February 21 - Blindness Demands

I like to read books about blindness. Sometimes they are memoirs and at other times they share new insights and medical updates.  I am especially interested in autobiographies and learning how different people react to blindness and vision loss. Perhaps that is even the reason that some of you are reading this blog.

The other day I came across a very interesting statement. The author of the book I was reading had had sight as a young man, lost his sight completely in his mid-forties, and after fifteen years of blindness, had his sight restored through a new surgical procedure. The comment that caught my attention was his perception that “blindness demands dependency and co-operation”.

I think that most people with partial or no sight would agree that not being able to see does indeed demand a certain dependency on others. How dependent we are might be influenced by our level of sight or just by our specific personality. I like to be as independent as possible but at the same time, my vision requires that I must rely on other people for certain things. For instance, I am unable to drive a vehicle, or read the flashing overhead menu at a fast food outlet, or read the directional signs at an airport. For these basic tasks I must rely on other people.

I think that the more important lesson to be learned with this dependency is one of courtesy, or as the author put it, of co-operation. When I rely on other people I know that I need to be even more aware of how I respond to them. I need to be on time if someone is offering to drive me somewhere. I need to say thank you if someone helps me with whatever it is that I am incapable of doing on my own. I need to be even a little more than just polite. I need to be gracious and grateful for the kindness of others.

In the book that I was reading, it was interesting to me that it was only after the author had experienced blindness that he was able to come to similar conclusions. Until his vision loss, he was accustomed to taking the people in his life for granted. When his sight was eventually restored, the lesson of co-operation, consideration and courtesy was a lesson he resolved to take with him in this phase of his life with regained sight.