Psychology of a patient with vision loss. As noted in the literature, vision has several psychological aspects: a) it includes a circle of actual interaction with immediate reality; b) separates the subject from the environment (“I” – “others and the world”); c) makes it possible to perceive others and compare oneself with others; d) allows you to perceive the same phenomena together with others - common impressions. Psychological characteristics vision are directly dependent on the organ of vision - the eye, which is an instrument of cognition external environment, and its functions underlie labor and creative activity[Eroshevsky T.I., Bochkareva A.A., 1977]. The auditory and visual analyzers provide not only the receipt, but also the processing of information coming from the external environment.

In the psychology of any person suffering from an eye disease, regardless of the degree of threat of vision loss, there is always concern and even fear of becoming blind [Nikolenko T. M., 1977]. Thus, blepharospasm, practically depriving patients of vision, gives rise to a complex system of experiences leading to disruption of the usual life pattern and difficulty in adaptation. The strength of the psychotraumatic effect in such cases is determined by the individual significance of the disease for a given patient. The types of reactions are different: hysterical, anxious-depressive, phobic, hypochondriacal [Vyshlov V.F., 1977].

In some patients with glaucoma, after becoming aware of the diagnosis and the seriousness of the disease, which sometimes leads to loss of vision, a state of depression, anxiety, and fear immediately arise. These psychological changes are quite protracted: from several weeks to months, 2-3 years [Vostroknutov N.N., Mikheeva E.G., Uspensky B.A., 1973].

A progressive decrease in vision is usually accompanied by deep feelings. Patients' mood is usually low, and there are frequent complaints of hopelessness, loneliness, and helplessness. In preparation for and after surgery, when wearing a blindfold, the intensity of these experiences weakens significantly, giving way to hope for a favorable outcome. In cases where surgical intervention did not lead to improvement in vision, an increase in these psychological changes was observed [Nikitina G.F., 1975]. In some patients with a bandage applied after cataract removal, against the background of high spirits with an underestimation of the severity and seriousness of the disease, there was a revival, a violation of the regime, and a desire to remove the bandage [Ziskind Yu., 1963], i.e., there is a manifestation of hyposomatonosognosia.

Personal reaction to sudden loss of vision has been the subject of research among wounded people during the Great Patriotic War. Patriotic War. Observations in the eye departments of military hospitals showed that almost every wounded person with loss of vision under the influence of a sudden injury - blindness - experiences a severe “personality crisis” [Merlin V.S., 1945]. The ultimate way out of it is adaptation to blindness, reconciliation with it, return to the family and inclusion in labor activity, dependent attitudes, etc., are determined to a large extent by premorbid personality characteristics. In the overwhelming majority of cases, this crisis does not go beyond psychological reactions, mainly in the form of low mood, weakening motor activity. In some cases, a “motor storm” with suicidal statements is observed [Rakitina P. A., 1947]. According to our observations, the matter is not limited to statements; sometimes such patients commit suicidal acts. Turning off vision, causing a complete rejection of the previous life stereotype or significantly changing it, led to a “reconstruction” of the personality [Matveev V.F., Semenov A.I., 1973, 1975].

When assessing the qualitative parameters of the psychological reaction to blindness, one should take into account their dependence not only on premorbid personal characteristics, but also on the biological capabilities of the body, its ability to compensate for the loss of function. It is generally accepted that the blind experience a change in the threshold of the analyzers of hearing, touch, and smell, although the thresholds are not higher than normal, but they reach a high degree of differentiation.

The reaction of patients to blindness, according to A.I. Semenov (1974), goes through the following three stages. The first is the stage of acute reaction, accompanied by situational anxiety, fear of blindness, depressed mood, weakened motor activity. The second is the stage of decreased mood, energy and initiative with the remaining hope for the effectiveness of surgical treatment. Sometimes these psychological manifestations can take on the character of a pathological form of reaction in the form of depression. The third is pathological development of personality. Usually, the subjective assessment of blindness is ultimately limited to the preservation of ideas of inferiority, the development of autistic tendencies, and immersion in the world of internal experiences [Lakosina N.D., Ushakov G.K., 1976].

Psychological changes in patients with decreased vision and blindness during the diagnostic period indicate varying degrees of stress. Normosomatonosognosia predominates. Overestimation of symptoms, as well as ignoring them, are rare. During the period of treatment (both medicinal and surgical), adaptation to the disease is unstable. In the patient’s experiences and ideas, the leading place belongs to the hope for the effectiveness of treatment. Normosomatonosognosia, occupying a dominant position, is distinguished by a certain stability in the weakening of emotional coloring. Hypersomatonosognosia is rare. During the rehabilitation and recovery period, personal reactions are usually of the normosomatonosognosic type. More often there is an overestimation of vision loss with ideas of inferiority. In all three periods of the disease, in addition to psychological forms of reaction, depressive reactions are also observed.

