Now You See Me, Now You Don’t

Many of us fantasize about being in the streets of SoHo shopping for our favorite branded clothes. You may walk into Lululemon and search for that trendy hoodie you’ve seen on TikTok. But what if you weren’t able to fully see those shorts you wanted to buy or envision the tiny details in a woven pattern? What if you weren’t even able to picture things properly?

Blindness simply means a lack of vision. Approximately 43 million people live with active blindness while 295 million suffer from vision impairment. Blindness varies from person to person; many people tend to have a sense of vision that weakens over time. Some may have trouble differentiating between certain colors or shades, seeing up close, from afar, or have reduced peripheral vision. Cloudy eyesight is a common effect of blindness. 

There are three main types of blindness: partial blindness, complete blindness, and congenital blindness. Partial blindness refers to when an individual retains a certain amount of vision, but is still deemed blind. The difference between being legally blind and totally blind is that with legal blindness, you can see to a certain extent with glasses or enhancements whereas when you are completely blind, you cannot see at all. In some cases, people with blindness are able to see light while others can make out silhouettes of figures and shapes. On the other hand, congenital blindness includes genetic conditions where an individual is born with weaker eyesight. 

Many individuals suffer from complete blindness. The International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness Vision Atlas states that around 77 percent of active blindness cases are avoidable by some means. But, if you’re completely blind, then what exactly is the “nothing” that you see? A common myth is that blind people see pitch black or “nothing.” However, people who have been blind since birth have never seen the color black and cannot define it, which is a byproduct of their condition. 

In an article about Dan, a legally blind traveler, he explains his experience to an interviewer: “At first, I was incredibly light-sensitive. It wasn’t until much later that I was able to regain some, mostly blurry, vision,” indicating that vision is not always accessible again. He later talks about navigation as a legally blind person, stating that it’s sometimes difficult for him to read the board on train stations. Nonetheless, he has adjusted to his blindness and is not tremendously affected by it in his day-to-day life.

So what exactly causes blindness? Age is often viewed as the main issue; glaucomas are a set of age-related eye diseases that directly disrupt the optic nerve. In contrast, a cataract—a cloudy area in the eye that leads to blurry vision—is also a leading factor, often found on the iris or center of the eye instead. These cataracts are usually the result of aging or an eye tissue injury. This slowly breaks down the proteins and fibers in the eye, which can cause blurry vision. Many people with cataracts experience trouble reading and sensitivity to the sun or any form of light.

There is no cure for blindness, but there are several treatment options and preventative measures that can maintain quality of life for vulnerable populations. Using protective eyewear can limit the amount of damage done to your eyes. A certain gene therapy treatment developed at the University of Florida aided vision repair—patients saw their surroundings more clearly and had improved light sensitivity. If infection is the cause of blindness, in many cases, anti-infective drugs may aid in vision repairment. In the case of cataracts, surgery is a popular method to remove them and restore partial vision. 

With the modernization technology comes treatments for what was once assumed to be permanent blindness. Gene therapy and medication have the potential to solve vision impairment. While blindness affects all individuals at different trajectories in their lives, people continue to adapt and thrive. By raising awareness about blindness, we can consider different perspectives and discover new solutions in order to effectively tackle this issue.