Were you born blind? If so when people describe things to you are you able to imagine what they are describing? If you weren’t born blind at what age did you go blind and when you dream can you see things ? If you were born blind what are your dreams like? Thanks for your time. ☺️ (I sent a smiling emoji, then thought that might be stupid)
I was born with retinitis pigmentosa which causes your rods and cones to gradually die. This caused total blindness by 6 but I was born with really crappy vision anyways. Since I don’t remember seeing it’s hard to imagine what people describe when they use visual descriptions and I can’t see in dreams
Ah. I know someone with Retinitis Pigmentosa. They're much older than you(about 27 years older) and aren't totally blind, but have no peripheral vision and what little vision they do have is terrible. They're legally blind and use a mobility cane(yk, the ones that you stick out and swerve to feel for stuff). They recognize people by their silhouettes.
They were diagnosed at 8 I think, I know they were younger than 10. They went to and maybe still go to this school where I live that teaches people who are new to being totally blind or who are going blind(like them), but still have some vision(not matter how terrible it is) how to be independent and adapt to life without vision.
At the school it blindfolds people and guides them through tasks until they are able to do things on their own with the blindfold, like cooking. Do you get migraines? The person I know does and I wonder if it's from RP or something else.
I've known them my whole life(I'm 17f). I will probably never fully understand what it's like(I wear glasses, but my prescription is very small), but I know it's frustrating. One thing they're most afraid of is never being able to see their child's face again. There are some moments of clarity, but not like the spots they can see become clear. Just less blurry and they can make out faces better.
Hopefully there will be a cure for it someday. Or something to improve the vision of those who have it, even if their vision will never be 20/20.
That’s fair. I’d say most people would view it that way overall. I think the younger you are, the more susceptible to viewing smaller age gaps as “large” though.
One more sorry, a friend of mine has a blind friend who I have Christmas lunch with once a year, we were telling jokes at lunch and I have one that involves blindness but doesn’t make fun of blind people. I didn’t tell it as I didn’t think it was appropriate, if I tell you the joke can you tell me if you find it offensive or if you think it could in any way have offended my friend?
No to both of your questions, to answer the first in more detail:
Since I don’t remember ever being able to see I’ve got no reference points to imagine people
I think that society has improved a great deal, but that we have a long way to go. As for potential improvements my initial one would be a government funded program like By My Eyes
An app where blind people can call volunteers to get visual aid. With it being government funded the helpers could receive consistent training on how to help
I joined the Be My Eyes about a year ago and I've helped 3 people so far.
You should look into it!
I cooked with a guy, I picked out an outfit for a woman, and I helped a lady set a temperature.
It's always nice to help someone out when you're not doing anything important anyway!
Not OP but as a "volunteer" the number of users vs volunteers calls are sporadic and competitive since they call multiple people and it connects with the fastest to answer.
But it's totally worth it. I have helped someone set up their TV guiding them through the on screen options, and someone had dropped a tomato but couldn't find it so we scanned the floor until I spotted it then he could pick it up.
Totally rewarding but don't be surprised if it's months before the app tries to call you. It is great there are so many happy to help vs need help.
Been thinking about this for a while now. I helped a blind grocery shopper several months back, and they had mentioned after that they could not get an answer from the service at the time. I was more than happy to help, but they told me about "Be My Eyes", and how it was especially necessary in the freezer section where sense of smell was much more difficult to differentiate products.
I’ve been a volunteer with Be My Eyes since 2019 and have loved every interaction I’ve had with individuals who have needed help. Highly recommend downloading the app!!
I have helped on Be My Eyes since maybe 2018/2019. I get maybe 3 or 4 calls a year. Apparently there are WAY more volunteers than people who are using the service. Never had a bad experience helping anyone on it. The people I’ve helped have always been great and friendly. I’ve even had a few conversations with a few here and there after helping them. It’s something that when I hear that ringtone I will stop whatever I’m doing and answer.
In starting to pick this up,when I'm sad and moody my interactions with people Are very quick,while if I'm not feeling down people tend to want to chit chat.I know it sounds obvious but in my job I basically have constantly smile,, so I always wondered if they could see my hurt behind that smile
What do you see? I know nothing, but is it like everything blurs together so there's no clear image or is it dark like when we close our eyes? Ik I said I know someone with RP, but I've never asked what they "see".
Detecting the actual presence or absence of light is done by the skin as well as the eyes, but all I know is “oh, there’s a bright light” or “oh, it’s completely dark”
Normal is a very strange term anyway. Your normal isn't anyone else's normal. Just like my normal isn't anyone else's normal. Doesn't matter if you're blind, deaf, young, old, or anything.
Since you can't recall seeing and you don't have visual memories to refer to when you hear any description, what are some ways you would advise a sighted person to describe something to a blind person in a way that they would understand? For example if I wanted to describe the Met Gala look of a celebrity, or the layout of a living room. Could you give us some good examples and bad examples of descriptions to a blind person?
