, World War I.

Eye injuries, most common in people under 30, are the leading cause of monocular blindness (loss of vision in one eye) throughout the United States. Damage and cataracts affect the eye itself, and developmental anomalies such as optic nerve hypoplasia affect the nerve bundle that sends signals from the eye to the back of the brain, which can lead to reduced visual acuity.

Cortical blindness results from damage to the occipital lobe of the brain that prevents the brain from properly receiving or interpreting signals from the optic nerve. The symptoms of cortical blindness vary greatly from person to person and may be more severe during periods of exhaustion or stress. Typically, in people with cortical blindness, vision deteriorates towards the end of the day.

genetic defects

People with albinism often have vision loss to the point that many of them are legally blind, although few of them are actually unable to see. Leber's congenital blindness can lead to total blindness or severe vision loss from birth or early childhood.

Recent advances in human genome mapping have identified other genetic causes of visual impairment or blindness. One such example is the Bardet-Biedl syndrome.

Poisoning

In some cases, blindness is caused by the ingestion of certain chemicals. A well-known example is methanol. Methanol oxidizes to formaldehyde and formic acid, which in turn can lead to blindness, a host of other complications, and even death. Methanol often enters the human body as an impurity when using denatured ethyl alcohol (denatured alcohol) as a drink, which is cheaper than food ethanol, since excise taxes are not included in its price. Taking 30 milliliters of methanol can lead to irreversible degradation of the optic nerve caused by methanol metabolites.

Intentional actions

Blinding has in some cases been used as an act of revenge and torture to deprive a person of the main sense with which he can control the world around him, act completely independently and navigate the events taking place around him. An example from the classics is Oedipus the King, who blinds himself when he learns that he has fulfilled a terrible prophecy. After crushing the Bulgarians, the Byzantine Emperor Basil II the Bulgar Slayer blinded as many as 15,000 captives captured in battle before releasing them.

The Old Testament law “an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth”, which is also included in Sharia, continues to be sometimes applied in our time. In 2003, a Pakistani anti-terrorism court sentenced a man to be blinded as punishment for blinding his fiancee by throwing acid in her face. The same sentence was passed in Iran in 2009 against a man who splashed acid in the face of his girlfriend, and the victim herself had to carry out the sentence.

Forms of blindness and its severity

Various scales are used to determine blindness. total blindness defined as the absolute absence of response to light. However, in many countries the concept practical blindness. Practical blindness (partial ability to see) is a condition when a person distinguishes between light and darkness, and sometimes even has some ability to perceive visual information, but this ability is so insignificant that it has no practical significance. In the United States and many European countries, practical blindness is defined as the ability to see 20/200 (that is, the patient must be 20 feet from an object in order to observe it in the same way as a healthy person can from a distance of 200 feet, that is, 70 m). In many countries, a person with a field of view of less than 20 degrees (normal - 180 degrees) is also recognized as practically blind. Simulation of blindness with healthy eyes is extremely rare and is easily recognized by appropriate control methods for checking vision. Often, however, cases of exaggeration of the existing decrease in vision with a real pathology of the organ of vision.

See also Pseudoblindness.

International classification

International Classification of Diseases, Tenth Revision, Class VII, contains Section H, in particular "Disorders of vision and blindness (H53-H54)".

H53-H54.7

H53-H54 - Visual disturbances and blindness:

• H54.0 Blindness in both eyes
• H54.1 Blindness in one eye and reduced visual acuity in the other eye
• H54.2 Decreased visual acuity in both eyes
• H54.3 Unspecified loss of vision in both eyes
• H54.4 Blindness in one eye
• H54.5 Decreased visual acuity in one eye
• H54.6 Unspecified loss of vision in one eye
• H54.7 Unspecified loss of vision

Blind people and society

Watches with a special dial

Blind - people with completely or almost completely absent vision. Blind people are born or acquire blindness as a result of injuries, illnesses. In the case of blindness, a person becomes and is recognized as disabled. The blind navigate in space with the help of hearing and touch, special devices, guides and guide dogs.

Public support for the blind and social rehabilitation

The education of the blind is carried out in specialized schools and boarding schools.