So, the formation of somatonosognosia with lesions of the visual and auditory analyzers is determined mainly by difficulties in receiving information from the outside and processing it. They are not identical at one or another stage of the disease. The resulting violations interpersonal relationships indicate preferential interest socio-psychological level in the development of somatonosognosia. Loss of hearing and vision in the diagnostic stage of the disease is always accompanied by a state of stress. During the treatment stage, adaptation to the disease is characterized by instability and incompleteness due to the preservation of some hopes for a favorable outcome of the disease. In the rehabilitation and recovery stage, production psychological mechanisms adaptation to changed living and activity conditions due to the presence of physical defects occurs slowly. Hypersomatonosognosia is not such a rare phenomenon. Hypo- and dissomatonosognosia are much less common. Of the pathological forms of attitude towards illness, depressive reactions predominate. When the organs of vision and hearing are damaged, relationships with others naturally suffer, which indicates an interest primarily in the socio-psychological level of the patient’s personality.

People with one eye cannot watch 3D movies because their visual analyzer is unable to perceive colorful effects. They have difficulty playing football, volleyball and other games in which it is necessary to correctly judge the distance to the ball or other objects.

We will tell you what other inconveniences a one-eyed person experiences and whether it is possible to overcome them. We will also find out whether people with one eye can drive a car and obtain a driver's license.

Eye patch, sunglasses or prosthetic?

How to live with one eye? This question is asked by people who have lost an eyeball due to injury or illness. Naturally, they have a strong complex and try in every possible way to hide the defect from others with the help of dark glasses or an eye patch. However, such “disguise” is far from ideal and has many disadvantages.

An eye patch attracts undue attention from others, making a person feel self-conscious. It's fair to say that scary headbands look good on pirates from historical films, but not on people in everyday life. As for tinted glasses, they are not always appropriate in winter time cause confusion among passers-by. And they look quite strange indoors. Consequently, both of these methods are not suitable for everyone and not always.

Thanks to the development of science and modern technologies exists today great way hide the absence of an eye. This can be done with the help of a prosthesis, which in appearance is practically no different from the eyeball. The implant is placed in a specially formed cavity and remains there for a certain time. Different types of prostheses are subject to scheduled replacement every few years.

Types of eye prostheses:

• Glass. Quite light, have a smooth surface and are well moistened by tear fluid. Require careful attitude and careful use. Such dentures need to be changed once a year.
• Plastic. Much stronger and safer to use than glass. They are resistant to external influences, so patients with one eye can wear them much longer. The service life of such prostheses is two years.
• Standard. Produced in mass quantities. Have different shapes, size, color, etc. Note that for the right and left eyes there are different types prostheses. They try to choose the most suitable implant for each person.
• Individual. Made to order, taking into account all the individual characteristics and desires of a person. Implantation of such a prosthesis allows you to achieve the highest quality cosmetic effect.

Men and women who have lost an eyeball should not despair. Many people live without an eye for many years and at the same time lead a full life. The unsightly defect is hidden with the help of a prosthesis, and you can gradually adapt to monocular vision.

Is it possible to drive a car and get a license?

Can people with one eye get a license and drive a car? Yes, but only if certain conditions are met. Let's figure out whether a person with anophthalmia (an underdeveloped or completely absent eyeball) can drive a car and what is needed in this case to obtain a driver's license.

According to the law Russian Federation(Article 23 Federal Law No. 196 “About security traffic"), every driver must undergo mandatory medical examinations. If during the examination he is diagnosed with diseases that prevent him from driving, he will not be able to obtain a license.

Man has no right to control vehicle category B, having visual acuity below 0.6 in one eye and less than 0.2 in the other eye. Note that vision is checked with correction, that is, with glasses or contact lenses. This means that even a patient with a high degree of myopia can get behind the wheel, having previously selected a means of correction.

By law, people with one eye can drive a car equipped with parking sensors - an acoustic parking system. Since people with anophthalmia have impaired binocular vision, they need APS to avoid accidents.

Adaptation to monocular vision

People who are blind in one eye from birth will never be able to have normal binocular vision. The fact is that their brain is simply not capable of providing depth of perception of the world. Such patients have nothing to compare their vision with, so they consider it quite satisfactory.

