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I’ve been blind since birth so you’d assume I’ve got it all figured out. But every so often I realise something that takes me by surprise.

1: I don’t know what colour most things are.

I know the grass is green and the sky is blue (who doesn’t), but I realised in conversations with my family that I know relatively little about the world around me. Unless the colour of an object has been mentioned in a book or by someone I’m speaking to I probably won’t know what colour it is. Perhaps this should have been obvious but the realisation I knew so little about everyday objects came as somewhat of a surprise to me. I was gratified to realise that I still didn’t feel like I was missing out, there are so many other things to be discovered colours are extremely low on my list.

Do you know what colour that is? Nope, me either.

2: People who can see typically pay very little attention to their surroundings.

So you might have noticed that huge statue taking up all the room in the town centre but I bet you don’t know there’s a dog behind you.

I was out with my family when I commented on the dog that was behind us and my dad stopped walking and turned around to see if I was right.

Nope, my hearing isn’t technically any better than yours I just know how to use it, so much so that I could hear the dogs claws as it walked along the pavement.

3: People are weirdly obsessed with my sex life

I was fairly disturbed to discover that many people believe that being blind means I have extremely different sex to the rest of the population. And that they assume it’s perfectly fine to either ask myself or mutual aquaintances about it. My friends are champions for fielding these questions on my behalf however I am left to ponder what exactly the general population think happens.

Sorry but you don’t get the details.

4: Innuendo sometimes escapes me

I thought I was well versed in the language of suggestive comments but it wasn’t until I discovered how sighted people were using emoji’s that I realised how wrong I was.

And there was I thinking it was an innocent eggplant.

5: I think I’ve seen all the strange behaviour directed at blind people until…

Someone will try and do my jacket up for me, or ask me if they need to help me in the bathroom, or tell me I’m white because obviously I have no idea and I’ll be reminded how many misconceptions there really are about people like myself.

As much as I like to be surprised by the intricacies of life I’d rather it not be in this way.

Remember that I’m just another person, I don’t have magical blind girl powers and I do expect to be treated with the same respect others my age are granted. As much as blindness has altered my experiences for the most part my life is very ordinary. I have hopes and dreams, plans for the future and past regrets.

So when you’re tempted to tell the blind girl how she really must struggle or that she’s missing out remember that she really is no different from you.