Those who are blind are visually impaired. Blindness is defined as the state of being sightless; an individual who is blind is not able to see anything. Being blind can a be result of a number of different things. In the medical world, there are 23 different conditions that cause blindness:
Blind individuals can be born with this condition, or can acquire sightlessness at some point during their lifetime. Although many people believe blindness to be binary-either you see or you don't-this is not always the case. As author Cristina Hartmann puts it, there are infinite ways to be legally blind. Hartmann moved from being able to see to losing her sight-she was not born blind. That being said, she describes how she has noticed certain interesting changes in her lifestyle and how people treat her. From being able to see to being unable to see, people, and society, view her differently. She explains that out of the three main navigation techniques that blind individuals people use, a white cane, seeing-eye animal, or nothing, she chooses to use the white cane. The use of the white cane was the biggest part of what she noticed in how people treated her differently. She says "people notice you because you are different." Being different than most others in society almost always earns you a one way ticket to being noticed. Hartmann says that she usually gets excellent service at restaurants, stores and offices with employees going out of their way to make sure her needs are met, and that most people are willing to give her directions. However, some people overcompensate for kindness, she can feel many people staring at her, and also she feels a constant pressure not to stumble or fall. There is also an emotional side to losing vision. Hartmann explains how it's the change that is the hard part, not the vision loss itself. People born blind don't need to struggle with this aspect; however people like Hartmann that lose their sight later in life do. Hartmann also hates the feeling of incompetence, as well as the feeling of being inept to do the things she was once able to without any trouble. But most importantly, Hartmann discusses how her own conception of herself has changed. There is a lot to do with self-acceptance that comes with being blind, or with any disability.
- Head injury
- Glaucoma
- Retinal detachment
- Hypertensive retinopathy
- Cataract
- Macular degeneration
- Diabetic retinopathy
- Retinal vascular Occlusion
- Stroke
- Optic neuritis
- Chlorine Poisoning
- Strabismus
- Intracranial hemorrhage
- Vertebrobasilar circulatory disorders
- Subarachnoid hemorrhage
- Brain aneurysm
- Tay-Sachs disease
- Injury
- Basal cell nevus syndrome
- Ito syndrome
- Sarcoidosis
- Krabbe disease
- Albinism
Blind individuals can be born with this condition, or can acquire sightlessness at some point during their lifetime. Although many people believe blindness to be binary-either you see or you don't-this is not always the case. As author Cristina Hartmann puts it, there are infinite ways to be legally blind. Hartmann moved from being able to see to losing her sight-she was not born blind. That being said, she describes how she has noticed certain interesting changes in her lifestyle and how people treat her. From being able to see to being unable to see, people, and society, view her differently. She explains that out of the three main navigation techniques that blind individuals people use, a white cane, seeing-eye animal, or nothing, she chooses to use the white cane. The use of the white cane was the biggest part of what she noticed in how people treated her differently. She says "people notice you because you are different." Being different than most others in society almost always earns you a one way ticket to being noticed. Hartmann says that she usually gets excellent service at restaurants, stores and offices with employees going out of their way to make sure her needs are met, and that most people are willing to give her directions. However, some people overcompensate for kindness, she can feel many people staring at her, and also she feels a constant pressure not to stumble or fall. There is also an emotional side to losing vision. Hartmann explains how it's the change that is the hard part, not the vision loss itself. People born blind don't need to struggle with this aspect; however people like Hartmann that lose their sight later in life do. Hartmann also hates the feeling of incompetence, as well as the feeling of being inept to do the things she was once able to without any trouble. But most importantly, Hartmann discusses how her own conception of herself has changed. There is a lot to do with self-acceptance that comes with being blind, or with any disability. 
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