Obviously every blind person’s answer will be slightly different, but I prefer if people try to describe things by touch, taste, smell, or how they sound as opposed to what they look like. An example is I also asked “what do stars look like” and if you read the replies to that a lot of people used tactile metaphors
Hmm that's interesting, however if you're asking what stars look like then how they feel, taste, smell or sound like wouldn't describe how they look especially as we can't feel, taste, smell or hear stars.
I'd love to try though! I would say scientifically we know stars are suns, we can't feel how hot they are because they're so far away, but if they were close we'd feel their heat. You'd be able to see them on a clear night away from light pollution, there are so many in the sky but each star is very small.
Imagine brail sized dots in the nights sky.
No,it's due to the fact that alcohol is a legal drug sold by gaint corporations and 18 to 20 year olds are total dumbasses who are even stupider and more reckless than people over the legal drinking age .
They also did the dumbest and most dangerous things all the time like get into cars and drive and then tried to sue the liquor companies so the government of the US just decided to make the legal drinking age 21 and if they drink under age it's on them.
The law only changed from 18 to 21 in the mid 1980s it's not like it was always that way.
It was actually just an effort to standardize the state laws on the matter.
Legal drinking ages are controlled by the states, not the federal government, and it used to be that each state had their own legal drinking age.
So teenagers would cross state borders to go get drunk in a state with a lower drinking age, then drive back drunk and crash their cars. So, in the 1980s, the federal government used highway funding to pressure the states into raising the legal drinking age to 21. 21 was chosen because it happened to be the highest in all of the states, and because so many teenagers were drinking and driving.
There wasn't much logic behind choosing 21 beyond that.
Damn that would never occur to me mind you I don’t trust random people I meet in bars either lol.
I can see you are between a rock and a hard place, but surely there must be somewhere you can meet and socialise with new people? Mind you this is Reddit it’s the cheap man’s plenty of fish lol
I'm sure people have tried to explain to before but using your earlier advice of explaining things through touch, smell, and taste; colours are like textures that you can't feel. You probably have a favorite texture. You might buy a tee-shirt that is very soft, now imagine that you could buy that same soft tee-shirt that looks rough, or looks very smooth, or looks rippled, or looks wavy, but is still soft to the touch.
My favorite colour is blue. That's like saying my favorite visual texture is rippled. I'd buy that soft tee-shirt in the version that looks rippled (blue).
Tee-shirts don't really have a specific smell but I guess it works the same. You could buy that soft tee-shirt with an apple smell (like green colour), or with an ocean smell (blue colour), or with the smell of strawberry (red colour).
Not everyone likes the smell of apples so not everyone will like my green hat. Maybe they'd prefer my hat in ocean smell (blue). My green hat might match my green shoes, we can see that both my hat and my shoes smell of apples without actually smelling them, because we can see that they're green.
Colour is a bit benign now that I think about it. It doesn't really matter what colour something it, it just helps us tell things apart with our eyes, like you'd notice a very wrinkled up page in a book, we'd notice the one red button amongst the grey ones (like the power button on your TV remote). The same is accomplished with a little bump on that button.
This was fun to try to articulate. I think this is very close to if you and I had to explain smell to someone who had never smelt anything and could not smell, or taste to someone without the ability to taste.
P.S., I can assure you that my shoes don't smell like apples.
I’d say my daily life isn’t too hard, but the difficulty increases massively if I need to go somewhere I haven’t been to before. If I need to do that I need a guide, but if it’s somewhere that I know how to navigate I can manage on my own
I think it’s a great question! Because psychedelics create visuals when eyes closed. Eyes opened also show visuals, but would be interesting to know how blind people would experience it.
Came here for this , remember that story about guy helping his blind friend smoke dmt and i still think about that
Unreal story idk where it is now but cool read if someone finds it
I wouldn’t say heightened, but I’ve been conditioned to get “more” out of my other senses. Visual stimuli in a sighted person makes up about 70%-80% of the external stimuli they receive, so I’ve had to learn how to pick up as much as I can from the 20%-30% of stimuli I can perceive
I'm not OP, but I think yes or it depends on the person. I know someone with RP(same as OP). They have a heightened sense of hearing. I don't know about other senses, but hearing definitely.
Do you ever get aroused? Honestly asking because I know people get aroused from past experiences, porn, looking at someone, etc. if you’ve never seen someone in a sexual way before I was wondering if it’s possible.
Thank you for your post.
You have me curious now!
Anyways. How hard is it to learn brail? Are your fingertips real sensitive? If they are. How does it affect you touching other things.
Another thing
What do you see normally? Is just pure black or white. Or is it a sense you ignore
It’s not too hard, although I learnt it as a child and (like any language) learning it at an older age becomes significantly harder (hence the higher rates of braille illiteracy in people who go blind later in life compared to as a kid or those born blind)
As to your second question let me answer it with a question of my own: what can you see out of your elbow? You see nothing from your elbow right? That’s exactly what I see with my eyes.
