[nabs-l] If the World Went Sighted..

[Jorge Paez]

Chris:
This may surprise you but I'm the same way, and I lost my sight a bit later in life, though with all honesty I can't remember much of what I saw.

Though I will not comment on your other points,
like I have said earlier,
the reason I would NOT choose to become sighted is not because blindness has some benefit,
but because I'd have to learn everything all over again should I see.

Besides, because of my life with no sight, I feel that I'd still never trust my sight, just because I never grew up with it.
Because, it is my belief, that just as the sighted people would not understand how it is to be blind, because they never have been, I think for those of us who are blind either from birth or from very young,
we cannot imagine and wouldn't get used to sight, not to mention that our brains are wired differently anyway.

FYI: what I mean by the above (and they've proven this scientifically), is that for those of us who are born blind or lose our sight very young--I don't know how that applies to others,
our visual cortex is actually rewired for audio,
so that it would be scientifically impossible to regain sight, since it means reprograming the brain. 

Jorge


On Apr 28, 2011, at 4:03 PM, Chris Nusbaum wrote:

> Hi, Arielle and all.
> 
> What an interesting question! I'm interested to see what discussion that brings about on the list.  I'm of the opinion that blindness is generally indifferent to our daily function.  In fact, I have been asked many times, "If it were ever possible for you to surgically regain your sight, would you do it?" Surprisingly to all the sighted people who ask that question, my answer is "No." See, I believe that blindness is the most adaptable disability there is.  Think about it.  If you're deaf, you can't communicate with others except for the small group of people (compared to the number of people in America or the world at that) who know sign language.  If you're wheelchair-bound, you can either buy a power wheelchair, which is pretty expensive, or you'll need somebody to push that thing for you everywhere unless you push it yourself.  If you're mentally handicapped, you can't learn well with your peers and will probably have trouble communicating, depending on the severity of it.  But if you're blind, you can still learn, walk, communicate, and do most everything that sighted people can independently with just a few minor adaptations.  As the great Dr.  Kenneth Jernigan said, "The real problem of blindness is not the loss of eyesight.  The real problem is the lack of understanding and education which exist.  If a blind person has the proper training and opportunity, blindness can be reduced to a minor physical nuissance." But keep in mind, though, that I'm blind from birth, so I'm a little biassed.  Probably someone who lost their sight later in life would want to try to regain their sight in a heartbeat.  So, I don't think it would be necessary to get rid of all blindness altogether.  I think blindness has presented a great educational opportunity to the sighted world, because from blind people like the ones in NFB, they've learned that they don't have to rely on their sight for everything in life.  That's why when people ask me, "What's it like to be blind," I answer, "It's pretty much the same as being sighted.  You just travel with a long cane and read Braille, but that's really the only difference." And yes, you can use that line if you want, LOL.  Hopefuly, I gave some food for thought to you all.  What do you think?
> 
> Chris Nusbaum
> 
> "A loss of sight, never a loss of vision!" (Camp Abilities motto)
> 
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: Arielle Silverman <nabs.president at gmail.com
> To: National Association of Blind Students mailing list <nabs-l at nfbnet.org
> Date sent: Tue, 26 Apr 2011 22:08:30 -0600
> Subject: [nabs-l] If the World Went Sighted..
> 
> Hi all,
> 
> We recently had a discussion about how we would react if some of our
> blind friends could become sighted, and we asked whether it would be
> reasonable for a sighted person to want to go blind.  This made me
> think of an interesting, although a bit painful, question:
> Would the world be better off, worse off, or about the same if
> blindness were completely eradicated, through genetic engineering
> and/or mandatory treatment of all causes of blindness?
> The question may sound silly, but for many vision researchers,
> eradication of blindness is a real goal.  But does the presence of
> blind people in our society have any benefit to the society or the
> world as a whole?
> 
> Certainly there are costs of having a small group of people in society
> who read and travel using different techniques than the rest.  These
> specialized techniques have to be taught, technology has to be adapted
> to their use and negative public attitudes prevent this minority of
> people who do things differently from having full access to societal
> goods and opportunities.  So would it be cheaper and less
> resource-demanding if everybody could use the same visual techniques
> to accomplish life tasks?
> On the other hand, you could perhaps argue that having people who use
> different senses to do things in society is advantageous.  Technology
> is forced to innovate to become usable by those who don't have vision
> as well as those who do.  And conceivably, if a darkness plague struck
> the planet, it would be better for the species if some of its members
> could fully function without light.
> 
> What do you think? Should we as a society make an effort to get rid of
> blindness? Or does blindness serve any kind of social function?
> There obviously isn't a right answer here, but it's something that,
> for better or for worse, could become relevant to us someday.
> 
> Arielle
> 
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