It's common for a sighted person to wonder what blind people see or for a blind person to wonder whether the experience is the same for others without sight. There is no single answer to the question, "What do blind people see?" because there are different degrees of blindness. Also, since it's the brain that "sees" information, it matters whether a person ever had sight.
What Blind People Actually See
Blind From Birth: A person who has never had sight doesn't see. Samuel, who was born blind, tells ThoughtCothat saying that a blind person sees black is incorrect because that person often has no other sensation of sight to compare against. "It's just nothingness," he says. For a sighted person, it can be helpful to think of it like this: Close one eye and use the open eye to focus on something. What does the closed eye see? Nothing. Another analogy is to compare a blind person's sight to what you see with your elbow.
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. The "visions" are a hallmark of Charles Bonnet syndrome (CBS). CBS may be lasting or transient in nature. It is not a mental illness and is not associated with brain damage.
In addition to total blindness, there is functional blindness. Definitions of functional blindness vary from one country to the next. In the United States, it refers to visual impairment where vision in the better eye with the best correction with glasses is worse than 20/200. The World Health Organization defines blindness as presenting visual acuity worse than 3/60. What functionally blind people see depends on the severity of blindness and the form of impairment.
Legally Blind: A person may be able to see large objects and people, but they are out of focus. A legally blind person may see colors or see in focus at a certain distance (e.g., be able to count fingers in front of the face). In other cases, color acuity may be lost or all vision is hazy. The experience is highly variable. Joey, who has 20/400 vision, tells ThoughtCo that he "constantly sees neon speckles that are always moving and changing colors."
Light Perception: A person who still has light perception can't form clear images, but can tell when the lights are on or off.
Tunnel Vision: Vision may be relatively normal (or not), but only within a certain radius. A person with tunnel vision can't see objects except within a cone of less than 10 degrees.
Do Blind People See in Their Dreams?
A person who is born blind has dreams but doesn't see images. Dreams could include sounds, tactile information, odors, flavors, and feelings.On the other hand, if a person has sight and then loses it, dreams may include images. People who have impaired vision (legally blind) do seein their dreams. The appearance of objects in dreams depends on the type and history of blindness. Mostly, the vision in dreams is comparable to the range of vision the person has had throughout life. For example, someone who has color blindness won't suddenly see new colors while dreaming. A person whose vision degraded over time might dream with the perfect clarity of earlier days or might dream at present acuity. Sighted people who wear corrective lenses have much the same experience. A dream may be perfectly in focus or not. It's all based on experience gathered over time. Someone who is blind yet perceives flashes of light and color from Charles Bonnet syndrome may incorporate these experiences into dreams.
Curiously, the rapid eye movement that characterizes REM sleep occurs in some blind people, even if they do not see images in dreams. Cases in which rapid eye movement does not occur are more likely when a person has been blind either since birth or else lost sight at a very young age.
Perceiving Light Non-Visually
Although it's not the type of vision that produces images, it's possible some people who are totally blind perceive light non-visually. The evidence started with a 1923 research project conducted by Harvard graduate student Clyde Keeler. Keeler bred mice that had a mutation in which their eyes lacked retinal photoreceptors. Although the mice lacked the rods and cones needed for vision, their pupils reacted to light and they maintained circadian rhythms set by day-night cycles. Eighty years later, scientists discovered special cells called intrinsically photosensitive retinal ganglion cells (ipRGCs) in mouse and human eyes. The ipRGCs are found on the nerves that conduct signals from the retina to the brain rather than on the retina itself. The cells detect light while not contributing to vision. Thus, if a person has at least one eye that can receive light (sighted or not), he or she can theoretically sense light and dark.
Additional References
- J. Alan Hobson, Edward F. Pace-Scott, & Robert Stickgold (2000), “Dreaming and the brain: Toward a cognitive neuroscience of conscious states”,Behavioral and Brain Sciences23.
- Schultz, G; Melzack, R (1991). "The Charles Bonnet syndrome: 'phantom visual images'".Perception.20(6): 809–25.
FAQs
Sometimes a blind person might have enough vision to see all colors, or maybe he or she can only tell bright colors. Some blind people can see some colors but not all of them, or they might have a hard time telling blue or black or brown apart, or pink from white. Some blind people do not see any colors.
