@23 I do see your point.
I lost the sight when I was 3 years old.
I know that  making the things withouth sighted help, driving a car, etc would be cool.
But I can't stand the fact that all the things that I built in my life with so much effort, will vanish once I take the sight back.
I think it doesn't matter if you're blind or not, if you want an house, work hard and go get one. If you want to learn how to cook go learn it, you'll need to fix some issues because you're blind, but at the end when you'll manage to cook what you want  you'll be satisfied.
Only because I'm blind it doesn't mean that I can't do what sighted people do.
Again I can appear stupid, but I really thought on this for a long time, and I was curious to know what people were thinking.
I have blind friends who actually work and have their home and who actually is able to cook.
This proves that even if you're blind you can still do things if you work hard on it.
I'm not saying that getting the sight back is not good, but I don't think that I would drop away all  the things I built in my life like that.

first things first, thanks all for a very interesting, perhaps the one of the most interesting topics we've had in a long while. posts 8 and 10, well written. crashmaster, think post 22, I'll be straight up honest, your post made me somewhat emotional. you have thought so much about it, and you've explained it well, most of which that I could relate to... once again, thanks for a great read. now on to a couple of things. first, if anyone thinks that having light perception allows you to do more, that's partially true. sure, you see the sun. sure, you see things. but it won't make you any more or less independent. as for sleeping difficulties, as I say, I have full light perception, and I can't, no matter how hard I try, sleep during the day. I've no ideas what it is related to, but it is what it is. post 28, there's a difference between being able to do things, and no sight stopping you. sure, maintaining a house is possible. sure, cooking is possible. sure, raising kids is possible. going into a shop without an assistant, somewhere where you haven't been before, and you're all alone... going to a country where the traffic works differently... so say you came from, I don't know, will say France to the UK. over here, we have left hand side drive. over there, we have right hand side. or is it the other way round? either ways, the fact is, crossing a British road, at first, may seem taunting. maybe it is. honestly, my mobility skills are horrible, and I'll get to that in a bit. so while things can be done, there are some things that you will just never be able to do. someone also raised the inability to use braille or speech. just because we gain sight, there's nothing to say that we can no longer use braille and speech.  as for things like RNIB, humanWare, etc, etc, total rip off. glad I'm not the only one, who feels like these companies are pushing you their one and only method. the sad thing is, I even know some blind people, who think that their method is the one and only. and you know what? it's sad, it's sad that they claim that you're this, you're that, yet they're the ones who are close minded. there's something else that hasn't really been mentioned, and so I want to raise it here. mobility. while I don't really want to go into my private life, long story short, I have not, till the age of 10, even seen, let alone using a cane. at the age of 10, when moving over to the UK, I was more or less forced to use it. that discouraged me so badly, I have not, for 2 years, again, used a cane. the fact that my mobility instructor was crappy didn't help the fact at all. she took me in the shop at the age of 16, gave me a carrot, and asked me what it was. no one, unless they went through it as well, will ever understand, how embarrassing that was. giving me a carrot, at the age of 16. long story short, I have lost my self confidence  that I once had. I lost hope of proper mobility, partially due to that instructor. here I am, at the age of 18, with more or less non-existent mobility skills. and no one, ever understood how I felt about it. the older I am, the worse this will be. with that said, I am fully independent as far as looking after  myself goes, as long as it doesn't involve busy streets. and honestly, I don't expect anyone to understand me. and no, it's not as easy as you just gotta move on and deal with it. unless someone has experiences with horrible mobility instructors, they will see it differently. once again, thanks for some interesting stories.

@30, yeah, you have valid points.
But still personally, by my own I don't think I would jump back in to sight.
When I was 3 years old, I was been told that I couldn't never play football, because I am blind. Yet, I play in a blind football team, I've made the european championships and I'm considered one of the best players in my country.
It depends in what people past in their lifes that makes you say if you would take the sight or not.
I obviously think that if I could see I could do pretty good things.
But who says that If I can see my life would be better than it is now?
I've never had contact with those blind companies, or I've never made a blind school.
I always grew up with sighted people around me.
I found verry nice persons, like I found really ass holes.
But still, I wouldn't drop away what I have now for the sight. Not after the effort and the sofference I put in to it.

