FAQ’s
Background
I’ve been asked a lot of questions about my vision. This space is dedicated to answering the ones I’ve received most frequently, often from well-meaning people who possess genuine curiosity. Please read below for (hopefully) informative responses around some of the most common questions I’ve gotten.
Why don’t you just wear glasses? Why don’t you get LASIK?
Prescriptions glasses, LASIK eye surgery, and other corrective measures are incredibly beneficial to many different types of people. The key word I’ll highlight there is corrective. The anatomy of my eyes doesn’t allow for significant correction because what’s present is fundamentally impaired.
Imagine your eyes as a vehicle: they don’t work as well as you’d like and you go to get a specific part to fix them. An average person would get the proper replacement part (glasses, LASIK, etc.), install it, and move on. The replacement pieces aren’t compatible in my case. My vehicle has to try its best with what its got until a different piece is discovered, repurposed, etc. Ultimately, my eyes have tried their best to acclimate to a world that isn’t suited for them and have endured the twists and turns associated with that.
Confusingly, I do wear glasses a lot. They help a little bit which I’m grateful for, but they’re not going to move the needle enough for me to not be classified as visually impaired or legally blind.
Since you don’t see well, you must have great hearing, right?
Nope!
I think one reason people ask this question is because they think, if people’s eyes don’t function well, they must just use their other senses more often instead.
This in turn should strengthen them.
I’m still heavily reliant on my vision, however bad it is, and this doesn’t give much space for the theory that my hearing ought to be operating at a higher level. Frequenting loud spaces in the past hasn’t done me any favors, so I’m not holding my breath that things will change much in this area.
One area that may be more enhanced than the average person is my situational awareness. The more I know a space the better I can see. What I mean by that is that I may hesitate more navigating an environment if I’m unfamiliar with it. However, I know where my furniture is placed, where I hang things, and what’s in my cupboards in my own space. I tend to be more aware of these things because I don’t always have my vision to give me a heads up on them like sighted people might. I definitely take comfort in familiarity and benefit from getting to know spaces better
When did you learn braille? How much braille do you know?
Braille can be helpful for those who know it and use it; however, not all blind people automatically get enrolled into a braille course. People have a lot of different opinions on it, but a common theme I heard growing up is that, with growing technology use (voiceover, accessibility options, AI, etc.), braille isn’t as prevalent as it once was. I asked to learn it growing up and learned the braille alphabet, 189 contractions of words, the Nemeth Code, and other important components. I’d explain more about these things, but I never used it enough to retain the important elements. This site is a nice snapshot with some fun facts for those interested.
Nuance is present everywhere and this rings true for the blind/visually impaired community as well. While I don’t use braille often, if at all, that doesn’t mean many others don’t use it. It’s a helpful tool and possesses an important space for those it’s relevant for.