But for people with one eye who have lost the other during life, their vision may be partially restored over time. It will never be the same as before, but it can improve. As a rule, this requires 1–2 years. Over time, a person gets used to his condition and learns to perform everyday work. After the adaptation period is over, he can even drive with one eye while driving.

Features of life with one eye

People who have recently lost an eye have to relearn how to move and navigate space. At first, life with one eye may seem too difficult and unusual for them, but over time this will pass. The main thing is not to worry or despair.

Tips to help people with one eye quickly adapt to their new condition:

• Obstacles from the missing eye. People with anophthalmia have a narrowed field of vision, which may prevent them from noticing objects that are located to their side. Therefore, in an unfamiliar place or new room, they need to look around carefully so as not to stumble upon an obstacle.
• Grabbing objects. To take any item from a table, open a door, or shake an outstretched hand without missing a beat, you need to move very slowly. By turning your head, you can better assess the distance to an object and its location in space.
• Walking up the stairs. When going down the steps, a person with one eye needs to carefully monitor the railing - this will help avoid an extra step down and a painful push. On the street, the stairs can be replaced by observing the shadows of objects.
• Estimation of distance to objects. While on the street, distance can be determined using visual nuances. To do this, you need to carefully examine trees, traffic lights, and sidewalks. The size of an object gives an idea of ​​how far it is located.

In medicine, anophthalmia is the absence of an eyeball. This condition occurs after surgical removal of an injured or diseased eye. People with anophthalmia lose binocular vision, making it extremely difficult for them to navigate in space.

Life does not end after losing an eye. The defect can be hidden with the help of a prosthesis, and it is quite possible to adapt to monocular vision. People who have lost an eyeball can lead a normal life, play sports and even drive a car. All you need is desire and perseverance.

Useful video about artificial eye

Suddenly incidental blindness or even a significant decrease in vision, disrupting normal life activities, are one of the most severe mental shocks for a person. As we have already indicated, the organ of vision is one of the main, general analyzers, providing all visual information about the outside world and the possibility of appropriate adaptation in the environment. For a certain period of time, until compensation occurs, a suddenly blind person becomes helpless, which often leads to acute psychotic reactions, in some cases lasting for a long time.

R. Sussmann, a psychiatrist, pointed out that ophthalmology is a close “sister” discipline in relation to psychiatry. We fully share this point of view and are convinced that the structure of a large ophthalmological department should include a psychiatrist, and on the staff of the ophthalmological institute - a group of psychiatrists who would not only study the characteristics of neuropsychic disorders in various ophthalmological diseases, but and were engaged in the development of treatment and preventive measures for this group of patients.

Should note that, as with one or another pathology in the ophthalmological sphere, severe neuropsychic disorders develop, and various disorders of the function of this sphere such as amblyopia, amaurosis, ptosis, blepharospasm, etc. arise in many diseases of a psychogenic nature (neuroses, reactive states, decompensation , psychopathy).
Kalxthoff, having examined about 7,000 patients with psychogenic amblyopia, noted that in children under 15 years of age this pathology occurs 5 times more often than in adults.

There is no doubt that persons suddenly blinded in mature age, organic symptoms caused by the underlying disease that led to blindness are complicated by functional psychogenic disorders and the very fact of decreased or loss of vision. Here, the personality structure of the patient plays a significant role in the development of pathological disorders. Thus, L. Cholden believes that the mental reaction to blindness is closely related to the characteristics of the personality structure before the onset of blindness. The more dependent a person was on others before losing his sight, the more pronounced and acute his reaction to blindness.

L. Holden, G. Adams, I. Pearlmen indicate that, in addition to neurotic reactions to vision loss, the blind often develop anxious depression, sometimes with persistent suicidal thoughts and actions. Loss of vision, according to F. Deutsch, leads to emotional conflict and the development of anxiety.

As we indicated in previous articles on our website, born blind a certain uniqueness of mental functions is noted: perceptions, ideas, memory, emotional-volitional reactions. In these individuals, the development and formation of the psyche occurs under conditions of visual deprivation - turning off vision, leading to disruption of the adaptive function of the body. Adaptation in people born blind occurs slowly, gradually, as the child grows and the scope of his vital and social functions expands.

In persons blind in adulthood, the process of formation of the psyche has almost been completed, a certain personal structure has emerged; in addition, before losing their vision, they were already, to one degree or another, adapted to their environment. Therefore, loss of vision for them is not the initial condition, as is the case with those born blind or blind in early childhood, and the complete collapse of everyone life plans and hopes.

