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Blindness Isn’t a Tragic Binary — It’s a Rich Spectrum | Andrew Leland | TED

When does vision loss become blindness? Writer, audio producer and editor Andrew Leland explains how his gradual loss of vision revealed a paradoxical truth about blindness — and shows why it might have implications for how all of us see the world. If you love watching TED Talks like this one, become a TED Member…

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When does vision loss become blindness? Writer, audio producer and editor Andrew Leland explains how his gradual loss of vision revealed a paradoxical truth about blindness — and shows why it might have implications for how all of us see the world.

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40 Comments

40 Comments

  1. Chosen_Undead

    July 28, 2023 at 12:14 pm

    You are not blind, you are visually impaired. The two are not the same.

    • Tima F

      July 28, 2023 at 1:19 pm

      You’re proving this guy’s point.

  2. Blind Ninja Games

    July 28, 2023 at 12:17 pm

    People need to remember not everyone with a blind cane has to be 100% blind. I have a blind cane but I’m not blind. I use it to help me not trip on curbs or potholes I might not see. It’s also useful for identification purposes so other people can tell I probably won’t see them if I’m crossing the street. I basically won’t see a car until it’s right in my face and that’s terrifying when it happens. Even if the woman in the picture was 100% blind, why wouldn’t a blind person look at their phone? That’s normal human behavior to look in the direction of sound.

  3. Delphine Wood

    July 28, 2023 at 12:29 pm

    Great talk. Thanks for sharing.

  4. Debi Grande

    July 28, 2023 at 12:35 pm

    Agree with everything and the same could be said for people going deaf. It’s just they don’t use a white cane.

  5. Sibylle Leon

    July 28, 2023 at 12:45 pm

    This is so important.

  6. Eske Andersen

    July 28, 2023 at 1:05 pm

    I have Retinitis Pigmentosa too. So happy that TED is exposing more people to what blindness is because people do have a hard time understanding it. I get some weird looks when people start talking me and I look them in the eyes despite walking with a cane.

  7. Dante Virgil

    July 28, 2023 at 1:10 pm

    I’m sorry but this is missleading. This is shifting the conceptual goalposts, and not all concepts have elastic borders. Loose definitions help none. I feel sympathy and empathy for blind&visually impaired people as they are, they don’t need to become “me” for empathy to kick in, it can and should stretch.

  8. Jerilynn Gordon

    July 28, 2023 at 1:25 pm

    Elon Musk’s neurolink can help the handicapped . This is why he created it .

  9. John Jaffe

    July 28, 2023 at 1:44 pm

    In collage I drove for a blind piano tuner. He had some sight but could not drive to where he had to tune pianos. He had a white cane but preferred he to lead him by taking my arm.

  10. Lily 🫠

    July 28, 2023 at 2:12 pm

    Succinct and well said, thank you for sharing.

  11. Love all

    July 28, 2023 at 2:12 pm

    Succinct and well said, thank you for sharing.

  12. Антон

    July 28, 2023 at 3:40 pm

    In my country, in my native language, such people are called visually impaired. And yes, these people need help too. But still, one should not confuse people with poor eyesight and its complete absence, this should not be done for the benefit of both one and the other. There are many different medical categories in relation to different diseases and conditions, and they were invented for a reason.

  13. Mike Callaway

    July 28, 2023 at 4:21 pm

    My God this short and effective video conveys exactly what I deal with as a visually impaired/blind person. I have limited tunnel vision in one eye and no central vision in the other but don’t fit the stereotypical perception of what a blind person is supposed to look like according to the folks that call us fakers and government thieves lol. From now on I’m just going to direct them to this video right here.

  14. TheEpic RiceMaker

    July 28, 2023 at 6:28 pm

    I had no idea that the spectrum of blindness was so massive.

  15. Edward Grigoryan

    July 28, 2023 at 6:32 pm

    Very edifying to a person who is not blind or visually impaired.

  16. heatherish0588

    July 28, 2023 at 8:44 pm

    @matthewandpaulofficial makes this point, as well. Paul is blind but still has some vision left.

  17. Ligia Sommers

    July 28, 2023 at 9:56 pm

    Interesting reflection 🙏🏻🌷✨🙏🏻

  18. CSEP - Inspiring Keynote Speakers

    July 29, 2023 at 12:13 am

    A must-watch for gaining insight into diverse experiences and breaking stereotypes.

  19. Brahma Astra

    July 29, 2023 at 6:12 am

    thank u ……. this gives me so much hope ……….

  20. MR. YT

    July 29, 2023 at 6:29 am

    Yah! Absolutely.
    Me too.
    It becomes embarrassing to use the Phone in public places holding a cane. We have to tell them about our problem and the fun part is that they don’t understand.😅

  21. Fedrick William

    July 29, 2023 at 6:38 am

    Thanks for making this !!!

