User blog comment:Artimas Hunter/Attention Anons, Newbies, and Other Apparently Deaf Users/@comment-7060975-20130612131717/@comment-1839575-20130614011741

How is anyone blind? They can't see... with their eyes. Some blind people can see with their TONGUES though. And there's a species of blind snakes who see through their noses. Smellivision! Earthworms are blind, but they detect vibration. So do naked molerats. They also have a series of living whiskers which they use to sense exciting stuff. :D Bats are blind, and they use echolocation. Then there's figuratively blind - you know, like when you say "man, that guy is blind", actually meaning 'he's incredibly dumb'. Or you could say "he can't see beyond his own nose", which doesn't literally mean that he's stuck with about three centimetres of vision (or five cm, depending on the size of his nose). Instead, it means 'he's pretty slow about grasping new ideas'. Then there's blinding, as in "there was a blinding flash of light" which doesn't mean that the flash of light was blind, but it blinded whoever saw it. Of course, this kind of blindness is temporary not permanent, so that throws a bit of a spanner in the works. Now temporary blindness can affect many people for many different reasons. We have the aforementioned 'blind from overwhelmingly bright light', followed by the 'briefly blind because someone hit him on the head with a large saucepan' and going straight into the 'hysterical blindness', which can be very difficult to treat because of the patient's traumatic behaviour - similar to that of a headless chicken, they run around in a blind panic (and there we have another use of the word blind - this time describing the state of overwhelming panic that they are in - a panic so great that they are unable to see beyond it and calm down). Now, this is all assuming that you use blind as an adjective. But if we get right down to it, blind can also be a noun. "Close the blind, Molly," for example, is an instruction, to Molly, to close the blind, which is another word for a 'curtain' or 'shutter'. Most commonly used in the plural form of 'blinds', which is not the same as 'blinds', the verb. That refers to actually taking someone and blinding them - "he blinds her" meaning 'he scoops her eyes out with a giant spoon until she can no longer see'. What about a 'blind spot'? Well this is something that commonly occurs with vehicles, horses, or anyone else wearing blinkers. You think that you can see everything, but actually there is a point where the two circles of vision from each eye fail to overlap, where you can see nothing at all. Blind spots are dangerous because you don't realise they're there, thus often sending one walking into walls and other unfortunately solid objects. Now, blind people in modern society can usually be recognised by three things. One, they don't always look at you when you talk to them. Two, they may carry a cane or a guide dog, and three they will probably trip over you if you lie on the ground in front of them. But of course, there are spectrums of blindness - so one person may be entirely blind, while another can see the world in mysterious pinpricks of light, and yet another has vision which is only partially damaged. Since it's impossible to tell just from looking at a person whether they are on the spectrum, or how far along the spectrum they are, the chances are that if you make a habit of lying down in front of blind people and tripping them over, you will sooner or later come across someone who can actually see you, or at least a part of you, and will kick you in the head.

In conclusion, blinds are not in fact blind, but if he blinds you you will become blind. He was blinded as a small child and now is blinder than a blind bat, but blindly forges ahead nontheless. Blindfolds create folds of blindness which can be manipulated like blinders, and eye patches are just for pirates.

Thank you. I hope I cleared this problem up for you. :D