@Jayde, 24, glad you have a grasp on this one.  Seems like you and I are more or less on the same wavelength again.  Honestly, I feel all of this stems from sighted people being afraid of the dark; many say they would raterh be dead than to be blind.  That has more or less made blindness an unspeakable horror.  Would I wish it on anybody?  No, not even my worst enemy.  Is it manageable?  I shouldn't even have to answer that one, but sighted people don't look at it from our perspective because they, like us, struggle to imagine it.  It'd be like asking what does the color orange weigh, or what is the musical note of pizza, or where do you store time?  There are times when I seriously feel sighted people take their sight for granted and that can sometimes upset me and make me wish I had it if only for that moment.  Then again, I suppose sometimes I feel the same way about people who cannot hear as sighted people feel about me... I ask myself how it must be to not be able to enjoy audio and music the way I currently do and I honestly don't have an answer, so I guess in that sense I can see where they're coming from.  Obviously, deafness is also manageable, so I do my best to remember the balance and not lump deaf people into a category like that but look at them as individuals as well.  Some do better than others, some worse.  Some are content to stay where they are while others strive to thrive under the worst of times.  It's all about the individual, not the whole collective.

Of course I would, simply because it was taken from me in such a dramatic fashion that I was 70% dead and the rest alive. I was so little, just one-and-a-half years old. I was innocent; couldn’t speak, couldn’t hate, couldn’t understand anything, didn’t know what civil conflict was, and in the end was met with a bullet that almost took my life and destroyed my face, and set my eyes in a state that need to be completely replaced to restore vision. The whole event took place in 1997 when my family was shot and injured by two random people who wanted to kill a third. My family has never done anything wrong. We were always calm, friendly and well-respected. I hope something positive can make up for what happened that day in 1997.
I have no problem whatsoever with blindness. I was almost born with it. I grew with it, I lived with it. What sticks in my mind is, that sense, which is the most important of all based on the level of information we can receive through it, was mine. I was not born with a disease or disorder that would eventually lead to my blindness. Of course I don’t live with that thought in my mind, but every time this topic we’re discussing comes up, there it is. Despite of all the advancements made in all forms of technology that have of course enabled us to receive information that 50 years ago was even unthinkable; despite all the legislative changes that have brought us social services and benefits; despite the increased awareness and open-mindedness that people have today, blindness still terribly sucks. There are many daily scenarios that I hate like hell. For instance, if there’s a girl and there’s me and another guy together, where the other guy is a little richer and so he has a car, designer –labeled clothes/wearables and more, he will immediately win that girl over me, even if I am nicer, more educated, funnier, more friendly. That’s because blindness comes in. That guy might not have done even the least engaging effort to get what he has, and me having spent so much energy and effort to get educated and integrated, having experienced stress, boredom, fatigue, discrimination all the way through, is nowhere close to him in the social hierarchy. The other thing, I want vision because I miss some information that is important in the social interaction I have with other people. For example, I can’t know how a person sees me while I am talking, while on the train, while walking. I don’t know what impression of me they have. Of course, if I were sighted I would be able to get more information  while interacting with others. Another thing, I miss some activities that sighted people take for granted. For instance, it is my dream to independently drive a car. Although I’ve tried the experience more than once with help from my brother or my father, nothing comes close to the real experience. Another thing that came to my mind, if I were sighted, I would be able to appreciate more some things. For instance, I would be able to appreciate and enjoy how my dog looks, or , how he reacts when I play with him, and so on. There are so many more things I’d like to say, but I’m afraid I’ll create the wrong impression and many would think I despise blindness, disability, and stuff like this.

I want to see because my dream is to drive.

@29 well said!

Sure, society tends to put a huge negative spin on blindness and disability in general, but here's how I see it.
We  have a choice on how we look at our situation. Sure we can sit at home and feel sorry for ourselves (I have actually met, or heard about, a number of blind people with that mentality,) or we can choose to accept our situation and make the best of it. That is what I have done, and I can honestly say that I am happy with my life.  as it is.
As I said in my previous post, I believe that this, me being blind, is all part of the Lord's plan for my life, and I know that all things happen for a reason.
So, we can wish for what we don't have, or we can rejoice in what we do have. But the fact remains, we, have, a, choice. No one is forcing you to feel the way you do about your situation, what ever it may be, the choice is yours. Every day you can choose to be happy about a situation, just as you can make the choice to be angry, or sad, or frustrated about another situation. I believe if we change our attitudes, then our entire mind set will change. I have seen it time and time again.
But again, that is just my opinion. Feel free to disagree with me by all means.