oh yes, goalball. I was the one with the least amount of sight in the team, MM. then they realised I couldn't throw straight. then I realised I wasn't a sporty guy, so I quit that thing. as for braille, personally, I still use it, especially for input. I still have braille specific devices, in fact, I completed secondary school, and college, least my first year, with a braillenote apex. and fuck it, I was happy. I crashed their visual displays, connected the apex to my phone, and there we were, bypassed all school restrictions, no one knowing any shit about me doing it. as for 32, I've always been around sighted as well. I know no blind that are near by, have no direct connection with them. but I could never fit the sighted. no clues if I really fit the blind, but honestly, I don't think so. as for adapting, I haven't adapted to be blind. I would have to adapt to sight, and I would do it. I really would. while I'm not depressed for having no sight, this is never what I was after. oh, and shall I mention if not for my specific LSA/VI worker who I had at the time, I probs wouldn't have past college or secondary? my secondary didn't want to give me both a reader and a writer for math, knowing that the UEB braille transition and learning contracted caused me to not fully know the math code, and knowing that we quit using braillers back in year 9. if not for the VI I had, I would have most likely never past. she was the same one who warned my college that the course is not accessible, so I either need to switch courses, or they need to be flexible. while I tried explaining how much they've done, I don't think it quite hit them. even up to this day, I have a few direct VI connections, and I still help out around my county. as for your mobility instructor,, post 31, feel free to PM me, and we can speak about our areas privately. or you can just add me on skype, with this same user ID.

@JaceK, yours sounds like a genuinely dangerous incident, mine was just a dickhead kid acting tough and failing. It was like being mawled by a kitten.
The only really threatening thing that has happened to me so far didn't actually involve any threat at all, it was just disturbing. I was walking down a footpath late at night and I heard someone ahead of me, so I slowed down to let them pass so I wouldn't hit them with my cane, but they stopped. When I started walking again, they started walking along side me. I stopped and they stopped. I said what do you want, and he said nothing, just stood there right in front of me. I could feel his presence he was that close. I reached out with my cane and touched him to make sure there was definitely someone there and I wasn't going mad. I asked him what he was doing, and he still said nothing. I thought I'm not moving til you make your intentions known, so we both just stood there for a moment. Then he walked around back of me and I spun around thinking you're not going behind me. He walked to the other side of the path and stopped again. I waited a moment longer, then set off. I think he started walking along behind me, but I'm not sure. I didn't feel threatened while all this was happening, but once I started walking again, I couldn't wait to get off the footpath and back to the proper streets. This strange experience did affect my state of mind for a while when walking home at night. I had to force myself to use that footpath after dark even though my family told me not to. I just didn't want him to have that power over me, but that little wordless incident was more threatening than the boy with the crowbar.

@flackers and post 36,
If it'd been me in your shoes, I'd probably have launched an all out asault once the guy started trying to walk behind me for a myriad of reasons, not least of which is the fact that, blind or not, I'd never let anyone come up behind me after deliberately ignoring me face to face.  Woooo, I'm glad I've not been in your situation though!

Ever been to an American high school? Like that, but worse, yeah.
Public school, I should say. Private school grads seem confused and perplexed when HS is casually referred to as prison disguised as daycare disguised as education.

That monster study was pretty disgraceful. The fact they chose orphans means they knew they were going to damage those kids, so best there'd be no parents to make a fuss. It reminded me of the Oliver Sacks book The Man who Mistook his Wife for a Hat. I remember being a bit outraged at the way he treated some of his patients like they were objects that were there for him to do what he wanted with. They hadn't gone to him for treatment, he'd acquired them like specimens. For instance, there was a pair of idiot savant twins who were brilliant at mathematics, but couldn't look after themselves. Because they played math games with each other all day, he decided to split them up to see if they improved in terms of normal functionality. What gave him the right to prevent two twins from seeing each other against their will. Because they couldn't defend themselves, and there was no one to complain on their behalf, he acted like they were his property. There was another guy who he took from a care home or something to basically experiment on, again because he had no family to fight his corner. And yet the man who inspired the book's title, because he was of a certain class, and had a wife and family, was allowed to carry on being the way he was, unfucked with by Oliver Sacks. And ironically he was the one who did seek out treatment.

hi,
Kae, you also seem to  be socializing blindness,  telling me that it is because of crappy people or teachers. Well for one thing, which I really hate about blindness, it forces you to interact more with people,  and draws attention. Sometimes, I just want to turn invisible and not interact with people on this level. So to be clear, the problems I face, are! related to blindness, and not to something in society.
Also, paul, you stated that it would be too much efort to throw away everyhting and relearn. However, keep in mind that for everything worthwhile in life, you need to work hard, and put alot of efrot.  Why should this be any different?
And braille, not being to sleep in the day is a true blessing. It clearly shows you don't have non-24. When you have non-24, your body clock runs freely, and you have an ever moving sleep schedule.

@44,
Yes you're right, for making things in life you'll always need hard work.
But then, why should you drop away all your hard work that you've done in the past?
Who says that once you'll be sighted you'll actually fill better?

Mmm, interesting topic indeed.

For me, 50% yes, and 50% no. Because when you get your sight back, learning things from scratch is difficult and it's a waste of time, too. specially when you become n adult like myself, learning from school almost graduated, and almost get a work, and suddenly, someone comes up to me and say, "Hey, there is something bla bla bla that can get your sight back." I would do it, but just give me 30 - 40% eyesight is enough for my needs.

Sorry for my English.