When people first learn
that I'm legally blind, they have a variety of reactions, some of which I may
go into detail about in future posts, but one that most sighted people probably
don't think about is the one I think of as the "bionic eye subject change."
The situation goes something like this:
Me: I'm legally blind.
Stranger: Oh. What does
that mean?
Me: (Explains; medical
terminology, legal definition of blindness, vague description of what I see...)
Stranger: Oh. Well, but
medical technology is improving all the time, you know. You'll probably have a
bionic eye in a few years.
Here's the thing. I'm
perfectly willing to talk with people about medical technology and the
possibility of bionic eyes, after I've known them for a little while. I
don't like talking about it with people I don't know well, particularly when
they've just learned about my vision and therefore don't know a whole host of
things, from the causes of my sight loss to how I feel about it. Here are some
points I wish people would consider before talking with me about bionic eyes.
1. Medical technology is
expensive, especially new technology. Just because procedures restoring
eyesight exist doesn't mean they will be economically within my reach any time
soon.
2. The causes of sight loss
are incredibly varied, and not all of them can be addressed by the technology
currently in development. In fact, the brains of people who have been blind
from a young age may not even be able to process visual data. Most people
talking to me about this technology don't know whether it would even work for
me, and they usually don't think to ask.
2 B. And I, as someone very
interested in my own eyesight, generally do know these things, because I've
heard all of this about a thousand times and have done my own research on it.
3. The introduction of this
topic in this way assumes that I want my vision back. This is really
hard for a lot of able-bodied people to understand, but most of the time I'm
pretty content with my life the way it is. Personally, I have no idea whether I
want a bionic eye or not. All I know right now is that the idea frightens me
more than it excites me, and I'm not even sure why.
4. Before the introduction
of bionic eyes into the conversation, we had been talking about my disabled
present. After it, we're talking about my potentially non-disabled future. The
implication in this topic switch is that one of these is more important, or at
least more comfortable, than the other. What really frustrates me about the
cure narrative—even more than the fact that I might not want to be cured—is
that it assumes that cure should be the goal of my life. Even if I did strive
to regain my vision, I'm really a lot more interested in living in the present,
solving problems related to my sight in the present, and I'd really like it if
the people in my life were, too. When someone stops talking about my vision now
in order to talk about my improved vision in the future, that tells me that
they are not here for me in the present, not able to be my ally now, when I
might need them.
***
