this is getting dangerously close to the field of my PHd research, but it's a question I thought would be interesting to have a talk about anyway.
What sort of terms do people prefer to describe general lack of eyeballness? Blind? visually impared?
I've noticed people tend to use the term "blind" only to refer to having no site and "visually impared" only to refer to having some. this makes a lot of grammatical and logical sense even if if isn't strictly officially the case (or at least it isn't in the Uk), where anyone with less than 20 20 vision, ---- whether that less is just slightly less or none at all counts as visually impared, sub catagories of which are either registered officially as partially sited or registered officially as blind, ---- though on an interesting point you actually count as registered blind if you have a less than 3 meter site range in optimal lighting conditions. This is why my brother, despite being able to read highly magnified print and indeed play graphical games is counted as registered blind.
i used to actually describe myself to people as registered blind, but found this caused too much difficulty in the "how much can you see" routine, so switched to using the term visually impared.
as for people as a hole, I'd usually use the term visually impared to as a catch all, and "totally blind" if I wanted to specifically talk about people without any site at all, ---- in matters of game access or my phd for instance.
I'm less keen on "blind people" sinse it's mildly imprecise, but I don't particularly mind it, ---- also "blind people" and even worse "the blind" tend to be use as catch all terms by people who think anyone without working optics belongs to another (and totally separate), species, ---- for instance the great person at a certain university who told me i should be doing computer science because "it's what blind people usually do"
I think the top spot for stupidist use of terminology goes to applying the adjective "blind" to objects associated with Vi access.
"Blind stick", "Blind typewriter" for brailler (very odd, as I can't remember the last time I saw a typewriter with fully functional site), "Blind chess board" , and my personal favourite just for it's utter insanity "A blind dog!"
this one always absolutely has me in fits! how is a blind dog supposed to help you get around places?
Obviously by sonar!
Our souls with high music ringing; O men! It must ever be
That we dwell in our dreaming and singing, A little apart from ye. (Arthur O'Shaughnessy 1873.)