Young Writers Society

I'm currently working on a story about a 28 year old woman named Linda Clare. A year prior to the story Linda lost her daughter and husband in a car crash. The crash caused severe damage to her optical lobe in her brain and she is now blind.
I'm not blind. But I really want to get inside Linda's head. I want to be able to feel what she's going through and I need the people who read the story to feel it too. Any stories online or your own about being blind or helping some one who is would be helpful. Also medical articles or your knowledge to help me understand what happened to cause her loss of sight and how she would react to things.
Thanks,
~peanut~

For the true experience of losing eyesight, the true emotional and spiritual and personal essence of the thing, you'd need personal testimonies and firsthand experiences.

As far as the boring everyday reality though, maybe try putting on a blindfold for a day, or eating or trying to shower or writing with your eyes closed. Be your character.

It might unveil some day-to-day difficulties and challenges that the blind face, as well as a lot of things that us sighted folk take for granted.

But yeah, as far as getting the true inner feelings, the best thing would be to look online as you mentioned.

Thanks, Teufelshund. I never thought about actually putting on a blind fold and trying to do the things I normally do. I think people, myself included, do take our eye sight for granted. So I am going to experiment with that. Thanks for the idea.
~peanut~

I'm not blind but I have really, really bad eyesight. Without my glasses I have to get about four inches from something to see it clearly. So at the swimming pool and stuff it really sucks cause I can see anything. I can see big fuzzy shapes and can see movement but that's about all. It makes me feel really vulnerable and kind of like I can't do as much. Like I hate playing things like tag in the water, I feel like I'm at such a disadvantage because I can't see anyone and everyone can see me so well. I feel like I can't do anything without my glasses.
I hope that helped a little bit...
Teufelshund's advice was really good though

-Carly

Read about Helen Keller! She was blind and deaf. Ms. Keller even wrote a autobiography, The Story of My Life. Here is the link to the book: http://books.google.com/books?id=9_W7Nd ... PYMaO--J0E