Countering Five Common Myths About Blindness
Vision is probably the one physical sense that people depend the most on. Most of us can't imagine what life would be like without sight -- and this uncertainty has given rise to a variety of myths about blindness.
As with almost any subject you could name, an overabundance of myths about blindness obscures the reality of the condition. While it's true that some of these myths were reality not so long ago -- at least until overcome by advancing technology -- some were never true in the first place.
In this article, we'll run through a few of each, and share the truth (at least as it currently exists). We'll start with the more common myths, and work our way toward the ones that come closest to the truth.
Myth 1: When you're blind, your other senses become hyper-developed.
Sadly, life works this way only in fiction. As much as it would be nice to think that blindness was compensated by a more acute sense of smell or an ability to hear people talking a mile away, this idea's just one of the more persistent myths about blindness.
Not only do blind people not get a special sixth sense to help them along, they often have poorer hearing or touch than sighted people. This is especially the case as they grow older, just as it is with anyone else. It's a nice idea, but nature doesn't typically compensate a loss with something else.
Myth 2: Blind people can see nothing at all.
Actually, only about 18-20 percent of the legally blind are so profoundly sightless that everything is black to them; most can at least tell whether it's light or dark out. This myth about blindness is understandable, though, as we tend to equate the concept with a complete inability to see.
Myth 3: All blind people read Braille.
The ability to read Braille (the raised dot-pattern script invented by Frenchman Louis Braille in 1821) isn't innate. It must be taught, and it's not an easy language to learn. To become fluent requires an excellent sense of touch, which some blind people lack (see Myth #1 above).
The fact is, this is another widespread myth about blindness. Even among those who do learn Braille, only a small percentage are fluent; most legally-blind people who use Braille employ it only in a limited way, depending instead on large print or recordings. Some blind people use Moon, a simpler language of curves.
Myth 4: Most blind people use guide dogs.
This isn't true, for several reasons. First off, guide dogs for the blind are actually rather hard to come by. While they're a wonderful way to achieve more independence and tend to be more affable than other guide animals (can you imagine a guide cat?) they're expensive and take a long time to train.
This myth about blindness is compounded by the fact that learning to use a trained guide dog takes an enormous amount of effort on the part of the person being guided. Some people aren't willing to undergo this, and others refuse to surrender their fate to an animal. Plus, some people just don't like dogs.
Myth 5: Blind people can't make it on their own.
Modern blind people would be surprised to learn this, actually. Many blind people choose not to live alone, but they can learn to function by themselves in society. First of all, even in a society that's not nearly as mechanized as ours, there are ways for blind people to accomplish just about any task a sighted person can.
That includes everything from feeding and clothing themselves to doing most jobs. Don't allow these myths about blindness blind you to the accomplishments of the visually impaired.