As is known, " plastic» adaptive-compensatory functions in adulthood are significantly lower than in childhood, and adaptation to a lost function occurs more slowly. Sudden blindness in adulthood is not very common, but still not such a rare phenomenon. At the same time, quite little is known from literary sources about the clinical manifestations and dynamics of neurotic reactions in these patients and the features of their adaptation, and the available information is scattered and contradictory.

Since 1970, we (together with A.I. Semenov) have studied psychopathological disorders in individuals who suddenly became blind in adulthood (before 45 years). 133 people, mostly men (75%), were examined in an ophthalmological hospital and outpatient setting. The main research method was clinical-dynamic using experimental psychological techniques (associative verbal experiment, antonymic series, memorization of 10 words, etc.). Neurological and electroencephalographic examinations were performed simultaneously.

Excluded from those studied were faces with mental illness , organic brain damage with mental disorders, as well as pronounced psychopathic traits.

Blindness was mainly caused by traumatic eye injury, chemical burn and detachment, the duration of blindness ranged from 2 to 5 years. More than 60% of patients lost their vision before the age of 35. Persons no older than 45 years of age were selected for the examination in order to exclude the possibility of the manifestations of cerebral atherosclerosis influencing the clinical picture.
30% of those examined had residual vision in the form of light perception.

In professional and social terms Before loss of vision, patients were distributed as follows: workers and peasants - 64%, office workers and students - 36%, and 56% of those examined were married.
A. I. Semenov distinguishes three stages of the neurotic reaction that arose in response to blindness: the first stage is acute reactive; the second is transitional, lasting up to 3 years, during which either practical adaptation to blindness occurs, or pathocharacterological, mainly neurotic, changes in the personality structure gradually increase; the third stage is characterized by the formation of persistent pathocharacterological traits (personal psychopathization).

From the perspective of an ophthalmologistpoor vision can be due to any of three reasons : this is heredity, or trauma, or habits harmful to vision (reading in semi-darkness, watching TV too close or for too long, etc.).

But from the perspective of a psychosomatic psychologist his first guess about the cause of the disease may mean the patient’s unconscious reluctance to see or notice something. At the appointment, the ophthalmologist will ask: “How much do you read, my friend, and what kind of vision do your parents have?”, and the psychologist may ask: “Think and tell me what and who you don’t want to see so much, but are forced to do it!? »

With this formulation of the question, it is not difficult to understand that all of the explanations we have listed for the causes of the disease have a right to exist, and at the same time.

And there will be poor vision - as a direct consequence of a suppressed desire not to see something and (or) someone. And poor vision will be - as a signal (metaphor, message) that the need and need not to see something or someone has become unbearable, and there is no way to satisfy it, to avoid a harmful stimulus. By losing his sight, a person receives a “secondary benefit” for this, that is, he gains the opportunity not to see closely what he does not want to see.

And he cannot manage his life in such a way that the stimulus disappears from his field of vision, so by weakening his vision he facilitates the psychological experience (compensation). And forced to see what he does not want to see, a person generates a contradiction between parts of his experience (good vision on the one hand and “bad” psychological vision on the other) - and his good eyesight equates to “poor psychological vision” (synchronization). And, finally, it is obvious that a person thereby generates in his mind rigid programs of “bad” visual experience (it manifests itself in the words: “I don’t want to see you”, “get out of my sight”, “my eyes would not see you” , “and don’t show your face to me”, “seeing you is sickening”, and so on and so forth).

Of course, not wanting to see someone is not the only reason poor eyesight, and I just mentioned it as an example. With equal “success,” vision can deteriorate from an equally strong desire to see someone. By the way, haven’t you noticed that in young people, vision deteriorates, as a rule, with a minus sign (myopia or myopia), and in older people – with a plus sign (farsightedness)!?

Even on this occasion, one interesting theory has emerged: the fact is that our past and future are independent of our vision. We do not need vision, as such, to see the desired future, and we do not need vision to replay the “film of the past” in our heads. We use, so to speak, “inner vision”; we are able to either visually remember the pictures we saw, or construct new pictures from elements of previously seen ones. Our eyes may be closed.

Older people have a lot of past, all their past experiences dominate their present and future. And for young people these are “prospects”, this is “still ahead”, this is the “future”.

In this case, we can assume that frequent reference to images of the future leads us to myopia, and frequent reference to the past leads us to farsightedness. I’m not going to convince you that this is exactly the case, it’s just a theory.

But, at least, this gives me an answer to how in such an amazing way people’s vision changes with age from minus to plus, from myopia to farsightedness. It can also be noted that people in the present tense, all the time “here and now,” have very little chance of spoiling their eyesight, because all the time they use only physiological vision, and very little - psychological vision, so to speak.