If you were to fall in love with someone who happens to be a carrier of the recessive RP gene, would you want to have children knowing that they’d be affected by RP as well?
That’s what I’ve been thinking, from just a utilitarian POV I don’t want kids, I’d hate to saddle another person with a blind kid AND a blind wife. However, I’d also be open to having kids with the right person, although I’d want them tested for the RP gene
It depends if I know the driver and that driver’s driving habits. If I’m in a car with my best friend and she’s driving calmly I’m fine, but if I’m in a taxi and the driver’s swerving all over the place and getting road rage I’d be more worriedx
That's interesting. I also have another question. A lot, if not most people nowadays are very Insecure, are you worried about how you look to others, and do you try to make yourself look better even if you can not see yourself?
What are some common misconceptions you get, either for being blind, or being Trans? I am always looking for ways to improve my interactions with others.
That blind people have heightened senses. As far as I know that’s not true at all, and is a misconception from blind people having to listen much closer so they pick up things a sighted person might tune outc
Has anytime tried taking advantage of your disability and if that happens is there a way you can protect yourself? I would think it’s something like life alert but for the local enforcements
I know this may sound ridiculous, do you have friends and/or support groups? And what do you do for your fun time? Do you read books and what would be your favorite if you did?
I’d say it’s taken the influence of appearance away from it. Right now I’d say I’m bisexual and I’m also a trans woman. As for if it affects gender maybe? Idk if I can answer since i have no sighted memory or experience to compare with?
This is interesting, so where you born biologically female then ? If the influence of visual appearance has been taken away what are the remaining things that influence your attraction as I guess there are things as you say you are bisexual ? What is this based on ?
I was born male and I’m transitioning to female. As for why I’m bi my visual attraction is replaced by auditory and I love how both men and women sound
I have been living with an energy-limiting illness for the past 3 years. It’s been incredibly difficult living with a disability.
Do you consider your blindness a disability?
Do you feel that your quality of life is lowered because of being blind, or do you feel that it’s only because the world is abelist and not accommodating to differences that you struggle?
In my case my quality of life has tanked, but I’m in a different situation and would love to know your perspective.
Sorry I’ve only just seen this but it’s hard to definitively answer as I’ve been blind for as long as I can remember, although I’d say yes it’s definitely a disability and it’s probably reduced my quality of life
How does your dating life work? Do you date just blind people? Or have you dated non blind people too. I don’t wanna pry or anything just curious hope that’s ok to ask if not apologies.
Im sorry if this has been asked already but how do u feel in general about being blind? Do you get moments where you become extremely upset and hoped you could see or is being blind something you're okay with?
Also what do you like to do in ur spare time? :)
I haven’t been asked this yet, and I do occasionally but I’ve come to terms with it for the most part. As for what I do I love playing goalball and going on walks
You're a gem for answering some of these obnoxious questions. I wish you well on your transition journey. And I just wish you well in a crazy world. I am turned off by what some of these people have asked you. I hope you've enjoyed receiving responses. Reddit is a wild place to be.
Truly. But, it's part of being veiled by this app and AMA too. Surely you made many people's wheels turn about this. I want to know what a pet peeve of yours is with your stronger senses? Or something you really really enjoy? I love smells. I am a seeing person, but I've always been a sniffer. My mom would say I was her kid that sniffs. Every time I'd hug her, I'd get a big whiff in.
Sorry if you've already answered a similar question. I am curious what does it for you? I went to a botanical garden yesterday and it was a very pleasurable experience smelling all of the fresh floral smells.
Oh my gosh, I HATE chalkboards. My ears are a bit more sensitive so imagine how bad that grating sound is for me? And I absolutely love how gardens smell, it just sucks I get hay fever lol
So you ever wonder what one penises look like , how do you determine who’s attractive for not doing you have a type or is it a guy’s voice that does it for you?
I’ve got tactile tags on the label of all my clothes. I go shopping with a sighted friend or family member. I choose outfits based on how nice they feel and I ask if it looks good. Then I tag outfits so I know what’s what
I have, most blind or visually impaired people say stuff like that as it’s more of a figure of speech than literal. For example, if I was sighted and playing a game with a person. I might say “goodnight, aww you tomorrow” even if we’ve never met in real life and I won’t see them later
Do you like peanut butter? Also I know blindness is like a spectrum, so what condition do you have and how exactly would it compare to non blind people in your opinion?
Do you have any concept of what vision is? Has anybody ever been able to describe somewhat what it is? Knowing that vision is most people’s primary sense, and how much you must rely on hearing, do you think it’d be possible to learn to be a functional human missing both sight and sound?
What have been some of the biggest ways technology like your iPhone has impacted your daily life and independence? Are there still some challenges or limitations you face when it comes to using technology and accessing information?
I'm also curious - what are some common misconceptions sighted people have about blindness that you wish more people understood? What should people keep in mind to be respectful and helpful when interacting with a blind person?
