Pictures that cannot be described

One of the most difficult barriers between the sighted world and a blind person is this one; the inability to truly describe a picture to someone who is blind. If a person is born blind, then you know that they have never been able to see pictures. If they have been born with some vision, then chances are that yes: They may be able to see some things but the picture would never be complete. It would be very difficult to describe pictures to them.

Even if you were to let them feel the shape of a rose for example, they would not know that it was a rose unless you told them that it was. From real experience, I can tell you that feeling the shape of something is not the same or does not relate in the same way to when you feel a raised replica of the same thing. In short, feeling a real rose is different to feeling its raised shape.

Having had vision and now not having very much, I can also tell you that it is very hard to describe pictures to someone who has never seen. It's not the end of the world however. I have two urls for you to visit and there you will discover how blind persons deal with pictures.
Visit www.nfb.org and www.rnib.org to learn more.

I'm Donna J. Jodhan your friendly accessibility advocate wishing you a terrific day and urging you to go out there and tell the rest of the world how blind persons cope with pictures.