The blind use Braille to read. There are special libraries for the blind that store books in embossed Braille and audio books in various media. The largest library for the blind in Russia is the Russian State Library for the Blind. In addition to books typed in embossed type and audio books, it contains a large collection of relief-volumetric models that allow the blind to recognize the appearance of various objects.

Organizations of the blind

• All-Russian Society of the Blind
• Ukrainian Society of the Blind (Ukrainian Society of the Blind, UTOS)
• Braille League (Belgium)

Organization of an environment friendly to the blind

Embossed paving slabs at the bus stop

Traffic lights with signal duplication with sound Relief paving of streets Barriers Duplication of inscriptions in Braille Special assistance services

In some tourist sites, small-scale 3D models of the environment are created for the blind, which allow them to familiarize themselves with the surrounding architecture by touch.

Modern achievements of science in the fight against blindness

Guide dogs

For several hundred years, dogs have been used as guide dogs - specially trained animals that help blind and visually impaired people move outdoors and avoid obstacles.

Computer electronic devices

• Currently, an interesting alternative to printed books are audio books that allow you to listen (in sections, sometimes with the possibility of a pause) dramatizations and audio performances on a digital audio player. There are sites where audiobooks are created by volunteers for free distribution.
• In addition to audiobooks specially recorded by speakers, special programs for voice reading from the screen based on a speech generator are of practical value for the blind.
• Blind people can edit texts on a personal computer using a regular or special braille keyboard and a braille display.
• Various devices are being developed, for example, the Tactile Vision Project - models of visual-substitute devices - substitutes for vision, "a new patented method for encoding and signal transmission."

Computer programs for the blind

For the use of computers by the blind, Braille and speech I/O are commonly used. In addition, tactile electromechanical panels are used to display graphic information in a tangible form.

Specially designed distributions of the Linux operating system for the blind - Oralux (English) and Adriane Knoppix (English). There is also a NetHack computer game with an interface for the blind.

Modified data visualization, including large print and simple, high-contrast graphics, is convenient for people with residual vision.

There is also a WAI-ARIA web technology to enable the use of the Internet by people with complete or partial loss of vision.

Bionic eye

• Bionic eye- an artificial visual system to restore lost vision. An implant is implanted into an eye with a damaged retina - a retinal prosthesis, supplementing the retina itself with the remaining intact neurons in it.

The technology differs in that a camera is built into special glasses, from which information is sent to a video processor that the patient wears on his belt. The processor converts the picture into an electronic signal and sends it to a special transmitter, also built into the glasses. Then this transmitter sends a wireless signal to the thinnest electronic receiver built into the eye and a photosensor (electrode panel) that is implanted in the patient's retina.

The photosensor electrodes stimulate the remaining active optic nerves in the retina of the eye, sending electrical video signals to the brain via the optic nerves.

Application

• In the UK, a completely blind person "saw the light". A 76-year-old patient named Ron, who became blind 30 years ago due to a hereditary disease, managed to transplant the so-called bionic eye, which was invented by American scientists.
• In December 2009, 51-year-old Peter Lane in the UK was one of the first in the world to have electronic photo sensors implanted in his eye, which send signals to the brain that are collected by special glasses. This technology allowed the patient for the first time in 30 years to see the outlines of objects, such as a door, a wardrobe, and even recognize letters.
• In Germany (2009), an experimental sensor 3×3 mm (1500 elements) was implanted under the retina in seven patients.
• There are new methods to restore vision to the blind using a video camera and electrodes implanted in the brain.

Other inventions and technical devices for the blind

Due to the high cost of the process of training guide dogs, electronic guide dogs have recently appeared, for example, the Electrosonar device for the blind. Having found an obstacle, Electrosonar gives a sound or vibration signal of different duration (the duration of the signal depends on the distance to the obstacle). By pointing the device in different directions, you can get a clear picture of the surrounding obstacles, such as curbs, steps, walls. Technology is under development to allow the blind to drive.

Scientists are currently testing a new Argus II device in Chicago that will help the blind see. The apparatus consists of an implant, which is implanted into the retina of the eye, and special technological glasses. The lenses of the glasses transmit the image through the video processor, which in turn sends instructions to the implant. These messages stimulate the retina to send signals along the optic nerve to the brain. So a person can see the outlines of objects and light contrasts. In the United States, such studies are currently being conducted in 13 places.