@27: it's not just sighted, for example, it's weird to me as well. Although I kind of can understand it, most of people saying, that they don't want sight or don't want sight after some age seem to be born blind, so it's understandable, that they don't know, what they're missing.
Like Dark said in his post, theory is one thing, and practice another. Once one experienced it, I would be very surprised if that person wouldn't do anything to take his / her sight back, in any age, in any situation.
Like we would with the audio, as you're mentioning, with only exception, that sight is much richer sense than hearing. I don't want to say now, that hearing is useles or has low use, our ears may be receiving less informations than our sight, but what they receive can be much more emotionally influencing, like music for example.
Thus choosing between sight and hearing if one could have just one of them definitely wouldn't be a no-brainer.
But still, sight is far more powerful, when it comes to its usage.

One guy from our community, born blind, has also introduced an interesting argument, what would happen, if he got sight and he would find out, that he doesn't like his girlfriend (now wife), in terms of appearance. That's a quite interesting question.
In his situation, I would take it anyway, but I understand, that if one doesn't know, what he / she is taking, it's much harder to evaluate its price.
And may be even if they knew it, they wouldn't take it, for any personal reasons or views.

@29: the problem is, that he doesn't even need a car or labelled clothes. He may be just a normal guy like you, and with any normal girl, he would easily win her over you. I totally understand the girl and am not criticising her decision, it's only natural that people prefer better choices over worse, it's good like this and there's nothing wrong with it.
Just, why to the heck must I be the worse option???
That's not fair. But this whole world is not fair, so I guess that's rather normal. There are people in much worse state than us, with cancer for example, who not just can't attract a girl, but don't even have friends nor skills, because they're dying in hospital. Young people, even small kids, like 6 years old suffer from leukemia, and other similarly disgusting things. Is that fair? No, it's not. Children are innocent, they didn't do anything to anyone, yet those unlucky little persons are imprisoned in hospitals, with all hairs gone after some time, constantly pumped with cures, not even getting what's happening to them.

@30: if one is intelligent enough, he / she doesn't need others to tell anything about him / her to know the situation. For example, I hate football. I simply don't like the game, I was never good in it and I wouldn't play it, even if you paied me.
If for some reasons I was forced to play football, I would know, that I'm really bad in it, I wouldn't need anyone to tell me.
And it's the same with blindness, with the only difference, that the game here is not football, but actually living.
And because for most people living is their primary activity, usually lasting their whole lifetime, being bad in it, because of strong limitations, is kind of unlucky.
Like a blind football player knows, that he'll never catch to a sighted football player, a blind person knows, that what he can do will never be equal to what sighted person can.
It's logical, you don't need anyone to tell you.

@32: as for the girlfriend thing, that is very likely the case.

Best regards

Rastislav

I was avoiding saying it directly, but since it keeps coming up: I prefer not being able to look at attractive people. I'm not sure what would happen if I gained the ability to look at people in that way, but it seems likely to be bad. Also, I have always been disinterested in pornography, and can count the instances I've found pornographic audio on one hand (I was not impressed in any case). Would being able to see it change anything in that regard? I'd hope not, but I'd rather not stress-test it.
That said, on the off chance I do wind up in the sort of situation where prolonged eye-contact would be really nice, not having that opportunity (and by extention denying it to the other person) would indeed be a downside of blindness. On the other hand, my vision never was sufficient for strong eye-contact, so I wonder how even simple, not-the-least-bit-romance-related eye-contact would effect me? It's hard to imagine because I only ever had one working eye, so even trying to imagine better detail and focus than I ever had isn't quite enough to get the idea.
Now, if this were a package deal with everything else being fixed, I'd assume that would also mitigate those concerns somewhat (and outweigh what's left, I'd hope). Which is to say, that the only way "give me sight" makes my 3 wishes to a 3-wish genie is as a subcomponent of "fix everything, or failing that, fix me". And genies tend to be picky and avoid such vaguities (or worse, come up with the least convenient interpretation of the words), and in that case I'd have to narrow it down to the point that vision would get left out. Though I can imagine some way in which ... OK, if I keep thinking about specific wording of genie wishes, we'll be here all day.

(Everything else including my house. Why am I choking on the neighbors' apparently out-of-control barbecue after 9:00PM? >.< Would being able to see mean I would have fixed this by now? It's quite unhealthy. Not to mention all the books and tapes I need to not be destroyed.)

