Blindness: The Broad Term

I know many people in life consider blindness a “all in one” disease. Basically this means that people constantly believe that anyone who is blind is only blind for some reason. Don’t get me wrong, anyone who is blind feels bonded to anyone else who has vision loss, but the way our world looks at it, blindness only has one facet.

In reality, blindness is split up into so many different factions that it is hard to keep track. Unfortunately, the harsh reality is that of the 235 million people who have been diagnosed with blindness, so many of them are fighting their own battle.

For example, I have Bilateral Optic Nerve Hypoplasia. This disease is much different then Retinitis Pigmentosa, although they both cause you to go blind or have lack of vision. So many people in this world think that all visual impairments can be categorized into one simple category: blindness.

I am here to tell you that even though you might have ONH, RP, RC, or broken nerve vessels, each visually impaired person is different in their own way and has their own style about them.

Personally speaking, I know that I am constantly asked “why my eyes don’t look weird?” First off, it has always confused me when someone refers to eyes looking “weird”. Being visually impaired, I have gotten to take part in numerous programs that are support systems for the visually impaired and therefore have had the chance to meet many different people with different visual impairments. Some peoples eyes are blurry, some have a lazy eye and some look totally normal. I have never classified any of these people as “weird”, instead I have thought of them as having something different.

I guess what I am trying to say here is that, no, there are so many factions that blindness can be characterized into. Although, then again anyone who is visually impaired is bonded by a common quality. Never assume that you know what someone’s problem is, just assume that they are doing what they can to live their life to the fullest.

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