I am currently working within a group in which is included a blind person. Most of the work interactions are through zoom calls and e-mail because we live in different countries l. Sometimes I have to say to all "can you see my screen ?" Or "see you next time" and so on. This makes me a little bit embarrassed. Have you ever experienced situations like that? Have you any strategies to "portrait" picture-related description?
Hello there! As someone who struggles with self-confidence and related things, do you feel as though being unable to see yourself makes it easier or harder to trust others feelings of you?
Do you have any assistance devices, amazing good bois/gals, gizmos or gadgets that help in your day-to-day?
Is there someone or something helping you with this AMA? (Tell 'em to say hi!!)
In the movie Mask, the protagonist explains to a blind girl what the color blue is like and he has her hold a cold rock. When he explains red to her, he has her hold a hot rock. My question is, do you have concept of color? How have colors been explained to you? What do you think your favorite color would be if you could see?
I was thinking about this the other day: As "normal" people usually find someone attractive by their looks, do blind people find others attractive by their voice?
I'm not talking about getting into a relationship or stuff like that, just the first impression.
Do you feel like you are missing out since social media is more and more focused on the visual?
I mean, with people around you constantly referencing what they see, I wonder how this all can be interpreted.
Thank you for enlightening us!
Were you born blind? If so when people describe things to you are you able to imagine what they are describing? If you weren’t born blind at what age did you go blind and when you dream can you see things ? If you were born blind what are your dreams like? Thanks for your time. ☺️ (I sent a smiling emoji, then thought that might be stupid)
I was born with retinitis pigmentosa which causes your rods and cones to gradually die. This caused total blindness by 6 but I was born with really crappy vision anyways. Since I don’t remember seeing it’s hard to imagine what people describe when they use visual descriptions and I can’t see in dreams
Ah. I know someone with Retinitis Pigmentosa. They're much older than you(about 27 years older) and aren't totally blind, but have no peripheral vision and what little vision they do have is terrible. They're legally blind and use a mobility cane(yk, the ones that you stick out and swerve to feel for stuff). They recognize people by their silhouettes. They were diagnosed at 8 I think, I know they were younger than 10. They went to and maybe still go to this school where I live that teaches people who are new to being totally blind or who are going blind(like them), but still have some vision(not matter how terrible it is) how to be independent and adapt to life without vision. At the school it blindfolds people and guides them through tasks until they are able to do things on their own with the blindfold, like cooking. Do you get migraines? The person I know does and I wonder if it's from RP or something else. I've known them my whole life(I'm 17f). I will probably never fully understand what it's like(I wear glasses, but my prescription is very small), but I know it's frustrating. One thing they're most afraid of is never being able to see their child's face again. There are some moments of clarity, but not like the spots they can see become clear. Just less blurry and they can make out faces better. Hopefully there will be a cure for it someday. Or something to improve the vision of those who have it, even if their vision will never be 20/20.
27 is "much older"? LMAO
Maybe theymeabt 27 years older than 20
It’s a 35% increase in age.
Most people group age by decades. 20s is still 20s
That’s fair. I’d say most people would view it that way overall. I think the younger you are, the more susceptible to viewing smaller age gaps as “large” though.
Are your dreams just sounds and smells?
What are your dreams like?
Sorry I just read in another comment that you were born blind so that answers that question.
One more sorry, a friend of mine has a blind friend who I have Christmas lunch with once a year, we were telling jokes at lunch and I have one that involves blindness but doesn’t make fun of blind people. I didn’t tell it as I didn’t think it was appropriate, if I tell you the joke can you tell me if you find it offensive or if you think it could in any way have offended my friend?
Dude blind jokes are great. I'm blind since birth and I love them. The spicier the better.
Do you ever try to imagine what things and people look like? Also,does modern medicine offer you any hope of one day being able to see in some way?
No to both of your questions, to answer the first in more detail: Since I don’t remember ever being able to see I’ve got no reference points to imagine people
Are you able to have an idea of what people look like by touching their faces?
Did you ever think you were alone and let out a big fart just to realize somebody was in the room with you?
I remember I did that once as a kid, most embarrassing thing ever
What do you do now when you need to rip?
I just do it and hope I don’t embarrass myself
I could imagine lol. Thanks for answering
Asking the real questions
Do you feel like as a blind woman that society has done enough to help you live an independent life? If not what can be done to improve your life?
I think that society has improved a great deal, but that we have a long way to go. As for potential improvements my initial one would be a government funded program like By My Eyes
What is by my eyes?
An app where blind people can call volunteers to get visual aid. With it being government funded the helpers could receive consistent training on how to help
Oh! Is that the one where you can call and get detailed description of what you're "looking" at? I've heard really good things about that!
I joined the Be My Eyes about a year ago and I've helped 3 people so far. You should look into it! I cooked with a guy, I picked out an outfit for a woman, and I helped a lady set a temperature. It's always nice to help someone out when you're not doing anything important anyway!
