The blind see in different ways

by David Grand
July 5, 2006

Of our five senses, I've always regarded sight as the most perfect and most delightful of all. And the mere thought of living in a world shrouded in darkness is mind boggling, albeit that some 750,000 Americans do (growing at the rate of 50,000 a year), and that there's 40 to 45 million blind worldwide.

While blindness is one of the most (if not the most) difficult of disabilities to adjust to, they've shown they're still able to lead an enjoyable and productive life, albeit a restricted one. And that it's respect, not pity, they want from others.

There's no better proof of that, than in watching such sightless, super stars as Ray Charles. Stevie Wonder and Italian singer Andrea Bocelli perform, who seem to possess a "sixth sense" (a keen intuitive power), that allows them to be aware of the surroundings, and whose commanding presence on stage would make one forget that's it's sounds-not their eyes-- they see through.

What brought this subject to mind was: Ehrlich choosing Kristen Cox, the secretary of the state Department of Disabilities (herself blind) as his running mate; and locally, a second-grader named Christopher Nusbaum, who lives in Taneytown and who's going to compete in a national contest to test his spelling and grammar skills in Braille.

Those who have that disability have Louis Braille to thank for bringing light into their lives.  Blind at three years of age in 1819, he learned to read by embossed Roman letters in the Paris Blind School. And in 1829, he devised a practical means for printing and writing in tangible form, perceptible by touch, which after some slight modification reached its present form in 1834. He rightly deserves to be known as the "conqueror of the night."

Helen Keller (1880-1968) is the blind person I remember best, who when 19 months old, an illness left her deaf, blind and dumb. Her mother sent for a special teacher named Anne Sullivan, who managed to communicate with her. She loved to learn, and earned a bachelor's degree at Radcliffe, where Sullivan accompanied her to every class and spelled the lectures into her hand. Her remarkable achievements in reading, writing and speaking made her internationally famous, and was inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame.

In the literary field, Argentine writer Jorge Luis Borges (1899-1986), whose unconventional poetry and short narrative fiction made him one of the foremost figures in 20th-century literature, wrote the bulk of his short stories after he lost his sight in the 1930's.

Now, I've never heard 'em singing pure soul-gospel music, as the Blind Boys of Alabama have been doing for over 60 years, and who've won Grammy awards for the "Best Traditional Soul Gospel Album." The group was formed at the Alabama Institute for the Negro Blind in 1939, and three of its original members are still singing their hearts out. But along with the new arrivals, they've ventured into 'gospelizing' relevant contemporary songs that weren't traditional soul-gospel songs. One track of their best-selling album in 2001 became the theme song for the acclaimed HBO dramatic series The Wire.

It occurred to me in writing this column that it's time to have my annual eye exam, which is essential when you have, as I do, diabetes (the leading cause of blindness in the U.S.). And if you've also been cursed with that hereditary disease, you'd be well-advised to do the same. The alternative is too painful to contemplate.