Blind for a day

Imagine what it’s like to be blind? Well I didn’t want to imagine anymore, so one night, on my way home, whilst I was severely intoxicated with god knows how much alcohol, I decided to give it a try.

I closed my eyes, and tried not to open them until I woke up the next morning. Unfortunately I failed, and opened my eyes a couple times, but only because I ended up getting lost in some tiny road I never knew existed in my own neighbourhood. I opened them because I suddenly realized I was in somebodies front garden, feeling my way along their garden wall.

There were so many interesting things I found out. Firstly, hand-eye co-ordination is a lot harder when you take away the eye part. I tried to brush my teeth, and putting the toothpaste on the brush was considerably difficult. Try it with your eyes closed, you’ll see what I mean. Secondly, you have no way of knowing whether you are walking straight or in a curve unless you have something to reference to, like touching a wall, or using your feet to feel the cracks in the ground. Thirdly, you use your memory so much to remember your surroundings. My room was a tip, but somehow I managed to remember where every loose piece of clothing was strewn, and didn’t find it hard to navigate from one end of my room to the other.

So this is a project I am going to try and do pretty darn soon, so it doesn’t get stolen. It’s called “Blind for a day” and it is pretty self explanatory. I will be wearing patches on both my eyes for one entire day, from when I wake up (or in fact when I go sleep the night before) to when I go sleep (or in fact wake up the morning after). I’m looking for somebody willing to document my progress for an entire day, and maybe provide a tiny bit of visual aid.

I’m also going to send the finished video into TV producers and ask if they want to give me some money to go full swing and totally reenact the life of somebody who has just lost their sight, including how doctors would help them, and the services they receive, or don’t.

I’m not too sure when I will be filming this, but it will hopefully be sometimes in the next month or so.