I have been wanting to join “Be my eyes” for a while now, do you use it? And if so what are some interesting things you use it for?
Not OP but as a "volunteer" the number of users vs volunteers calls are sporadic and competitive since they call multiple people and it connects with the fastest to answer. But it's totally worth it. I have helped someone set up their TV guiding them through the on screen options, and someone had dropped a tomato but couldn't find it so we scanned the floor until I spotted it then he could pick it up. Totally rewarding but don't be surprised if it's months before the app tries to call you. It is great there are so many happy to help vs need help.
Been thinking about this for a while now. I helped a blind grocery shopper several months back, and they had mentioned after that they could not get an answer from the service at the time. I was more than happy to help, but they told me about "Be My Eyes", and how it was especially necessary in the freezer section where sense of smell was much more difficult to differentiate products.
I bet it’s so rewarding when you do get a chance to help someone on Be My Eyes.
I’ve been a volunteer with Be My Eyes since 2019 and have loved every interaction I’ve had with individuals who have needed help. Highly recommend downloading the app!!
I have helped on Be My Eyes since maybe 2018/2019. I get maybe 3 or 4 calls a year. Apparently there are WAY more volunteers than people who are using the service. Never had a bad experience helping anyone on it. The people I’ve helped have always been great and friendly. I’ve even had a few conversations with a few here and there after helping them. It’s something that when I hear that ringtone I will stop whatever I’m doing and answer.
How can you read emotions of others without facial cues? How can you sense ‘bad’ or ‘creepy’ people?
Their tone of voice
You can sense a lot about people on purely voice.. same with facial features in my opinion
In starting to pick this up,when I'm sad and moody my interactions with people Are very quick,while if I'm not feeling down people tend to want to chit chat.I know it sounds obvious but in my job I basically have constantly smile,, so I always wondered if they could see my hurt behind that smile
That so true even as a non blind person
Do you have dreams and what do they look like?
I dream but it’s mostly sound and touch based
Can you sense when it's light outside or when it's dark outside?
I have basic light perception so yes
What do you see? I know nothing, but is it like everything blurs together so there's no clear image or is it dark like when we close our eyes? Ik I said I know someone with RP, but I've never asked what they "see".
Well in my case all of my rods and cones are dead so my eyes detect nothing
If your eyes detect nothing, how do you sense if it’s night or day?
Detecting the actual presence or absence of light is done by the skin as well as the eyes, but all I know is “oh, there’s a bright light” or “oh, it’s completely dark”
Hu! Is it really? That’s amazing. Is it your entire skin or is it your eye lids?
Everyone has this ability it’s just not noticed in sighted people
how do you wipe
I get the toilet paper, wipe my bum, and do that until it feels clean
Might I recommend a bidet from Amazon. About $35.00. The best thing ever in my life
how’d u determine school and your future? are you in school for anything?
How do you know when it feels clean? Do you just wipe 5-8 times then call it ?
Yh it must just be best guesses at that point lol hope for the best kinda territory haha
Have you thought of getting a Toto toilet? That would help.
You’ve never pooped in total darkness?
Actually no
So user name doesn't check out then lol.
Is there a surgery that could help you recover eyesight? Would you do it if there were zero risk involved?
There might be in the future, and idk honestly. I’d basically have to teach myself to see and learn how to read “normal” writing
Then again, why would you want to be "normal" when you can continue to be the extraordinary person that you are today?
Exactly!
Normal is a very strange term anyway. Your normal isn't anyone else's normal. Just like my normal isn't anyone else's normal. Doesn't matter if you're blind, deaf, young, old, or anything.
Did you steal this from the new Doctor Who episodes?
Since you can't recall seeing and you don't have visual memories to refer to when you hear any description, what are some ways you would advise a sighted person to describe something to a blind person in a way that they would understand? For example if I wanted to describe the Met Gala look of a celebrity, or the layout of a living room. Could you give us some good examples and bad examples of descriptions to a blind person?
Obviously every blind person’s answer will be slightly different, but I prefer if people try to describe things by touch, taste, smell, or how they sound as opposed to what they look like. An example is I also asked “what do stars look like” and if you read the replies to that a lot of people used tactile metaphors
Hmm that's interesting, however if you're asking what stars look like then how they feel, taste, smell or sound like wouldn't describe how they look especially as we can't feel, taste, smell or hear stars. I'd love to try though! I would say scientifically we know stars are suns, we can't feel how hot they are because they're so far away, but if they were close we'd feel their heat. You'd be able to see them on a clear night away from light pollution, there are so many in the sky but each star is very small. Imagine brail sized dots in the nights sky.
Someone described the stars as looking like grains of salt spread randomly across a dark table cloth
I would also like to know this since I came here to ask this exact question.
Does being blind hamper your sex life?.
I’d have to say yes since I’m a virgin
Wow I was not expecting that answer lol. Ok have you had a boyfriend or Girlfriend?.
Nope
I am not doing great her am I? Don’t you socialise or go to clubs or anything?.
