Well, I'm not sure if the op was asking if you'd want your sight back if you previously had it during early childhood or something, or if you'd want it back even if you never had it. I never had sight, so I'm going to take it from that angle.
braille0109 wrote:this is never the life I wanted, and it never will be. requiring sighted for something stupid as using the BIOS in your computer, to either rely on family members or public transport...
I totally agree with this. I try not to feel miserable about it, and my ability to ward off the "Why me" attitude has drastically improved as I've gotten older, but still. There isn't a day that goes by when I do wish I wasn't dealt this hand. But I can't do anything about it now.
I once was told by my girlfriend's dad that because I was blind I'd always be at a disadvantage because of not being able to see, so I'd have to work 10 times harder to keep up with everyone else. At first I was inclined to agree with this, then I stopped and thought about it. Maybe during my depressive moments (which come more often than I like to admit), I would agree with that. But on the whole, it is just sad and discouraging to think that way. Sure I might not be happy about being blind, but I don't consider it as an uphill battle just to keep pace with sighted peers. I feel quite the opposite actually. I've given up doing those uphill battles. If I put a lot of effort into something, it's not because of my blindness, it's because I want to put the effort in. I don't use my blindness as a motivator to get things done or to prove that I can accomplish a challenge, and I think that's part of why I've been able to accept it more easily.
Even so, if you asked me if I'd want sight, I'd still jump on that. As a child I would not have hesitated or thought about it. And I'm pretty sure a fair number of sympathetic sighted people wouldn't hesitate or think much about it either, and would tell me to do it. But I know now it isn't that simple. Realistically I would never have a normal life even if I could see right now. At the age of 25 my brain is far outside that childhood plasticity where it can just learn complex things and make them second-nature. Sure I could probably find some ways to make use of sight if I had it now, but it would never be the same as someone who was born with sight. There are stories you can read about people who have gone blind for years and were able to get their sight back, and they say they really can't make much practical use of their vision because their brain still hasn't learned how to interpret visual input fluidly. Even so, I'd still be eager to try. I'd be more cautious than I would've been as a child, and I certainly would be more anxious about the whole thing, but I would love the chance of a lifetime. All that would have to happen is to either find some way to re-attach my retinas, or bypass the retina (I went blind from rop), and I heard at least a few years ago that research for such people was encouraging though it will probably be in its infancy for a while. I'd love to try documenting/journaling my experiences somehow if I could. I'd want to try to learn to read print, or maybe play some video games. Driving was never something I cared about and honestly I wouldn't trust myself with a car, but that's for the very distant future and I can't really process that at the moment. I think my biggest downfall would be my hope. Even now I'm getting myself wound up over the possibilities, and I don't take failure too well. Ah well, at least it's not something that I'll have to think about for a while.
People have told me that I shouldn't bother because the shock would be too great. That's a fair point, though I hope that I would find some way to prepare for it so that at least I could cope. I think just being aware of it would help me somewhat, though I can't really say. Right now that's not a major concern of mine. It's not like I'm expecting it to happen so I don't really need to contemplate it just yet.
Some people have told me that I should be proud of being blind instead of resenting it because it makes me different and I shouldn't want to take that special thing away. A couple people take their differences to extremes and try to convince the rest of the world to treat them a certain way because their blindness means or doesn't mean something. I understand the angles they are coming from, or at least I try to. I really do. But I still can't find a reason to be happy about being blind or to fight for societal reform.
Humans are humans, and our reaction to disability is, I believe, just part of our nature. Even though it's changed over the years, forcing change often leaves a bad taste in the mouth. The best we can do is to make things more accessible to those with disabilities, and to educate each other. All I ask from someone is to give me an honest chance when they meet me and try to be open-minded. I don't ask to be thought of a certain way, or for people to assume or not assume certain things about me. With all the stupid stereotypes out there, I don't take it personally when people ask me stupid questions, so long as they are willing to hear what I have to say. Of course if someone pulls me out into the street assuming that I am trying to cross, that is a different matter entirely, but even so, there's a common courtesy that we listen to each other, and it's something we all should be doing, whether a disabled person is involved or not. I don't buy into a lot of disability advocate groups for this reason, because they seem to try to confine your way of thinking to one way instead of encouraging the thought that disabled people, or people with any label, are just as different as people without a label.
As you can probably tell I feel very strongly about this. But it's still just my opinion. Opposing ones certainly exist, and there's no right one. If there was, we would all surely be subscribing to it by now. I try to understand the opposing opinions, because they've helped make me more cautious and informed than I once was, and that's not a bad thing at all.
enes wrote:light perception would lift the curse of non-24, that is inflicted, when you happen to be unfortunat enough to be totally blind, which btw, is also one facet of blindness.
I have to disagree. While many people who are completely blind have non 24, I have it too and I have light perception. It's gotten worse as my light perception has dimmed, but I still have enough light perception to clearly see when it's daylight, and I can sleep through the daylight hours just fine when my sleep schedule is out of whack. I can even stick to a 24-hour nocturnal schedule for a while and try as I might, I can't fix it. I'm not trying to argue since I am not an expert by any means, but I don't think sight is the magic cure for non 24 in all cases. I think the biology of it is often overlooked/not well understood.
Make more of less, that way you won't make less of more!
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