Let us remember another theory of deteriorating vision: this is associated with the establishment of a forced physical limit on the viewing distance. Such boundaries are the walls of houses, fences, books, monitor and TV screens, etc.

There is always an obstacle in front of your eyes on which you focus your gaze, and this distance is set forcibly, it does not depend on you that there are more and more houses, that the streets are increasingly crowded, that you need to read more and more, that your gaze is always as if in a cage , limited by physically impenetrable barriers. This problem primarily relates to major cities, megacities such as New York or Moscow, and the higher their density, the more tightly compressed life is, the more more people's eyesight is deteriorating.

And indirectly, this can confirm the fact that when large spaces open up without any obstacle (a Ferris wheel, the top floor of a multi-story building), some strange “visual euphoria” appears. Probably our eyes at this moment feel like a prisoner escaped from prison enjoying freedom.

Finally, another theory is that visual impairment may be related to the type and style of thinking. The fact is that in addition to our eyes, we have another type of “eye” that is capable of seeing at any distance, that is capable of overcoming any obstacles, that can see equally well both at night and during the day. These “eyes” are our mind. The mind is able to simulate visual sensations without any connection with what is in at the moment time is seen by our own eyes. And it is interesting to note that there are a lot of idiomatic expressions that clearly indicate this type of “vision”: “how far-sighted you are,” “look to the root,” “can’t see beyond your nose,” and so on.

True, we have not yet found a clear answer to the question of how one relates to the other. For example, we can say that a person who reads a lot has a high chance of weakening his eyesight. But something completely different can be said: a person who reads a lot constantly creates visual pictures in his head that do not exist in reality. Or, to put it another way, he uses physical vision in order to see with a psychological “look”; his eyes, in fact, become the sensory vestige of psychological vision.

True visual function is suppressed all the time, and we are already forced to do something (for example, watch a movie) to restore it (for example, we go to the gym, run on a machine and pedal in order to somehow preserve the resource of muscle activity ).

But this is all the above, as Comrade Hamlet said, “words, words, words.” As you can see, possible reasons and there are a lot of consequences - and each of them probably has its own “hint”, its own zest.

Margarita Melnikova

Who has it worse: blind people from birth or late blind people?

Several years ago, in the hospital ward of one of the ophthalmology centers, I heard the following dialogue.
“It’s good for you, you’ve always been blind, you just don’t know what vision is, but I just recently became blind!” said a woman of about fifty who lost her sight as a result diabetes mellitus.
“Yeah, nothing good, you’ve had the good fortune to see this world for almost your entire adult life, but I haven’t!” answered a girl of about twenty.

"So what! Yes, it would be better if I had never seen it at all, I would have gotten used to it, adapted, and so... I lost my job, and my husband left, and I began to become stupid right before my eyes!” the woman objected.
“Oh, and as a child, due to blindness, I was deprived of communication, I didn’t run in the yard, I didn’t watch cartoons with other kids, I didn’t go to the circus,” the girl answered.

The interlocutors argued for a long time then, each trying to prove that she was right, although, it is clear that both of them were right in their own way and at the same time both were wrong. Who has it worse, who is in a more “winning” situation - a person born blind or who lost his sight at a conscious age?

In order not to torment the reader with vain hopes for the only correct answer, I will say right away that there can be no talk of any “winning” position, or of any concept of “better” or “worse”. It’s hard for both interlocutors in the above dialogue, but in both cases there are advantages, no matter how cruel it may sound.

1. When a person loses his sight at a conscious age, it is a serious psychological trauma for him, and the later this happens (I’m not talking about extreme old age), the more severe the trauma. It is especially difficult to cope with loss in youth and adulthood. Let’s say a person studies or works, occupies a certain social status in society and suddenly... blow! Blindness! Or maybe not a blow, but a gradual deterioration of vision. In the latter case, the loss is a little easier to bear; the person understands, gets used to it, and adapts to new conditions. Most often, a person who has lost his sight is turned away by some people who were previously considered friends, he is fired from his job, and sometimes even close people (spouse, less often, parents) abandon him. The blind person finds himself, as it were, in a social vacuum and in an information vacuum too.

2. A person who has lost his sight retains important “visual reflexes”: he can more easily learn to walk with a cane, since he approximately, if not accurately, remembers the layout of the area in which he lives; the visual picture of the world (city, region, objects) is preserved.

3. It is much more difficult for a late-blind person to find a job again according to his qualifications. Such people most often get jobs at SPE (special enterprises), jobs that do not require special knowledge(production of switches, boxes, furniture). Judge for yourself how, for example, an engineer will feel, forced to assemble switches, left “without eyes”?

