I myself am legally blind, I cannot speak for someone who is completely blind, I am legally blind, color blind, have astigmatism and I am sensitive to sunlight......my visions is 20/200 if anyone knows what that means, my computer screen has to be within 10 inches of my face or I cannot see the text on this site, I can see much better with a lcd monter than a crt, I can't drive, etc....when I am too far away to see things like a normal person would, they become very blurry, when I go out and I have to cross the street, I can only see big blurry objects coming my way, I can't tell what color they are, I can't tell if it's a honda or a mercedes, depth perception is the only thing that is helping me when crossing the street, without that, then I'd have to have some sort of assistance.
there are different kinds of color blindness, there is monochrome, where you can see no color at all and then there is my kind where I cannot tell the difference between certain colors if they are simular in hue or shade, for example if I were to put a pale shade of purple or lavander next to grey, then I will not be able to tell the difference, or some shades of green and blue, or some shades of red and brown, colors usually have to be very bright and distinct in order for me to tell what they are., there are other types of color blindness as well.
because I am so sensitive to sunlight, I either have to a. wear sunglasses when I go out even if it is a cloudy day, or b. squint and blink like crazy in order to see anything, even with sunglasses I have to blink and squint often depending on how bright it is out, if I do not do this, all I can see is whiteout and it hurts my eyes.
astigmatism is when your eyes cannot focus properly, so that only means that I may have to stare at something for a while before I can see it and tell what it is.
It's not easy living your life like this, people look at me funny because my eyes always make me look like I am stoned out of my mind or glazed, they also look at me funny because I have to squint and blink allot in order to see, not only that I get disability, and I am actually one of the lucky ones because I collect partially from my father who was also disabled and I get more in my check than most people do when they start out, now you may be thinking, you get free money and you don't even work?, wish I could do that.....no you don't, because what I get a month, is barely enough to live off of, your average american makes at least 2 grand a month before taxes, the average gross income is at least 30 grand a year, wanna know how much I make a year?...$9,642, and most people on disability make less than that a year....what ticks me off is, there are people getting disability that don't deserve it, and the people that do want nothing more than to be able to live like a normal person does, I'd work my butt off to make at least 30 grand a year, but I can't because no one will hire me because I am prone to either injure myself, injure someone else, or screw something up...which is true, not oly that, once you start working, and make too much money, they cut you off...and then your only stuck with that lousy part time job at mcdonalds or walmart, until you get fired or laid off, then what are you going to do?.....so you see, getting a government check is not all what it is cracked up to be-oh did I mention you cannot get married while your on disability too?.....sorry for my ranting..