Some famous blind

There are people who, thanks to their own talents and the help of others, have reached great heights in art, science, social activities, despite the blindness that has befallen them or blindness from birth. Among them - Homer (VIII century BC); John Milton (17th century); in the 20th century - Borges, Helen Keller, Nikolai Ostrovsky, Vanga, Eduard Asadov, Ray Charles, Stevie Wonder, Andrea Bocelli; in the XXI century - Diana Gurtskaya and Oleg Akkuratov.

Blindness in religion, mythology and art

Reference in the Bible

When “the blind man leads the blind” is a biblical parable where Christ, referring to the Pharisees, explains: “ leave them: they are the blind leaders of the blind; and if the blind lead the blind, both will fall into the pit.» (Matthew 15:14 and Luke 6:39).

The New Testament contains numerous instances of Jesus performing miracles to heal the blind.

The miracle of Christ healing the blind,

El Greco

Mythology

The parable of the blind men and the elephant is found in many religious traditions and is part of the Jain, Buddhist, Sufi and Hindu cultures. In various versions of the parable, a group of blind people (or those in the dark) touch an elephant in order to understand what it is. Each of them touches different parts of his body, but only one of them, for example, the side, trunk or tusk. They then describe their touching experience to each other and start an argument as each describes the elephant in different ways, none of which is actually correct.

In Greek mythology, Tiresias was a soothsayer known for his clairvoyance. According to one of the myths, he was blinded by the gods as punishment for revealing their secrets, and another myth tells that he was blinded as punishment for seeing Athena (according to another version - Artemis) naked when she was bathing. Ovid, on the other hand, suggests that he turned into a woman, then back into a man, and when he asked Zeus in which hypostasis the pleasure from sexual intercourse is higher, he answered that in the female, Hera, dissatisfied with the answer, blinded him.

In the Odyssey, Cyclops Polyphemus tricks and blinds Odysseus. In Norse mythology, Loki tricks the blind god Hod into killing his brother Baldr, the god of happiness. One sacrifices one eye for wisdom.

New time and modernity

Touch ,

Jose de Ribera

Depicts a blind man holding a marble head in his hands.

The Dutch painter and engraver Rembrandt often depicted scenes from the apocryphal Book of Tobit, which tells the story of a blind patriarch who healed his son Tobias with the help of the archangel Raphael.

Matt Murdock, Marvel Comics character known as Daredevil.

Contemporary fiction contains numerous examples of blind characters.

see also

• Deafblindness | Scottoma | Phosphene | Tactile alphabet

Notes

1. WHO | Magnitude and causes of visual impairment. Who.int (June 21, 2012). Retrieved July 18, 2012. Archived from the original on June 16, 2013.
2. Causes of blindness and visual impairment - World Health Organization.
3. WHO > Health matters > Blindness
4. WHO - 10 facts about blindness - 7
5. WHO - 10 facts about blindness - 6
6. WHO - 10 facts about blindness - 8
7. 90% of visually impaired living in the developing world. Who.int (June 21, 2012). Retrieved July 18, 2012. Archived from the original on June 16, 2013.
9. Methanol. Symptoms of Methanol Poisoning. Canada Safety Council (2005). Archived from the original on June 23, 2013.
10. Methanol and Blindness. Ask A Scientist, Chemistry Archive. Retrieved June 17, 2013. Archived from the original on June 17, 2013.
11. Finlay, George (1856). History of the Byzantine Empire from DCCXVI to MLVII, 2nd Edition, Published by W. Blackwood, p. 444–445.
12. Eye-for-eye in Pakistan acid case, BBC News (12 December 2003). Retrieved June 30, 2008.
13. International Council of Ophthalmology. "International Standards: Visual Standards - Aspects and Ranges of Vision Loss with Emphasis on Population Surveys." April 2002
14. Belote, Larry. "Low Vision Education and Training: Defining the Boundaries of Low Vision Patients." A Personal Guide to the VA Visual Impairment Services Program. Retrieved March 31, 2006.
15. Living with Low Vision. American Foundation for the Blind. Retrieved July 18, 2012. Archived from the original on June 16, 2013.
16. General information about the library on the official website
17. Linux - use for the blind
18. Gregor, P., Newell, A.F., Zajicek, M. (2002). Designing for Dynamic Diversity - interfaces for older people. Proceedings of the fifth international ACM conference on Assistive technologies. Edinburgh, Scotland. Session: Solutions for aging. Pages 151-156.
19. Retinal prosthesis for IR
20. News. En: The bionic eye returned sight to the blind
21. "Bionic eye" returned the ability to see light to the blind
22. A blind man was implanted with a "bionic" eye, Tatyana Bezrukova, Komsomolskaya Pravda
23. Technology news and new technology highlights from New Scientist - New Scientist Tech - New Scientist
24. Blind driver to debut new technologies at Daytona (January 28, 2011). Retrieved October 27, 2012.
25. The blind got a chance to see again USA.one.
26. Julius Held, Rembrandt and the Book of Tobit, Gehenna Press, Northampton MA, 1964.