What do blind people actually see? ›
Most blind people have some level of vision, but what they can see differs from person to person. Some may only see light. Others may see blurry shapes, figures, or colors. People with total blindness cannot see anything, but it is a misconception that they only see black or darkness.
How do blind people read answer? ›
Blind persons can read and write by using the Braille script. Braille was developed to help visually challenged people read by moving their fingers on impressions made on paper. In Braille, there are definite impressions for all letters which a blind person can feel through his fingertips and recognize .
What does a blind person see in their mind? ›
A person who is born blind has dreams but doesn't see images. Dreams could include sounds, tactile information, odors, flavors, and feelings. On the other hand, if a person has sight and then loses it, dreams may include images. People who have impaired vision (legally blind) do see in their dreams.
What does a blind person see in their dreams? ›
The answer isn't a simple yes or no. Some blind people see full visual scenes while they dream, like sighted people do. Others see some visual images but not robust scenes. Others yet do not have a visual component to their dreams at all, although some researchers debate the degree to which this is true.
Do blind people dream in color? ›
What this means is that people who have been blind since birth probably do not experience detailed visual images of actual objects such as apples or chairs while dreaming. Rather, they probably see spots or blobs of color floating around or flashing.
Do blind people have other senses? ›
These connections, which are not present in normally-sighted individuals, cause an enhancement in non-visual abilities such as heightened sense of hearing, smell and touch — as well as cognitive functions such as memory and language.
How do blind people know when to stop wiping? ›
Originally Answered: How do blind people know when they have finished wiping their bum? Blind people can feel whether or not they are clean after wiping themselves enough times. Most people have the ability to so the same thing. I myself have been wiping without looking for years, and I do not have a visual impairment.
How do blind people sleep? ›
Role of Other Senses in Sleep
Blind individuals often have heightened sensitivity to other senses. Soft, comfortable bedding can be pleasing to the touch while calming scents can signal to the brain that it's time to wind down. Peaceful background noise or a quiet place can also be an auditory cue for sleep.
How do blind people learn math? ›
Teaching of mathematical concepts through the use of abacus, braille codes, manipulatives, tactile graphics, and hands-on experiences should start in the early years (Amato et. al, 2013). As soon as a child begins to learn braille, practice in braille mathematical codes should be given.
People who are born blind, or become blind early in life (before around five or seven years of age), do not experience visual imagery when they dream. People who became blind later typically do retain some visual imagery when they dream – but less so than in sighted individuals.
Can blindness be cured? ›
There's no current cure for blindness. But treatments can offer help for some people, depending on the cause and progression of their vision loss. New treatments in various phases of development also offer hope, including gene and stem cell therapies.
How do blind people know where everything is? ›
Blind and visually impaired people use other senses – like sound, touch and smell – to orient ourselves to our surroundings. So, if I am walking outside and know there is a school nearby, then I can assume that it is near when I hear children playing and laughing.
Can blind people swim? ›
Swimming can be an excellent sport for individuals who are blind or low vision. It has been practiced for many years by individuals of all ages for competition, fitness, and fun. Swimming for exercise can be achieved through swim exercises, water aerobics, and lap swimming.
Do blind people know colors? ›
Blind people can't see color but understand it the same way as sighted people. Summary: People born blind have never seen that bananas are yellow but researchers find that like any sighted person, they understand two bananas are likely to be the same color and why.
Can babies dream? ›
You no longer have to wonder, what do babies dream about anyway? It turns out that infants and babies don't start having vivid dreams until around the age of two. Only when their brains develop well past this stage, will babies start having dreams and nightmares. And even later to retain them in their memory.
What does going blind feel like? ›
Common symptoms of vision loss include blurred vision, the presence of spots in central vision, and the loss of peripheral vision. There are a number of possible causes of vision loss, including AMD, cataracts, DR, and glaucoma. If a person experiences signs of vision loss, they should contact an eye doctor right away.
Do blind people see faces? ›
WASHINGTON (November 22, 2023) — Using a specialized device that translates images into sound, Georgetown University Medical Center neuroscientists and colleagues showed that people who are blind recognized basic faces using the part of the brain known as the fusiform face area, a region that is crucial for the ...
Do blind 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.
