Blind for an hour

Blind for an hour

I tried to get out of my room on the first floor by feel my way. After some difficulties I detected the door handle and got the door open. Now the next goal was to get down the stairs. My hands clung to the banister and I had a very uncomfortable feeling, because I didn’t know whether there was a step more or not. On the way down the stairs my mother was calling and I told her that she had to wait for me, because I only dared to move slowly. When I had accomplished getting down the stairs, I had dinner without knowing what we were having. When I came closer to the dining table an aromatic smell invaded my nose and the smell felt stronger and more penetrating than normal. Despite the fact, that I couldn’t see what we were having, I had no doubts that the smell came from salmon. When I tasted the dish I was overwhelmed by how easy it was to distinguish between the taste of every mouthful. In short this dinner was more diverse than normally.    

 
This experience was different from my normal life, because I used the sense of smell, the sense of touch and the sense of hearing more than normally, when I’m able to see. Furthermore, I discovered how it’s possible to feel a kind of restriction when you for instance want to hurry down the stairs and you can’t. Also when I wanted to get out of my room I used the sense of touch to find the door handle instead of looking for it. After trying blindness I have got an even greater respect for people who are blind their whole life.