FAQs
The answer might surprise you! Most people associate blindness or visual impairment with total darkness. In truth, some 85 percent of people who are legally blind do have some remaining vision and perceive light.
Can a completely blind person see light? ›
This means they have no light perception and cannot see anything. However, some still report being able to tell whether a room is light or dark, even though they cannot physically see it. Others report sometimes seeing flashes of light, too. So, it is a misconception that all people with total blindness only see black.
Are blind people sensitive to light? ›
People with sight loss commonly experience photophobia, also known as light sensitivity. Sunglasses can help people with photophobia protect the eyes from bright lights that may cause discomfort or further vision loss.
Can blind people see flashes of light? ›
Went Totally Blind: People who have lost their sight have different experiences. Some describe seeing complete darkness, like being in a cave. Some people see sparks or experience vivid visual hallucinations that may take the form of recognizable shapes, random shapes, and colors, or flashes of light.
Can blind people still hear? ›
People with absent or impaired vision use acoustic impressions much more, which is why their sense of hearing is better trained - blind people hear better. They perceive sounds and especially changes better, for example traffic noise under a bridge or near a wall of a house.
Can blind people still imagine things? ›
Empirical studies on congenitally blind people have frequently reported that mental imagery does not depend on visual perception. More generally speaking, it is possible to suggest that mental imagery is a complex cognitive function that does not directly depend on any sensory modality.
Can a fully blind person see again? ›
No, there's no cure for blindness currently. But treatments can help restore some vision loss for certain people, depending on the cause and progression of their vision loss. Millions of people in the United States live with vision loss and are considered blind. Blindness can sometimes be cured.
What can a legally blind person see? ›
In order to be legally blind, you must have a visual acuity of 20/200. This means that even with glasses or contacts, you can only read the first letter at the top of the Snellen Chart, if that. You can also be legally blind if you can see, but only in a very small window in your eye.
Does a blind person dream? ›
While people who have been blind since birth do indeed dream in visual images, they do it less often and less intensely than sighted people. Instead, they dream more often and more intensely in sounds, smells, and touch sensations.
Why do blind eyes turn white? ›
However, when blindness is a result of an infection of the cornea (the dome in front of the eye), the normally transparent cornea may become white or gray, making it difficult to view the colored part of the eye. In blindness from cataracts, the normally black pupil may appear white.
Blindness can result from infections, accidents, genetic conditions and other diseases. Types of blindness can range from no vision at all to seeing shapes. Some types can be prevented or cured, but other types can't be treated.
Do blind people's eyes react to light? ›
With regard to pupillary response to light—this too depends on the origin of their blindness. Diseases such as optic neuropathy can affect the pupillary response whereas a retinal injury or degeneration where there is still peripheral vision will leave the pupillary response unimpaired.
How rare is total blindness? ›
Total blindness describes those who have a complete lack of light perception, documented as no light perception (NLP). Only about 15% of people with eye disorders have total blindness, and the majority of those with visual impairment have some level of vision.
How does a blind person know when they are awake? ›
Things such as light and darkness help cue the body for sleep and wakefulness. Blind people also experience circadian rhythms. And most visually impaired people are able to sense light around them, despite not being able to see it directly. Furthermore, conscious and unconscious states are sensed by the entire body.
Does light affect blindness? ›
When the retina's light-sensing cells become over-stimulated from looking at a bright light, they release massive amounts of signaling chemicals, injuring the back of the eye as a result. The sun shines with such intensity that staring directly at it for just a few seconds can cause permanent retinal damage.
What does blindness with light perception look like? ›
While light perception means that a person doesn't live in total darkness, blindness makes a person unable to visually recognize objects, no matter how large or how closely these are held. Blindness with light perception makes visual ability strictly limited to differentiating light from dark.
Do blind people keep their lights on? ›
No. Only when I have sighted people with me I turn on the light, otherwise this would be a waste of energy. I also turn on the lights when I want to take pictures with my smartphone, for OCR purposes, scanning a product, talking on skype, etc.
Are blind eyes reactive? ›
Retinal function will influence the pupil responses, so if there is a severe retinopathy causing blindness, then the pupils will be unreactive.