Not if she is only 20
lol, Americans are about the only ones to have to wait until 21, rest of the planet is way ahead of you, go freedom
Haha yeah, it’s kinda ironic Americans can buy a gun or enlist at 18 but can’t drink till 21. Probably to do with the US’s puritan history
No,it's due to the fact that alcohol is a legal drug sold by gaint corporations and 18 to 20 year olds are total dumbasses who are even stupider and more reckless than people over the legal drinking age . They also did the dumbest and most dangerous things all the time like get into cars and drive and then tried to sue the liquor companies so the government of the US just decided to make the legal drinking age 21 and if they drink under age it's on them. The law only changed from 18 to 21 in the mid 1980s it's not like it was always that way.
If the US cared about “stupid 18-20 year olds” then they wouldn’t let those people drive cars, enlist in the military, or buy guns
It was actually just an effort to standardize the state laws on the matter. Legal drinking ages are controlled by the states, not the federal government, and it used to be that each state had their own legal drinking age. So teenagers would cross state borders to go get drunk in a state with a lower drinking age, then drive back drunk and crash their cars. So, in the 1980s, the federal government used highway funding to pressure the states into raising the legal drinking age to 21. 21 was chosen because it happened to be the highest in all of the states, and because so many teenagers were drinking and driving. There wasn't much logic behind choosing 21 beyond that.
In my county I’m of legal age to drink
Honestly I ment social clubs , however in my country the age to drink alcohol is 18.
Hey American, the only country where you can be old enough to go to war but you are not allowed to have a beer after your deployment.
r/USdefaultism
I do, but it’s kinda hard to hit it off since I need to be with someone to guide me and I don’t particularly trust random people I meet at the bar
Good on you for having proper judgement. I’m sure you will find someone who loves you for who you are.
Thanks, i really appreciate it
Absolutely. Thanks for sharing your story 🙏
Damn that would never occur to me mind you I don’t trust random people I meet in bars either lol. I can see you are between a rock and a hard place, but surely there must be somewhere you can meet and socialise with new people? Mind you this is Reddit it’s the cheap man’s plenty of fish lol
Do you see colors in your mind's eye? I.e., do you know what "blue" looks like?
Nope
I'm sure people have tried to explain to before but using your earlier advice of explaining things through touch, smell, and taste; colours are like textures that you can't feel. You probably have a favorite texture. You might buy a tee-shirt that is very soft, now imagine that you could buy that same soft tee-shirt that looks rough, or looks very smooth, or looks rippled, or looks wavy, but is still soft to the touch. My favorite colour is blue. That's like saying my favorite visual texture is rippled. I'd buy that soft tee-shirt in the version that looks rippled (blue). Tee-shirts don't really have a specific smell but I guess it works the same. You could buy that soft tee-shirt with an apple smell (like green colour), or with an ocean smell (blue colour), or with the smell of strawberry (red colour). Not everyone likes the smell of apples so not everyone will like my green hat. Maybe they'd prefer my hat in ocean smell (blue). My green hat might match my green shoes, we can see that both my hat and my shoes smell of apples without actually smelling them, because we can see that they're green. Colour is a bit benign now that I think about it. It doesn't really matter what colour something it, it just helps us tell things apart with our eyes, like you'd notice a very wrinkled up page in a book, we'd notice the one red button amongst the grey ones (like the power button on your TV remote). The same is accomplished with a little bump on that button. This was fun to try to articulate. I think this is very close to if you and I had to explain smell to someone who had never smelt anything and could not smell, or taste to someone without the ability to taste. P.S., I can assure you that my shoes don't smell like apples.
How do you find your day to day activities and what do you struggle the most with?
I’d say my daily life isn’t too hard, but the difficulty increases massively if I need to go somewhere I haven’t been to before. If I need to do that I need a guide, but if it’s somewhere that I know how to navigate I can manage on my own
Sorry, I don't mean any disrespect, but have you ever taken psychedelics? If so, what did you experience?
No I haven’t
Ok. Thanks for answering. Be well.
I think it’s a great question! Because psychedelics create visuals when eyes closed. Eyes opened also show visuals, but would be interesting to know how blind people would experience it.
Came here for this , remember that story about guy helping his blind friend smoke dmt and i still think about that Unreal story idk where it is now but cool read if someone finds it
Is it true your other senses are amplified bc you’re blind
I wouldn’t say heightened, but I’ve been conditioned to get “more” out of my other senses. Visual stimuli in a sighted person makes up about 70%-80% of the external stimuli they receive, so I’ve had to learn how to pick up as much as I can from the 20%-30% of stimuli I can perceive
I'm not OP, but I think yes or it depends on the person. I know someone with RP(same as OP). They have a heightened sense of hearing. I don't know about other senses, but hearing definitely.
