Silly Little Sighted Luxuries | Envision Blog
By Lyra Thompson • Oct 17, 2024
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The ability to see things with 20/20 vision is something often taken for granted. When people with perfect vision think about those who are visually impaired, there are a lot of things they don’t realize. There are the obvious things that come to mind - not being able to drive, not reading small print, not seeing things far away - but there are many small things we don’t get to experience. I like to call these things “silly little luxuries.” To a sighted person, they are normal, everyday experiences they probably do unconsciously. For myself and others like me, however, they are things we miss out on.
One example of this is seeing wild animals, such as going outside and seeing a bunny in your yard, going for a walk and spotting a squirrel scurrying by, or looking up to see birds flying or perched somewhere. There are many factors that contribute to this. The biggest one is my astigmatism. Animals are usually just too far away for me to notice them. Another big factor is my nystagmus, which is the involuntary, back-and-forth movement of my eyes. This makes it hard to focus on fast-moving objects such as an animal in motion.
My backyard often attracts deer, especially in the evening. Every time my parents tell me there are deer, it’s always a challenge to see them. If I can see them at all, they mostly appear as brown blobs in the distance. Similarly, it’s always a memorable experience when I’m able to get close enough to spot a bunny or a squirrel without it running away. It doesn’t happen often, so I savor it when it does. Another outdoor-related experience I miss out on is seeing a sky full of stars. That’s something I’ve never seen in my life. Occasionally, if it’s a very clear night in a rural area, I’ve been able to see a few stars very spread out, appearing as tiny dots. Most of the time, however, I look up at night and see only the moon. I would love to see the beauty of a sparkling sky, but I never have before.
When most people go on a road trip, one form of entertainment comes from looking out the window at all the sights passing by, or just admiring the beauty of nature. I don’t have that luxury. To me, looking out a car window is pretty boring. I don’t get much out of it. Not only is it harder to see scenery far away, but the car is also moving so fast that I wouldn’t be able to focus on much of anything. It’s such a simple thing, and I have plenty of other ways to entertain myself in a car, but it is something I sometimes wish I could do.
Also related to cars is the fact that I can’t see when someone is waving me on when crossing the street. If I’m about to cross a street and I see a car coming, I stop and wait for them to pass. More times than not, however, the car will slow down for me. I don’t want to assume they’re going to stop in case they don’t, but I also don’t want to just stand there. A sighted person would be able to see inside the car and know that the driver is telling them to go, but I can’t. It’s always an awkward moment that comes as a result of my visual impairment.
My vision also causes a few problems socially. I can’t recognize faces well because I can’t see beyond big picture features. That makes it difficult to remember people I’ve only seen once or twice before. I’ve had many moments where someone who knows me comes up and starts talking, but doesn’t introduce themself, so I don’t know who they are. I have to pretend like I know them even when I don’t recognize them. A helpful tip for talking to a blind or visually impaired person is to self-identify before you start speaking. Even once I know someone well enough to recognize them, it’s still hard to find them in certain situations. Sighted people can see their friend from far away or locate them in a crowd. I can’t do either of those. I need to be close to someone to see their face, and when there are a lot of people clustered together, it’s almost impossible to pick out one specific person. Another helpful tip is to say the name of your blind or visually impaired friend once you spot them and go to them, rather than expecting them to find you.
Another thing I’ve always wondered how sighted people can see is texture. I don’t mean differences and changes in texture - I can see that for the most part - I mean being able to look at something and know how it’s going to feel just by looking at it. Unless I’ve felt something before, I’m not going to have a very good idea of what it feels like. Sighted people, however, at least from my understanding, could look at something for the first time and know what kind of texture it has. I don’t get that.
This next one is made easier thanks to audio description, but there are two kinds of scenes in movies and TV shows I always find hard to follow: fast-paced action scenes and ones that are very dark. I love Marvel movies, but I would get lost during a lot of scenes if it wasn’t for audio description. When things are happening so fast, going back and forth between shots, it’s hard to keep up. This goes back to my nystagmus. It’s also because my visual processing takes longer in general. Movie and TV show scenes that are very dark are also hard to see. Sometimes, a scene is so dark that I can barely even see anything on screen. I ask my sighted friends and family, and they don’t seem to have trouble at all. This is partly due to poor contrast, with dark characters and objects in a dark setting.
Finally, everyone thinks of the fact that a visually impaired person can’t read print very well, but this results in us missing out on a kind of silly but realistic experience: the ability to read a book in a weird but comfortable position. If you’ve ever read while hanging upside-down off your couch or lying on the floor with your legs up against a wall, for example, you know what I mean. I can’t do that, at least with physical books. When I read a print book, I have to use a device to magnify it that moves across the page. I wouldn’t be able to use that without a surface to set it on, such as my lap or a desk. I’m an avid reader, but my vision limits my reading locations and positions.
All of these situations may seem trivial in the grand scheme of things, but it shows that blindness affects people in many more ways than people realize, even in small things. While every blind person’s experience is different, I’m sure blind or visually impaired readers can relate to at least a few of these situations. To the sighted readers, I hope it gives you a little more perspective and awareness of the little things that we may miss out on.
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