Similarly, it is not unusual for some to feel ill at ease when around the blind. So while most may want to help when a blind person is waiting to cross the street, not all stop and do so. Why? Often because of uncertainty about the blind person’s reaction to the offered assistance. The blind, however, generally welcome help when it is offered in a natural, polite way, even as help might be offered to someone elderly or someone who may seem to need help in carrying a heavy load. How fine, therefore, to conquer feelings of unease and kindly offer to help!

Similarly, optometrists and ophthalmic consultants measure the eye’s capabilities. Their findings help doctors determine the cause of the sight defect and possible treatment. About 95 percent of all cases of blindness are said to be caused by disease, and the rest by injuries.

For the visually impaired, spectacles or contact lenses are often prescribed. Even such simple items as magnifying glasses have proved a boon to many. Others have been helped by corneal transplants.

Self-Help

Since a medical procedure may not always be successful or desirable, many sense-impaired people have sought to circumvent the sad consequences of their disabilities by living up to their fullest potential. They have done so by developing to the full the abilities and talents that they possess. One person who did this was Helen Keller, a famous author and lecturer, who was both blind and deaf. But there are many other sense-impaired people who have excelled in various fields.

When a handicapped person feels challenged to develop his or her skills, the result is often greater independence and self-respect, not to mention the aid that such a motivated person can be to others. Janice, who is both deaf and blind, notes: “There is great strength in compensating. It is amazing to see how Jehovah God made us in such a wonderful way that we can compensate for some loss.”

Helpful Relationships

Many people who are blind or deaf become lonely. They lack companionship. How can this vital need be filled?

Sometimes pets can help. The useful cooperation between humans and animals finds perhaps its greatest expression in guide dogs for the blind. Guide-dog trainer Michael Tucker, author of The Eyes That Lead, believes that life with a guide dog opens up a whole new world for the blind, giving “freedom, independence, mobility and companionship.”

In 1824 Louis Braille, a 15-year-old blind student from France, developed a reading system based on a series of raised dots and dashes. Five years later he published the now famous dot system based on cells of six dots, with 63 possible arrangements representing the alphabet as well as punctuation and numbers. For the visually impaired, learning Braille represents a considerable commitment in terms of time and effort. Rather than viewing this as too great a challenge, the UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization) volume Working With Braille offers this assurance: “It must be emphasized that the perception of Braille characters is well within the capabilities of our tactile [touch] senses.”

Studies of Braille reading techniques show that those who achieved the highest speed and best reading skill with Braille were those who used the index fingers of both hands. They move their digits smoothly over the raised dots, achieving the reading speed of up to half that of a person visually reading print.

The growing availability of publications in Braille, as well as on audiocassettes, provides the visually impaired person access to many literary treasures.

When Needs Are Satisfied

MANY years ago the prediction was made: “The eyes of the blind ones will be opened, and the very ears of the deaf ones will be unstopped.”

‘But that is impossible,’ you may say. If you do, you will probably be surprised to learn that many 20th-century biotechnicians no longer view it as impossible. Why?

Sight for the Blind?

If asked with what organ you see objects, you would most likely answer: ‘With my eyes.’ The biotechnician, however, would more likely reply: ‘With my brain.’ And he would be more correct. For while the eye is the sense organ that captures the light and produces electrical impulses, it is the rear section of our brain that provides us with visual perception.

The French journal Science et Vie recently summarized research that has been done to help the blind see artificially. Implanted in the brain’s visual center, tiny electrodes that are connected to a video camera are able to send signals from the camera directly into the brain. A sensation of light is produced, much as we may “see stars” when hit on the head. By making the appropriate connections, the brain will read the light flashes just as we read signs made up of many individual light bulbs. While those whose eyes have been blinded may thus be helped to see, persons whose visual centers in the brain have been damaged will not be benefited by this method.

Foregleams of the Future

If a thing occurred in the past, would that not give you confidence that it could happen again, especially if the one who was responsible for it said it would? Well, in the first century of our Common Era, Jesus Christ restored senses to those who had lost them, even as he once reported: “The blind are receiving sight, the lame are walking, the lepers are being cleansed and the deaf are hearing.” (Luke 7:22) These healings did not depend on modern technology.

Once Jesus even healed a man who had been born blind. Many neighbors and acquaintances acknowledged the miracle. The man whose sight had been restored said: “From of old it has never been heard that anyone opened the eyes of one born blind. If this man were not from God, he could do nothing at all.” Yes, Jesus restored that man’s sight through the power of God!​—John 9:32, 33.

What did this prove? Why, that with God’s power, all who suffer impaired senses can be healed! Thus, Jesus Christ performed these miracles to demonstrate on a small scale what will take place earth wide under the rule of God’s Kingdom. It is “at that time,” during the rule of God’s Kingdom, that there will be a grand literal fulfillment of the Bible prophecy: “The eyes of the blind ones will be opened, and the very ears of the deaf ones will be unstopped.”​—Isaiah 35:5.

Knowing God’s promise for the future as well as coming into a personal relationship with him makes a handicapped person feel that a disability need not be overwhelming. It enables him to have a happier, fuller life now.