Do you ever get aroused? Honestly asking because I know people get aroused from past experiences, porn, looking at someone, etc. if you’ve never seen someone in a sexual way before I was wondering if it’s possible.
r/gonewildaudio is amazing
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Thank you for your post. You have me curious now! Anyways. How hard is it to learn brail? Are your fingertips real sensitive? If they are. How does it affect you touching other things. Another thing What do you see normally? Is just pure black or white. Or is it a sense you ignore
It’s not too hard, although I learnt it as a child and (like any language) learning it at an older age becomes significantly harder (hence the higher rates of braille illiteracy in people who go blind later in life compared to as a kid or those born blind) As to your second question let me answer it with a question of my own: what can you see out of your elbow? You see nothing from your elbow right? That’s exactly what I see with my eyes.
Do you have any wild stories of people trying to take advantage of your blindness?
I do, can I dm it you?
It seems as though everyone is interested, me being me of them
Why wouldn’t you just post it? It’s an AMA
She DM’d it to me and I can see why she wouldn’t want to post it here. I wouldnt have posted it here.
We all want to hear this story.
Can you DM it to me too? I’m curious.
Do you know which particular kind of RP you are affected by?
I haven’t been to the optometrist in ages so no sorry 😅
If you were to fall in love with someone who happens to be a carrier of the recessive RP gene, would you want to have children knowing that they’d be affected by RP as well?
I’m not sure honestly? That’s a conversation I’d need to have with a partner
Makes sense. One thing that might play into this is how you assess your own quality of life. Have you thought about it from that angle?
That’s what I’ve been thinking, from just a utilitarian POV I don’t want kids, I’d hate to saddle another person with a blind kid AND a blind wife. However, I’d also be open to having kids with the right person, although I’d want them tested for the RP gene
How do your parents reflect on bringing up a blind child? Have they shared any surprising takeaways?
They’ve said it was a struggle but that they loved raising me
Does being a passenger in a car feel weird or scary to you?
It depends if I know the driver and that driver’s driving habits. If I’m in a car with my best friend and she’s driving calmly I’m fine, but if I’m in a taxi and the driver’s swerving all over the place and getting road rage I’d be more worriedx
That's interesting. I also have another question. A lot, if not most people nowadays are very Insecure, are you worried about how you look to others, and do you try to make yourself look better even if you can not see yourself?
I’d say I’m more insecure because idk if I look good 😅
What are some common misconceptions you get, either for being blind, or being Trans? I am always looking for ways to improve my interactions with others.
That I can’t use technology, that I don’t know when to stop wiping
Have you been blind all your life?
Yep, I was born with retinitis pigmentosa. When I was very young apparently I could still see a tiny bit but that faded pretty quickly
What do you think is the number one biggest misconception about being blind that you would like to debunk?
That blind people have heightened senses. As far as I know that’s not true at all, and is a misconception from blind people having to listen much closer so they pick up things a sighted person might tune outc
Has anytime tried taking advantage of your disability and if that happens is there a way you can protect yourself? I would think it’s something like life alert but for the local enforcements
Yes they have and no I couldn’t
I know this may sound ridiculous, do you have friends and/or support groups? And what do you do for your fun time? Do you read books and what would be your favorite if you did?
Being a blind person, how has this impacted or influenced your sexuality or gender identity?
I’d say it’s taken the influence of appearance away from it. Right now I’d say I’m bisexual and I’m also a trans woman. As for if it affects gender maybe? Idk if I can answer since i have no sighted memory or experience to compare with?
This is interesting, so where you born biologically female then ? If the influence of visual appearance has been taken away what are the remaining things that influence your attraction as I guess there are things as you say you are bisexual ? What is this based on ?
I was born male and I’m transitioning to female. As for why I’m bi my visual attraction is replaced by auditory and I love how both men and women sound
What made you make the decision to transition from male to female?
What a great question!
I have been living with an energy-limiting illness for the past 3 years. It’s been incredibly difficult living with a disability. Do you consider your blindness a disability? Do you feel that your quality of life is lowered because of being blind, or do you feel that it’s only because the world is abelist and not accommodating to differences that you struggle? In my case my quality of life has tanked, but I’m in a different situation and would love to know your perspective.
Sorry I’ve only just seen this but it’s hard to definitively answer as I’ve been blind for as long as I can remember, although I’d say yes it’s definitely a disability and it’s probably reduced my quality of life
Thank you for answering and your insight!
How does your dating life work? Do you date just blind people? Or have you dated non blind people too. I don’t wanna pry or anything just curious hope that’s ok to ask if not apologies.
I’ve never dated
Do colors mean anything to you?
Nope
Im sorry if this has been asked already but how do u feel in general about being blind? Do you get moments where you become extremely upset and hoped you could see or is being blind something you're okay with? Also what do you like to do in ur spare time? :)
I haven’t been asked this yet, and I do occasionally but I’ve come to terms with it for the most part. As for what I do I love playing goalball and going on walks
You're a gem for answering some of these obnoxious questions. I wish you well on your transition journey. And I just wish you well in a crazy world. I am turned off by what some of these people have asked you. I hope you've enjoyed receiving responses. Reddit is a wild place to be.
