Blindness and my practice part 1: Understanding blindness and interacting with someone who is blind.

Hi Readers,

In the past few days I have been discussing blindness in different places. Mainly, with people in my everyday life along with seeing different discussions online about disability. I wanted to share how blindness from my perspective relates to my personal practice as a Witch. This is part 1 of this discussion as I feel that I can not do so in one post or video. I would like to discuss this topic as it is something I have wanted to discuss for a while, and I feel that now is a good time. However, before I start this discussion I want to share what I want people to know about blindness and visual impairment from my perspective. I will tie it in the context of my practice after explaining a few things concerning the subject. Also, I will link to a couple of resources concerning blindness for further reading.

Not all blind people see the same.

Most people If they have not interacted with me or any other person who is blind, believe that I can’t see anything in addition to other people I am friends with who have different degrees of vision. For myself, I can see light along with other things they are just not in a lot of detail. For many people the degree to which they can see along with what they can see will depend on the person, what caused the blindness or vision loss as people can go blind for several reasons whether from birth or some other means like disease, injury, or accident. These are not the only ways someone can become blind so when interacting with someone who is blind don’t assume we can not see anything.

Ask don’t assume we need help.

I can not tell you how many instances whereby I am at a light waiting to cross the street when I am grabbed as the light changes. I know the light has changed because I use traffic sounds to determine that it is safe fore me to cross the street. In the instance where I was grabbed I barely had any time to react. If you see someone who is blind at a street corner don’t grab them. I realize that many people do not understand and they wish to help. I appreciate and respect that. However, If you would like to assist us in any form please ask. Grabbing us is more likely to scare someone and in some cases can place us into an unsafe situation. Asking someone If they need assistance does not just extend to crossing streets but all situations. For example, when providing directions be as descriptive as possible not just say “Over Their.” For instance, you could say the table is to the left of the door or something of that nature depending on the circumstances. Lastly, ask how you can help or If you need help. Do not just assume anything including If I or someone else needs help in any way. If I say no do not get offended either I am simply not requiring any assistance at this time. Moreover, If we do need help ask how the person would like assistance. For example, If I am at a new metaphysical store looking at crystals I may ask for a description of the colors, and type of crystal I am looking at. Also, If the store has something I or someone else should not touch like an altar of any form please let us know prior to someone touching. I accidently touched an altar but I didn’t realize what it was until I noticed burning candles in addition to other items.

The above list could be expanded on concerning blindness. I could have written concerning different types of visual impairments like the different diseases along with other eye conditions. However, I do not know a great deal about a lot of the conditions that exist. However, this all ties back to my practice as many of the above examples in relation to interacting with me could play a part. For example, If I were in a group and I needed to pick up something but had no idea where the item is located, I would need specific directions in order for me to pick it up. Furthermore, I believe that sharing this information can help me later when I am in a group and I am being asked If I need assistance with something related to a working or ritual. Lastly, I feel that this post along with the others can shed some light on how blindness may influence my personal practice in addition to others who are blind.

Blindness resources

This page gives general information on blindness along with statistics

This article gives information on interacting with a person who is blind

I discuss more in the video below:

Interested in more content? Do not want to miss anything? I urge you to subscribe to my blog via email below, along with my YouTube channel!

Many Blessings!!

Leave a comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *