For as long as I can remember, there has recurred a peculiar question in my mind. It’s a question of which my own experience could not answer, and which, frankly, I never hoped I could answer by my own experience. In fact, to hope for first-hand knowledge would strike most as downright bonkers. In spite of this, the question has never left me: What does a blind person “see”? It may sound silly even to ask, wondering what someone without sight is able to see, but in my own life of constant sight, it baffles the mind that some survive, even flourish, without it.

Last year in Vienna I had the chance to know briefly the very answer I’d always sought. A museum in town was holding a special exhibition, Licht ins Dunkel, or Light in the Dark, in which the blind would actually guide the sighted through complete darkness. The darkness was cast on an elaborate maze of life simulations, from the market to the riding the bus, and even sitting at the bar. At times I’ve thought perhaps the blind see some kind of blur, a dull color at least, even an idea of who’s around them. But once I was shut completely in darkness, the answer to my question became alarmingly clear: with no light, the blind see absolutely nothing. (more…)