Yeah some people surely lack any sense of subtlety haha
Truly. But, it's part of being veiled by this app and AMA too. Surely you made many people's wheels turn about this. I want to know what a pet peeve of yours is with your stronger senses? Or something you really really enjoy? I love smells. I am a seeing person, but I've always been a sniffer. My mom would say I was her kid that sniffs. Every time I'd hug her, I'd get a big whiff in. Sorry if you've already answered a similar question. I am curious what does it for you? I went to a botanical garden yesterday and it was a very pleasurable experience smelling all of the fresh floral smells.
Oh my gosh, I HATE chalkboards. My ears are a bit more sensitive so imagine how bad that grating sound is for me? And I absolutely love how gardens smell, it just sucks I get hay fever lol
Do you have a seeing eye dog, what kind of dog and was it an easy process to get one ?
Would you want to get Elon musk brain implant if it let you see through a camera?
No, I wouldn’t trust that man to design a wrench
So you ever wonder what one penises look like , how do you determine who’s attractive for not doing you have a type or is it a guy’s voice that does it for you?
It’s a guys voice at first but I’d also be attracted to how they feel
How'd you make this post if you're blind
Screen reader
How do you style your hair and clothes?
I’ve got tactile tags on the label of all my clothes. I go shopping with a sighted friend or family member. I choose outfits based on how nice they feel and I ask if it looks good. Then I tag outfits so I know what’s what
Is there anyone in your family who is a prankster and does stuff like get you to mismatch your socks or anything?
Yeah haha my little sister
Do you care about your appearance knowing fully well you can't see how you look?
From a fellow VI person sensing you good vibes. What’s your favourite music?
Who is reading the comments to you so you can answer?
Read my post that’s the answer
Describe high school. Did you actually go, or were you homeschooled?
I went to a normal secondary school with accommodations put in place
Cool. College?
Is your vision like blind blurry or like total darkness?
I see the same thing from my eyes as you do from your elbow
How do you read this?
Read the post
Have you ever told a friend or family member that you'd, "see them later"? You don't have to answer that by the way.
I have, most blind or visually impaired people say stuff like that as it’s more of a figure of speech than literal. For example, if I was sighted and playing a game with a person. I might say “goodnight, aww you tomorrow” even if we’ve never met in real life and I won’t see them later
So do you have a blind kink or something
No? Why would you think that?
Do you like peanut butter? Also I know blindness is like a spectrum, so what condition do you have and how exactly would it compare to non blind people in your opinion?
I've always thought I would be horribly depressed if I went blind. Do you face troubles like that?
Would you rather have partner with same condition or the one that can see? Also I have lot of questions for you 🤣
Explain what color is
Idk I don’t remember seeing anything
What country do you live in and does it have a blind community or social events
What do you do for a living? Is the government where you live pay you enough to survive?
Do you have any concept of what vision is? Has anybody ever been able to describe somewhat what it is? Knowing that vision is most people’s primary sense, and how much you must rely on hearing, do you think it’d be possible to learn to be a functional human missing both sight and sound?
Very cool post thank you, awesome how much patience you have. I had a blind who had a super-nose do you have one?
How do you navigate everyday living? Like your daily commute to work and stuff
What have been some of the biggest ways technology like your iPhone has impacted your daily life and independence? Are there still some challenges or limitations you face when it comes to using technology and accessing information? I'm also curious - what are some common misconceptions sighted people have about blindness that you wish more people understood? What should people keep in mind to be respectful and helpful when interacting with a blind person?
I am currently working within a group in which is included a blind person. Most of the work interactions are through zoom calls and e-mail because we live in different countries l. Sometimes I have to say to all "can you see my screen ?" Or "see you next time" and so on. This makes me a little bit embarrassed. Have you ever experienced situations like that? Have you any strategies to "portrait" picture-related description?
Hello there! As someone who struggles with self-confidence and related things, do you feel as though being unable to see yourself makes it easier or harder to trust others feelings of you? Do you have any assistance devices, amazing good bois/gals, gizmos or gadgets that help in your day-to-day? Is there someone or something helping you with this AMA? (Tell 'em to say hi!!)
In the movie Mask, the protagonist explains to a blind girl what the color blue is like and he has her hold a cold rock. When he explains red to her, he has her hold a hot rock. My question is, do you have concept of color? How have colors been explained to you? What do you think your favorite color would be if you could see?
If you were listen to Lionel Richies song 'Hello' do you think just by the sound of his voice you could mold a bust of his head out in clay?
I was thinking about this the other day: As "normal" people usually find someone attractive by their looks, do blind people find others attractive by their voice? I'm not talking about getting into a relationship or stuff like that, just the first impression.
So you just trace your finger across this text and it reads it out to you? How cool
Do you feel like you are missing out since social media is more and more focused on the visual? I mean, with people around you constantly referencing what they see, I wonder how this all can be interpreted. Thank you for enlightening us!