What It's Like Being Blind

The biggest challenge posed by my blindness is social interaction, especially with people I don’t know well. It’s incredibly hard to go up to someone and start a conversation without being able to make preemptive eye contact and without being able to tell what they are thinking or feeling based off their composure and facial expressions. So, if you notice me staying quiet and to myself, that’s why. However, just because I don’t go out of my way to initiate conversations doesn’t mean you have to stay away from me and act super nice to me. It’s actually kind of annoying when you do that. Please treat me normally, and if you want to talk to me for whatever reason, please feel free. I am a nice person, trust me. If I have ever seemed rude or haven’t responded if you said hi to me in the halls, it’s probably because I didn’t realize you were talking to me.

Another challenge I face is getting accessible materials to be able to complete my schoolwork. Most of the time, my work is provided in braille or online, but there are situations when a different alternative must be found. For example, I was ordered the wrong U.S. History textbook this year, so I am using an audio version while I wait for the correct braille book to arrive. More common issues that come up are visual assignments that need to be altered and websites that don’t work with the screen-reading software I have on my computer. For example, teachers love to use Google Slides these days, but they do not work for me. However, all these problems have solutions, and working with my teachers to find them is a regular theme in my life.

The other major challenge I face is traveling independently. However, I have a great orientation and mobility teacher who helps me learn how to travel in many different environments, including commercial and residential areas. I also learn how to cross both lighted and unlighted intersections. There is no reason why I won’t be going to college on my own when I graduate in three years. The one thing that probably will not go away is running into people. When you can’t see, it’s hard to tell if something or someone is in your way.

Despite these challenges, I like to think of my blindness as more of an inconvenience rather than an impossibility. With some adaptions, extra effort, and maybe some assistance, I am perfectly capable of achieving anything a sighted person is capable of.

Being blind also has advantages that you may not realize. First off, since I have less to look at and fewer people to talk to, I have lots of time to think and reflect on myself, my future, and the world around me, helping me mature more quickly than the average teenager. I don’t think I would have had this opportunity if I could see.

However, I don’t mean this to be rude or reflect negatively on sighted people. Despite the advantages I believe I have as a blind person, I still wish I could see. There is so much that I don’t know about the world because I’m blind – I don’t know what my family looks like, I don’t know what kinds of beauty the world has to offer, I have never seen the stars or the Moon, and I have never even seen color or shape. Heck, I thought that the pitcher’s mound was to the right of home plate instead of in front of it as recently as three years ago and I am one of the biggest baseball fans you’ll find. I know the basic facts of things, like that I have blue eyes and grass is green, but it is impossible for me to know what that actually means without being able to see it myself.

I’m blind. There’s no changing or ignoring that fact. It is what it is. But besides that, I am a normal person. I am a die-hard sports fan, I enjoy listening to music (especially the Zac Brown Band), and I like to listen to audio books. I am good with numbers, I am a good rock climber, and I am a good writer. Despite my differences, I am not much different than you.

P.S. I would like to issue a personal apology to anyone I have run into or whacked with my cane in the halls. Please know that it (most of the time) wasn’t intentional and I would have gotten out of the way if I had known you were in the way. Sorry again, and thanks for reading.