[NFB-Seniors-Discussion] I hate being blind - Can or do you ever say this?

[Lauren Merryfield]

Hi,
I don’t hate being blind because I was born blind and do not know any other way to be. It is normal for me to be blind.

When people ask me what it is like being blind, inside, I sometimes think “Oh no! Not that again. I don’t know how to answer that.” So they asked me; I tell them that the social side of blindness is what it is like to be blind, worse than actually not seeing. Sure, I’d like to have driven a car; read print books with my own eyes, and see people and watch them in the mall back when I took my daughter there to shop—Heaven forbid!

I usually tell them how I am seen as less intelligent and less capable than nonblind people, and the exclusion I experience is very sad. But, like Robert said, it is best to keep going on and live our lives.
Blessings,
Lauren Merryfield❤


"What a power is love! It is the most wonderful, the greatest of all living powers. Love gives life to the lifeless. Love lights a flame in the heart that is cold.Love brings hope to the hopeless and gladdens the hearts of the sorrowful. In the world of existence there is indeed no greater power than the power of love."
Abdu’l-Baha

From: NFB-Seniors-Discussion <nfb-seniors-discussion-bounces at nfbnet.org> On Behalf Of RobertLeslie Newman via NFB-Seniors-Discussion
Sent: Sunday, March 7, 2021 10:35 AM
To: NFB Seniors Division Discussion List <nfb-seniors-discussion at nfbnet.org>
Cc: robertleslienewman at gmail.com
Subject: [NFB-Seniors-Discussion] I hate being blind - Can or do you ever say this?

Hi Fellow Discussion List Members
It has been very quiet here of late, and so read my short paragraph below and share-

Most times, when I meet a new person and they ask me what is it like to be blind, I will say something like this:

Well… Let me start off with telling you that my story starts out with the fact that I was born with Twenty-twenty vision, and at age fifteen, I was in a car accident and lost all my sight; I cannot even see light. Now, I see just as good out of the back of my head, as I do the front. And what I have learned, is that being blind, not able to use my eyes to do things in life is not so difficult; that most everything can be done non-visually. And that I’ve also learned that the toughest and most frustrating part of being blind is how other people view you, and treat you; they can make it more disheartening and difficult to do what I know I can do. But hey, though I hate being blind, life is to big and beautiful to get hung up in the small things; like being blind.

Respectfully yours,
Robert Leslie Newman
Omaha, Nebraska

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