So, what have we learned here?
Without sight, it’s scary just to walk around. What if I misjudge the distance to the steps or to the cabinet? What if I step on something sharp or cut off a finger instead of the carrot in my hand? Even if the danger increases since I can’t see, that’s really not the problem. The problem is the resulting paranoia.
Without sight, things take longer. It takes a while to get around (’cause I was kind of scared, like I said). It takes a while to find things. It takes a while to figure out how things work. I’m sure I could have gotten faster at some things if I’d continued without, but I think overall it’s probably good to plan more time as a blind person.
Without sight, it’s easy to misplace things. It’s not like I could just scan the room to see where I put stuff. Instead, I’d have to scan with my hands, which can work but, like I already mentioned, takes longer.
Without sight, my memory improved. As a result of the aforementioned point, my memory tended to compensate for itself, remembering, for instance, the number of steps in the staircase even without counting (more like feeling them). It also contributes to – what’s it called? – spacial awareness (kind of like hand/eye coordination, but, you know, without the eyes).
Also, I’m not sure if this happens when people lose their sight too, but it definitely happened to me when I blindfolded myself…
Without sight, I experienced panic attacks (for the first time). These weren’t super crazy, but I’ve never experienced anything quite like them. The first half hour wasn’t bad. After that, though, it’s like the stress of trying the experiment kept building and building and ended up forcing me, a couple times, to stop what I was doing completely. I had to stop and settle down. It’s freaky, especially since I don’t normally have anything like that happen.
Lastly, something I didn’t even experience (just imagined):
Without sight, the feeling of permanency. In the experiment, I knew when I would end (even though I didn’t actually have a clock or anything – just a timer). I knew I just had to make it through that time slot. I also knew that if something didn’t work, I could just leave it and do it later, when the blindfold came off.
Even after experimenting with this, though, it’s hard to imagine what someone must experience knowing they’re never going to see again. I feel for those who have to live with that. And I think it’s this last kind of lesson that keeps me coming back to experiment.