Literature

• Ostrovsky V. M. Blindness // Encyclopedic Dictionary of Brockhaus and Efron: in 86 volumes (82 volumes and 4 additional). - St. Petersburg, 1890-1907.
• N. Kuznetsov. Blindness // Great Soviet Encyclopedia: In 65 volumes / ed. K. E. Voroshilov, A. Ya. Vyshinsky, P. I. Lebedev-Polyansky, A. Lozovsky, F. N. Petrov, F. A. Rotshtein, O. Yu. Schmidt, Em. Yaroslavsky. - 1st ed. - M .: State Scientific Institute "Soviet Encyclopedia", 1945. - T. 51 (Cerna - Contemplation). - S. 385-387. - 846 p. - 45,000 copies.
• Blindness // Great Soviet Encyclopedia: / ch. ed. A. M. Prokhorov. - 3rd ed. - M.: Soviet Encyclopedia, 1969-1978.
• Blindness // Popular Medical Encyclopedia / Ch. ed. B.V. Petrovsky. In 1 volume. Abortion-foot-and-mouth disease. - 2nd ed., add. and reworked. - M.: "Soviet Encyclopedia", 1987. - S. 573-574. - 704 p. - 100,000 copies. - ISBN 5-87410-013-X.

Links

• James Gallagher. Scientists have found the molecule responsible for blindness. BBC Russian Service. Retrieved February 7, 2011. Archived from the original February 16, 2012.
• Lev Vygotsky"Blind Child"
• Alexander Meshcheryakov"Knowledge of the world without hearing and sight"
• List of resources for the blind on the website of the Russian State Library for the Blind
• Charitable Foundation "Illustrated Books for Little Blind Children"
• Website about the victory over disability "Rehabilitation - we will overcome disability!"
• Radio VOS

Retinitis

Chorioretinitis Cytomegalovirus retinitis

Retinal detachment, Retinoschisis, Ocular ischemic syndrome, Central retinal vein occlusion,

Retinopathy: (Bietti crystal degeneration, Coats disease, Diabetic retinopathy, Hypertensive retinopathy, Purtscher retinopathy, Retinopathy of prematurity, Macular degeneration, Stargardt's disease, Pigmentary retinal degeneration, Retinal hemorrhage, Central serous retinopathy, Macular edema, Epiretinal membrane, Macular pucker, Vitelliform macular dystrophy, Leber's congenital blindness, Birdshot chorioretinopathy),

Retinal angiopathy

Leber's congenital blindness, Subjective, Asthenopia, Hemeralopia, Photophobia Photophobia, Atrial scotoma, Diplopia, Scotoma, Anopsia, Binasal hemianopsia, Bitemporal hemianopsia, Homonymous hemianopsia, Quadrantanopia, Color blindness, Achromatopsia, Dichromatic vision, Monochromasia, Nyctalopia night blindness, Oguchi disease, Blindness,

low vision

Congenital or acquired disability is not uncommon among people, and one of the worst types of disability is blindness. Blindness is an extreme form of visual impairment in which a person cannot see anything; about 39 million people in the world are completely blind, and their lives are very different from those of healthy people. Learn a few facts about this amazing group of people in this post!

