Books for the Blind

'Meevo': Another proof-read.  Still finding typos and other sundry errors.  Happily, I have a hyper-critical editor-proofreader who will tolerate no second rate writing.

Tried to have a critical look at the story.  Maybe 'tighten it up' a bit?  Hard to be objective over something that exists in your head so brightly and yet, somehow, seems a little duller when it is put down in words.

In your mind's eye it is possible to see, with great clarity and in precise detail, things like thunder and lightning; great storms rolling across the surface of a planet.  No matter, though, how many words that are precisely fitting you use, it never reads back quite how it is in your head.

That got me thinking.

Yes, an idea sprite.

Blind people.  

If someone has been blind since birth they have never seen anything to make pictures of in their minds.  How would such a person describe, for example, a volcano?

If they read braille what are they 'seeing' in their minds?

A little while ago someone asked me if I dream in colour.  They asked me because I have monochromatic vision (B&W only - well, and greys, of course!).  I said "How would I know?"

There are some references to blind people who dream in sounds and emotions but no images.  There are also references where there is a hypothesis that blind people don't see 'darkness' because they have never seen 'light'.  Since darkness is the absence of light they also wouldn't know.

Of course, these thoughts are contingent upon the person in question being blind since birth  -  congenital blindness, in fact.

Why is this important to me, as an author?

Because I have had 'audio books' for the blind mentioned.  Audio books for long distance lorry drivers are fine but for blind people?

The point, for me, of a book is that it is an attempt to describe images, situations and emotions in words.  In setting the scene, particularly in science fiction where the 'scene' may be very alien, precise words are needed to convey the image in the writer's mind into the mind of the reader.  There is an effort here to avoid ambiguity.  This is a difficult enough task to perform for people who have visual references but how do we do that for blind people who have no images at all?

Does this mean that books for the blind must rely on sound and emotions only?  How does that limit the range of scenes and activities within the story?

It is always possible that my own life experiences are limited by not seeing colours but, at least, I can view shapes and textures so my descriptives are accurate in that respect.

I just have to avoid taking 'Blue Grass' too literally