Myth: Blind people are always depressed, sad and preoccupied in grief over their loss of sight. Truth: This may be the case for many, especially kids, at the beginning as they absorb the reality of not being able to drive or play football or be the top dog at Nintendo games. An adult going blind misses things like seeing faces he’s known much of his life and driving and showing his two-year-old daughter a picture book before bedtime.
Yet, as each person learns to cope at his or her own pace, the activities of making adaptations becomes part of the normal. Contrary to what some might think, planning paratransit schedules each week becomes part of the workaday routine. Using speech settings on an iPhone or Android becomes just part of the daily fabric instead of a mountainous chore. And sports? Playing goalball, beep baseball, or listening to an NBA game on the radio all become part of the livelihood of doing blindness.
Using speech on your laptop at work is becomes natural as you sign in, sign out, and navigate your company’s software. The JAWS screen reading voice becomes another companion as someone who’s blind learns to master the computer’s capabilities to do things he or she did before blindness set in.
So, in this latest podcast episode, we bust the myth that blind people by default are always depressed, sad and forever grieving their sightloss. And we address ways that you who are a sighted souse, brother or sister, fellow parishioner, teacher, or so forth can accompany someone who’s blind while navigating life’s contours.
Boldly Blind 