4. Of course, such a person, if he has not reached a certain age, still has the opportunity to get an education, which will give him the opportunity to find a higher-paid and highly qualified job. (My reasoning in no way indicates disrespect for the people working at the UPP).

In relation to a person born blind, all of the above will be true, only, of course, with the opposite sign.

1. Such a person simply does not know, cannot imagine what it means to “see.” I don’t mean ignorance, denseness, I’m talking about vision as a feeling, an ability. So, a person cannot adapt to the absence of something that he never had. But there is another problem here. A person born blind must adapt to a “sighted” environment, especially after a long stay in a special boarding school for blind and visually impaired children.

2. A graduate of such a boarding school immediately chooses for himself a profession where he could count on success and competence in the absence of vision. He will also look for a suitable job for himself.

3. It is much more difficult for someone born blind or who has lost their sight in early childhood to master “sighted” behavior and a “sighted” model of the world: routes on the ground, the idea of ​​a figure, number, letter, space. Again, I in no way mean the stupidity and narrow-mindedness of these people, but I am only talking about surmountable difficulties.

4. Almost all people born without vision have well-developed compensatory mechanisms: heightened hearing, sense of smell, sensitivity of the skin on the face, tactile sensitivity. Unfortunately, in late-blind people, these abilities and mechanisms are developed extremely poorly or do not develop at all.

So, after reading the arguments presented here, you will understand more clearly, and maybe even share my point of view: both people who are blind from birth, and those who lost it later, have their own hardships and difficulties that need to be dealt with.

Updated 09/22/2008
The article was posted on the website on September 14, 2008

my daughter is going blind due to diabetes in her left eye, a vitrectomy a year ago, an operation now there is a hemorrhage on her right eye, I’m not talking about psychological support from specialists, they didn’t even give me sick leave, but it’s not only in my case that the blind person is left with himself and with his parents where to look for help, rehabilitation where to go not primarily for treatment, but specifically for social adaptation

• Vera Badak, first of all you need to contact the regional branch of the Society of the Blind. They will tell you where to go. You can write to me in a personal message. I will help as much as I can.

  Article rating: 3

  Well, you know! They attacked a person here. It so happened that I had to communicate with one person who was born blind, and with another who lost her eye as an adult. It’s hard for both of them, but it’s still harder for those who have lost their sight at an older age. Because it is psychologically difficult to come to terms with and adapt to.

  Article rating: 5

  • Katerina Bogdanova, it’s not a matter of attacking a person, it’s just that the author of this article took a really serious topic, but to reveal this topic I seriously couldn't.

    Article rating: 1

    • Uv. Katerina, YOU are absolutely right. Let's try to explore this topic together.
      1. The attitude of a blind person to himself, to his functional impairment (visual defect): a) late blind
      b) blind from birth
      a) A late-blind person is a person who is accustomed to using vision as the main source of information about the state of the world around him, about its safety, about its beauty. Through vision we receive a huge amount of information that informs us, educates, pleases, entertains, encourages, calms, excites (for example, men seeing beautiful legs), etc. And suddenly a person is deprived of this. He doesn’t see what surrounds him - and this is really scary: He can’t fully serve himself - how disgusting and disgusting that is. You can still get injured - as if misfortunes weren’t enough? Unable to do everyday things - who needs me? You can’t do what you love (help your neighbors) - how crazy time passes! and….. (Add it yourself.)
      What do you think is the worst thing about getting old? Diseases? Small pension? Child inattention? Magnetic storms? …… You know, no! -I am a pensioner myself. The worst thing about getting old is feeling like no one needs YOU.
      A late-blind person begins to perceive himself in approximately the same way; after the physical pain subsides, the soul calms down a little. And he is, in general, right. Indeed, he becomes a dependent who needs to be served, fed, walked, and at the same time he will be capricious, show off, and undermine his rights. What if a person is still in full bloom? What then? - rot alive, drink yourself to death... But, as you know, a person is homo sapiens (a reasonable person) and, therefore, if a particular person is such, then he can and must find a way out of what happened. But other people (relatives and specialists) can and should help him with this. True, the result of this help depends on what a particular individual is: an optimist or a pessimist, a fighter or a dependent. Seriously influences the result of assistance, this is his moral values who surrounds the late-blind person, in what conditions he is rehabilitated and lives.
      b) Blind since childhood - a person who, for one reason or another, in the prenatal or postnatal period developed serious disturbances of the visual tract that were not eliminated in the first year of life (born blind), or who lost his sight in early childhood (the first three years) .
      The attitude of a person (blind since childhood) towards himself, towards his defect is primarily determined by the conditions in which he was brought up - he became homo sapiens or ..... It is very easy to get into a child’s head that he is unhappy, incapable of anything and etc. If this is done in preschool age(especially in the first three years of life), then you can give up on such a person; you will never see anything from him except begging. Begging doesn’t have to mean sitting at the porch.
      If the child is provided with all the necessary and sufficient conditions for development, then already in school years it will be possible to see that blindness, a serious disorder of the central nervous system, can be reduced to a physical defect that does not prevent a person from living fully as homo sapiens. Yes, his life will be associated with a huge number of restrictions, but who among those living on earth does not have certain restrictions and it is not known which of them are more terrible. It all depends on how to treat them and how to be able (learn) to overcome them.

