Myths and Stereotypes About Blind People
This page contains 10 myths. There will be 5 to 10 myths per page.
Myth:
When you lose your sight, or when you're blind, all of your other senses are heightened.
Truth:
A common misperception is that when someone loses their sight, or for that matter any of their other senses, their other senses become more sensitive. This is not true. In actuality, when one is deprived of a sense, he or she will learn to use their remaining faculties more efficiently. In other words your other senses do not be come stronger; you just learn to obtain information through them that you would have obtained through the sense you lost. For example, with sight you could look at someone's face and know immediately that that person is smiling, where as if you were blind you'd have to listen to that person's voice inflection to be able to tell if they were smiling or not.
Myth:
Blind people often feel someone's face to tell what they look like.
Truth:
A large number of blind people actually prefer not to touch or feel another person's face to tell what that person looks like. There are two major reasons for this. The first is that, touching someone's face can be considered a very intimate or personal thing to do, and many blind people may feel uncomfortable with touching another person's face. As well, in order to get a good impression of what another person looks like through touch, one would have to feel that person's face for at least several minutes, and even then would only have a slightly better idea of what that person looks like. You would be able to tell some features, for example, the shape of someone's nose, but you'd only have a vague general idea of that person's appearance. Touching a face does not enable a blind person to pick up on things such as skin colour, eye colour, exact shape of the face etc. If you would like a blind person to know what you look like, the best suggestion is to just describe yourself to them.
Myth:
All blind people wear sunglasses.
Truth:
Most blind people do not actually wear sunglasses. A common misperception is that many visually impaired people wear sunglasses to keep their eyes, which may be deformed, hidden. In actuality, many who do wear sunglasses wear them because they have some light perception, and bright light, or the glare off an object can be kind of annoying, or distracting.
Myth:
All blind people are born blind.
Truth:
A common belief is that most or all blind people are born blind. In fact, the large majority of visual impairments occur later in life, particularly in an individual’s senior years.
Myth:
Blind people's eyes are deformed or strange looking.
or:
Blind people are born without eyes.
Truth:
A large number of blind people's eyes are actually "normal". A common myth is that blindness results from either a deformation of the eyes, or no eyes at all. In actuality, many disorders causing blindness can leave the eyes perfectly normal and healthy. Such disorders include things like bone diseases, optic nerve disorders etc.
Myth:
Most blind people are great musicians.
Truth:
Because of famous blind musicians such as Stevie Wonder, or Ray Charles, there is a stereotype that blind people are very talented when it comes to music. Studies have shown, percentage wise, blind people are as musically talented as sighted people.
Myth:
Blind people do not enjoy TV or movies.
Truth:
Blind people do in fact enjoy TV or movies as much as sighted people. The only difference is we cannot see what is happening on the screen so we have to determine that through various sound effects, and what the actors are saying. For example, if you hear a large crowd of people talking in the background, and the clinking of cutlery and plates, you can assume the characters on the screen are currently in a restaurant. Or, if one of the characters says something like, "I really like this new straw hat," you can assume that that particular person is wearing a straw hat.
Occasionally, a blind person will miss something that happens, and may need to ask a sighted person, but for the most part, a blind person can figure out 90 percent of what is happening on the screen.
Myth:
When you're blind, all you can see is blackness, or darkness.
Truth:
People who are completely blind do not actually see blackness, or darkness. They really see nothing at all. It’s rather hard to explain, unless you've actually experienced it yourself. The best way to put it would be, seeing blackness or darkness would be seeing something wouldn't it? So to be completely blind would mean that you can't even see that.
Myth:
Blind people count their footsteps to get around.
Truth:
Counting one's footsteps to get around any given environment can actually be a dangerous technique to navigating without sight. The main reason for this being that you can't assure each footstep you take will be the exact same length as the ones before and after it, and that you will start from the exact same spot when you start walking somewhere. The danger lies in the fact that some environments may have ledges, staircases etc. where even a sighted person if not careful could fall and get hurt, let alone a blind person counting their footsteps.
Instead, white canes, sighted guides, and guide dogs are the preferred ways of getting around. Also, a blind person can use the sense of touch to get around. Many people associate sense of feeling or touch as just being through the hands or fingers, but you can use your whole body to feel your way through an environment. The best example of this would be using one's feet to test the ground a head of you. If you are walking through a room with broken glass on the floor for example, you can feel a head with your foot, and if you feel glass underfoot before putting your foot down you can move it back, and feel for another, safer place to step.