15. Their other senses may not be heightened.

Blind people are often described in popular culture as being particularly acute of hearing or having good sense of touch, but this may not be the case; many blind people rely solely on their memory or specific sequences of sounds to navigate the world. However, some of them develop something similar to the ability to echolocate.

14. They can and should be asked questions about their illness.

We often feel awkward around people with disabilities, and at the same time, few of us are not interested in what it is like to be blind. Most often, people who are blind from birth or those who have lost their sight for a long time and have already come to terms with the injury will be happy to answer your questions - because they no longer perceive blindness as a limiting factor.

13. They do not always need the help of sighted people.

A blind person can be met with an attendant or alone; when the latter happens, many of us wonder why no one will help him. However, most often blind people are very aware of what is going on around them and are quite capable of coping with everyday situations on their own. They are not at all helpless!

12. Not all of them use a cane

We are used to identifying the blind by a white cane. There are several types of blindness - and the color and shape of the cane varies according to them (for example, there is a completely white cane, and sometimes with a red tip). But not all blind people need a cane - some get by with the help of a specially trained guide dog.

11. They like to be spoken to normally.

If you have a blind friend, you may find this item helpful. You may have thought that the use of some words (mostly related to vision - "look", "see" or even "point of view") should be taboo in a conversation with him, but this is not so - you can use them freely . Blind people should be treated the same as everyone else, so speak naturally.

10. They get offended by help they didn't expect.

The desire to help others is part of human nature, which is why so many people volunteer or donate their money to special funds. We may think that blind people need special treatment and help, such as being led across the street or carried home with their purchases, but many of them are fine with daily tasks on their own, and help that they did not ask for maybe even humiliate them.

9. They imagine numbers in reverse order.

Although people blind from birth have never seen numbers or objects that can be counted, like sighted people, they are able to imagine a number series - but in the form of a “countdown”: we see numbers from left to right (1, 2, 3, 4, 5…), they are from right to left (5, 4, 3, 2, 1…).

8. They fit into society just like everyone else.

There is a stereotype that blind people are not socially active and that the only reason they leave the house is to shop, pay bills and go to work. Some blind people behave this way, but others are the complete opposite of the stereotype! They love to learn new things, attend concerts, restaurants and even cinemas, and also go in for sports (including extreme ones). It all depends on the individual, on the interests and preferences of the person himself.

7. Their success depends on us

The types of education and employment that blind people manage to fit into, according to psychologists, are directly related to what “bar” of expectations we set for them and how much “positive reinforcement” they receive from us. Blind support programs are created by sighted people, and the more we believe that they are capable of something, the more real small feats they accomplish.

6. They perceive colors differently

People who are blind from birth do not have a full color palette before their eyes, but they are aware of what "color" means, associate colors with objects (for example, they can realize that roses are red and the sea is blue), and can associate colors with other phenomena (for example, are able to remember that "red" is "hot" and "blue" is "cold"). Those who are not born blind, of course, imagine colors in the same way as sighted people, based on memory and visual knowledge.

5. They are not ashamed of their blindness

Some blind people may feel embarrassed about this due to personality traits, but as a rule this does not happen: most blind people perceive their blindness as a challenge, and not as a limitation. For them, this is no reason not to enjoy life! In addition, studies show that people who are blind from birth experience less anxiety than those who are sighted.

4. Not all visually impaired people are blind

Of all people with severe visual impairment in the world, according to WHO statistics, only 15.88% are completely blind. Others lose their sight partially and can perceive color, light or shape, and sometimes even the blurry outlines of certain objects.

3. They dream

Yes, yes, the blind are able to see very different dreams - they may not see them, but they can feel them in other ways. 18% of them feel taste in a dream, 30% smell, 70% touch something, 86% hear various sounds.

2. Gradually, in dreams, they also lose the ability to see.

Those who have gone blind during their lives remember what it is like to see, and therefore it is natural that they dream at first with real pictures. But, unfortunately, these dreams are based on memories, and memories have a peculiarity - they are dispelled if they are not updated from time to time.

1. They have more nightmares

Blind people's nightmares are connected to the reality that is built around them, so they are usually associated with the fear of getting lost, falling, losing a guide dog, or being hit by a car. They have more nightmares than other people because their stressors cannot be completely eliminated from life.

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