      Thus, we can summarize - the attitude of a blind person to himself, to blindness, is, first of all, determined by the psychological status of the individual himself, i.e. by the conditions in which he was brought up as a child, and not by the time he became blind. I'm not talking about people who become blind in old age, although in this case the same pattern works, but a lot depends on how much vitality remains.

      Article rating: 3

      • Vyacheslav Ozerov, from your comments we can make a finished article on the same topic. It is preferable to do just this - to disclose a topic in which you are competent in a separate text, and provide a link in the comment.

        • Vyacheslav Ozerov, I completely agree with you, I would also add various methods rehabilitation of a person who was blind both at birth and in adulthood. There are various systems rehabilitation, I won’t mention spontaneously, but, for example, I saw how blind children are taught to live in the world around them. They are taught to “see” with their fingers. They also use the expression “I see,” but at the same time they feel the object and try to characterize it. Now, if the author had somehow considered the differences in rehabilitation methods for those who were blind from birth and those who lost their sight at a later age, then the article would have been excellent, it would have been of practical value and would have helped many people.

          Article rating: 1

          • 2. UV. Ekaterina, I’ll try to continue. I will not touch upon the issues of bringing a late-blind person out of post-traumatic shock. These are questions of a psychologist, often on the verge of psychiatry. At the same time, let's remember that the development of medicine, science and technology gives late-blind people hope of regaining their sight. The hope is not groundless, because... In late-blind people, unlike those who have been blind since childhood, the brain function - vision (vision), which is formed in a person in childhood, in most cases remains intact. Blindness in an adult, in the overwhelming majority of cases, is caused by a disruption in the process of transmitting information about waves of the optical range through the eyes to the visual cortex of the brain (eye - optic nerve - ....). The hope that a late-blind person cherishes often prevents him from striving to learn to live without sight.
            In those who have been blind since childhood, this function has not been formed, so their hope of seeing is zero. If the brain does not form any function in a timely manner, then this will happen for the rest of your life, no matter how offensive it may be. In this case, hope is not the last to die. This applies not only to vision.
            It would be nice for Margarita, as a psychologist, to talk about how people who constantly communicate with a recently blind person should behave, what to help him with and what not.
            Now about the methods and techniques of rehabilitation of the blind:
            a) for late-blind people you will find on the website of the Center for Medical and Social Rehabilitation for the Visually Impaired http://bli.narod.ru/index.htm. I can only add (based on my observations) the most important are the development of spatial orientation, everyday orientation, learning to read and write in Louis Braille dotted font. Everything else is secondary, based on the above. Mastering all kinds of technical devices, making life easier is possible (and necessary) only after the blind man is able to walk independently from point A to point B (without the help of a sighted guide), when he is able to cook his own food, wash and take care of himself without the help of relatives, when he is able to write a note, which can only be read by the person to whom it is addressed. After the blind person becomes confident that no matter what happens, he will be able to find a way out of the situation, the blind person can master any technique that will make it easier for him to understand and control environment. Honor to him, praise to his courage and our immense respect. And there are many outstanding blind people in the history of mankind, starting with Homer.
            What should loved ones do:
            -first: don’t whine and don’t feel sorry for him and yourself. Set the blind person up for active social rehabilitation, and not for nurturing hope for healing. It will be good if this happens, but if not, or maybe it will become possible in N years. Then these N years will most likely turn into a nightmare for everyone. And yet, we must not forget that today’s medicine can promise anything for money, but deliver.....
            -second: do not try to do for a blind person what he can (wants) to do himself; keep talking to him common language sighted; learn to comment on everything that happens that is not available to a blind person due to lack of vision (about the picture on the TV screen, about the rain outside the window, etc.); learn to maintain order in the house so that everything lies (stands, hangs) in the same place, known to the blind person.
            - third: believe that if a blind person has found the strength to continue living actively without sight, then you are lucky, and you will soon be proud of him and yourself.
            b) today you can find a lot of literature for people who have been blind since childhood. I will offer my book: “Conversations with parents of blind children” M. ARKTI, 2007. It is on sale, the abbreviated text can be found on the Internet. I can send you an electronic version. It contains a list of literature on the rehabilitation of blind children.
            I can only add that in your attitude towards a blind child you must remember:
            - what, he should be treated as to an ordinary child, which has its own developmental characteristics;
            - when raising him, there is no need to invent anything (including any ultra-modern technical means, methods, programs, projects that “protect” (in quotes) the child from the outside world), but to take advantage of the developments of typhlopedagogy and the experience of other parents;
            - do not forget that every day, month, year the child’s brain gets acquainted with the world around him and develops in a certain sequence, and if something is missed, then it cannot be caught up, and also, if the brain is not yet ready to solve the task, then the child won't solve it.
            - pity for the child and for oneself is the basis of overprotection - the biggest obstacle to preparing a blind child for independent life in a sighted society;
            - and lastly, medicine is most often powerless in attempts to eliminate deep visual impairments that occur in a child at birth (developing in the first year of life). But the safety (for the brain) of these attempts is questionable. Be careful.