  22. Virginia Burg

    July 29, 2023 at 9:29 am

    Everyone should know that homelessness could be easily eradicated. I have written a manifest which is a step by step plan / blueprint how to eradicate homelessness by developing 400 self- sufficient villages for 1,400 people. It would take 1.5 years and costs 35,000 pp. This is equal to .44% of the combined wealth of all billionaires. If you earn 12,000 usd / year this would be 54 usd. So it is not really a large portion for a billionair. Money alone does not solve the problem. I have made Teams of 10 people who I am publiclly calling out to get the work done.I could do an Interview on your Podcast. I am a nobody but tired of listening to all the junk. Here is a solution to eradicate homelessness. Bring solutions.

  23. आदित्यAditya मेहेंदळेMehendale #BringBackDislikes

    July 29, 2023 at 9:52 am

    Correlation does not equal causation, but there is a strong correlation between people I find likeable and people who wear unassuming Casio digital wristwatches 🙂

  24. AwayFromTheWorld

    July 29, 2023 at 4:43 pm

    Remember mercy. We all SEE differently.

  25. Fernando Romero Villaescusa

    July 30, 2023 at 7:27 am

    Very interesting video of a new point of view for me about blindness. Blind people don’t have to been completely blind. When I see a person whit a cane and glasses, I suppose doesn’t have any type of view, but it isn’t right at all how the video said. I’m learning English and this video is very great and useful.

  26. Donald Hobson

    July 30, 2023 at 8:56 am

    And remember, the EM spectrum is big. We only see a little slice between 400 and 700 nanometers so we are all mostly blind. Plus we can see less than half of our surroundings. (no eyes in back of head) + can’t see polarization. + spectral resolution sucks too. (we only have sensors for 3 different ranges. Imagine if there were just 3 sensors in our ears, one for low pitch, one for mid pitch and one for high pitch. No musical instrument would need more than 3 notes and music would be a lot simpler)

  27. Daniel Mcewan

    July 30, 2023 at 11:44 am

    Thanks for this video, it is something that i had never thought about before, I had always just assumed that blind people couldn’t see anything at all.

  28. Hanan

    July 30, 2023 at 1:37 pm

    i have rp1 . and i liked this video thank you so much 🤍🤍

  29. Robin Esak

    July 30, 2023 at 3:12 pm

    I tell people that I see really well for a blind person but really terribly for a sighted person. That woman with a white cane looking at her phone could be me.

  30. Invox

    July 30, 2023 at 3:58 pm

    With Lidar I can’t believe someone hasn’t done something to translate what the laser pics up into a “morphable” surface that the blind can get (more) cues to navigate their enviroment.

  31. Success Chukwu

    July 30, 2023 at 6:31 pm

    I love the last sentence.

    it is possible to see even if you’re blind.

    Didn’t know they exist such a large spectrum of blindness

  32. Grey Hound

    July 30, 2023 at 7:07 pm

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      July 30, 2023 at 7:12 pm

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  33. Ms Lucky

    July 30, 2023 at 11:52 pm

    I’m in the same situation as the man in this video, I can sit on the chair or lie on the bed and use laptop or smartphone, I can see clearly at the central, but I find it quiet hard to walk without dropping something. I have a motorbike license when I was 18, however, I can not able to ride in the crowded or wide streets whose many lanes. I can make trouble for the others, and I am getting used to saying “Sorry” a lot, sometimes I can not see at all, then a few seconds, I step back, it activates as a camera that everyone try to change the spaces, zoom out, zoom in, my eyes as binoculars. Luckily, today, I finally can find such a related video like that, the man is the first one has the same vision as me that I can find until now.

  34. Ləman Əliyeva

    July 31, 2023 at 12:35 pm

    İ have nystagmus. So i am great to watch this video. Thank you very much

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If you love watching TED Talks like this one, become a TED Member to support our mission of spreading ideas:

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The TED Talks channel features talks, performances and original series from the world’s leading thinkers and doers. Subscribe to our channel for videos on Technology, Entertainment and Design — plus science, business, global issues, the arts and more. Visit to get our entire library of TED Talks, transcripts, translations, personalized talk recommendations and more.

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If you love watching TED Talks like this one, become a TED Member to support our mission of spreading ideas:

Follow TED!
X:
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LinkedIn:
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The TED Talks channel features talks, performances and original series from the world’s leading thinkers and doers. Subscribe to our channel for videos on Technology, Entertainment and Design — plus science, business, global issues, the arts and more. Visit to get our entire library of TED Talks, transcripts, translations, personalized talk recommendations and more.

Watch more:

TED’s videos may be used for non-commercial purposes under a Creative Commons License, Attribution–Non Commercial–No Derivatives (or the CC BY – NC – ND 4.0 International) and in accordance with our TED Talks Usage Policy: . For more information on using TED for commercial purposes (e.g. employee learning, in a film or online course), please submit a Media Request at

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