Let me start this post by saying that In my spare time, I read a lot of content from futurist sites and blogs. Optimism is a sort of universal constant among most of the people involved. They all think that while humanity is going to face strong tryals before this century ends, ultimately they will pull through, paired with a great leap in technological capability. This would include the curing of diseases using a mix of gene therapy, implants, and nannobot swarms that can repair damage in the body directly. This is why, if in 2040-2050 a doctor would say "I can cure Leber congenital amaurosis with a safe and generally successful treatment", I could see myself taking it. Because if the predictions made for the remainder of the century are true, all this advancement may lead to a radical extension of lifespan for humans. Based on this, I may actually live a longer life sighted than the 40-50 years where I was blind. On top of that, there is the very real possibility that high unemployment and good eficiency with AI and robotics will make many governments offer a universal basic income  (ubi). So not only would I receive sight, but I'd also be able to learn everything I couldn't learn before without having to worry about being debilitated from my sudden information influx, to the point of not being able to work until my brain had replasticized (is that even a word) So it could deal with the new sense.
I do have concerns about neuroplasticity though. I'm not a medical doctor, but to me it sounds like this is an area of neuroscience we still know very little about. How much retraining and/or psychological therapy I might need post-op would depend largely on much my brain would need to readapt. But of course, I'd be about 50 years old by then. Can a 50 year old brain even restructure itself at such a basic level? if it can't, could nannobots, in theory, be used to fabricate what is needed, or could a neural implant simulate the required connections of neurons? Maybe there is some headway nature could make on its own, since I have light perception. What's missing really is color, shape, and depth. But given the amount of progress humanity could make if it doesn't destroy itself, I would take the opportunity if given it. I want to just spontaneously say "It's friday night, I want to go out." Without having to organise guides, meeting places and so on (which is becoming harder and harder these days anyway because no one can stick to a schedule anymore). If I'm ever in a crowded bar or concert, I want to keep track of my friends without having to shout for them, just by keeping eye contact and using body language to communicate in areas too loud for speech. If a girl is giving me the eye from across the room, I want to have the ability to go over and talk without the white cane or the inability to look into her eyes as a turnoff. And you know what? When I'm on stage, I want to see what the crowd is doing and how to dance and move to what I'm singing, and know how it's being received.
The one big problem is, the doctors in America who research Leber's are fixated on finding a gene therapy treatment. This treatment would be most effective for children, but from what I know with my limited understanding of genetics, probably wouldn't do too much for adults. At least I would know that if they ever perfect such a treatment, no one could be born and would have to carry Leber's from that point onwards.

Some of you have great and in-depth responses.
Sadly, my desire to get vision is very one-sided. I would give anything to be sighted!
I'd like to point out that I consider myself to be a successful person. I have a job, I have a partner, I have money... Things people see as being successful, I have them. And I managed to do it all being completely blind.
That being said, I know there is something missing in my life. Perhaps I have mild depression. Perhaps I'm bitter. Quick side note, I was born with vision. Unfortunately, I caught an immune-deficiency that made me need medication and ultimately damaged my optic nerve. The point is, I had vision at some point, and I recognize I am very bitter toward the whole thing.
My partner is very understanding, and she tells me that I still haven't come to complete terms with my blindness, despite having lived with it for almost my entire life. And I agree.
It's just so tempting to want to be able to drive, to do things without difficulty or fear of being judged or stared at solely because of my blindness, or even to visit unfamiliar areas without getting lost or asking too many people for directions.
Sometimes, I think, wouldn't it be great to hop in a car, pay a quick visit to a local fast-food restaurant, and grab a quick refreshment or two, without dependence on transit systems or drivers?
And sadly, I have hesitantly accepted my fate, knowing very well that the opportunity for me to get vision is non-existent. I've also come to terms with the fact I may never be satisfied with my lack of vision. I just try to live with it day by day.
As you can see, I'm very happy. lol No but in all seriousness, I am happy all things considered. It's just that my blindness, and my feelings toward it, have always been a weak point. But this topic is a good discussion.

If it is safe, I probably would choose to recover my vision, though I personally expect to be quite old if it ever gets real, at least in my sixties or even seventies, so by then I may judge it is not worth it. It would be hard to be accustomed to it, I mean, waking up and suddenly facing all those informations at once which you can't quite make sense of would probably feel like hell. It would take a lot of efforts to make it usable, but I hardly see myself giving it up because of that.
I was born with retinoblastoma and don't have any memory of sight, so for me also it's about being curious.

Logically, it is a defect within us, so it should be scrubbed from the earth IMO. Perhaps it shouldn't be given the same priority as something like Cancer, but the end goal should be to get rid of it. Even if you wouldn't do it, babies born with it should get it cured, etc.

I don't know if it would really be that much of sencery overload. May be a person with hearing impairment who later gained ability to hear can shed some light on this topic.
Either way, I am not that worried as I already have a good idea about what I will be able to see and how much I am currently missing. It may be that my brain has developed some sort of way to deal with the deficiencies in my eyes, so, the only challenge would be to deal with those workarounds that my brainne has been using for so long.