            Article rating: 3

            You see, for about 6 years my work has been related to people with disabilities, including those with vision... If we start from the very beginning, then the title of the article itself is not correct. But if the author tried to answer this question, then he still had to open up this topic and consider this question in the context of social rehabilitation of people with similar problems. When I started reading this article, I thought I would find some useful information on this topic. But all I learned from this article is that it is difficult for both people to live with such an illness.
            The conclusion made at the end of the article is at the kindergarten level.

            Article rating: 1

            • Well, you understand that the article is not for specialists, like all the articles on our site, but for those who may not have thought about such problems. And the information is first-hand, by the way.

              • I understand, of course. But the topic is too serious.

                Article rating: 1

                • Actually, the topic raised in the article is very important, but Ekaterina Chizhova is right, the article is not correct and is even wrong in some ways. So the statement in “paragraph 4” Almost all people born without vision have well-developed compensatory mechanisms: heightened hearing, sense of smell, sensitivity of the skin on the face, tactile sensitivity. Unfortunately, in late-blind people, these abilities and mechanisms are developed extremely poorly or do not develop at all.” - not true. Physiological studies of typhlopedagogues in Russia in the second half of the last century have shown that tactile sensitivity in sighted people is no worse, and in some cases better, than in blind people. The physiological acuity of hearing, smell, and skin sensitivity also does not depend on the presence or absence of vision. But with visual deprivation, there is a restructuring of the interaction of intact senses with the central nervous system. The brain begins to pay more attention to information from hearing, touch, and smell, and their resolution increases. But to increase this resolution, training and more training is needed in the brain’s perception of signals from the remaining sense organs. This is the difference between the typhlopedagogical approach in education and conventional pedagogy. In ordinary pedagogy, to form an image of an object, sometimes it is enough to look at the object itself. And in typhlopedagogy, this object must be listened to, touched, sniffed, licked... and then, perhaps, it will be formed into an image.
                  One of these most important training methods is mastering reading and writing using the dotted font invented by Louis Braille. Whether these trainings will be beneficial or not depends on the conditions under which the blind person will train, and it is not so important when he became blind: in childhood or later. If the training is aimed at developing his independence, the ability to overcome difficulties, and developing the desire to live among sighted people, then it will be successful. If the goal is to protect him from all sorts of misfortunes, to make his life easier (including by replacing normal activities with technical means), or to overprotect him, then it will be unsuccessful. I have a number of living examples of both. And the consequences of the second o…. how terrible.
                  Regarding late-blind people there is a very important factor- this is the most complex psychocorrectional work to recover from post-traumatic shock; for those who have been blind since childhood, such work may also be necessary in adolescence, but to a much lesser extent.

                  Article rating: 3

                  The article is not about anything. In my opinion the conclusion is: "...both people who are blind from birth, and those who lose it later, have their own hardships and difficulties that need to be dealt with"This is obvious.

                  Article rating: 1

                  • In addition to the conclusion, Ekaterina, the article talks about exactly what hardships and difficulties those and other blind people have. This is important for those with whom such people live nearby; this knowledge makes it possible to understand and help. I wonder what you personally expected when you opened an article with that title? What was the article supposed to help you with and didn’t?

                    • Catherine!