The Gift of Blindness: Cobhams Asuquo at TEDxEuston 

anuoluwapo falope me

Me

First time seeing this 🙌

I'm watching it in 2021😅

2021, and it's as fresh as ever!

LOL..... You are funny!!

Kieran Wilson agreed

Am sure I would have click more like on ur comment if the clicks increments...

rather he/she was blind and unfocused...missed the point completely

I must say, that the ( guy ) that pushed the negative button must have had a reasonable reason for their actions. Therefore for you to respond the way you have is very unfair. Walk a mile in their shoes 👞 before you make such a judgement assessment of someone you don’t know indeed.

Thank you so much for marshalling the points that stood out for me.

Nonsense! Do you not understand as blind people, how many times we hear” god gave you blindness as a gift to the world”. To teach others how lucky they are to not be us? That “god” gave us blindness on purpose because we are strong. “God never gives you more than you can handle”. I hear that one several times per week. These are the platitudes of people who think “I’m happy not to be you!” You think I am broken. But I believe I’m lucky. I was sighted for awhile and experienced that. I could read sighted and then I used audio books and finally learned Braille. Who has the fullest experience of reading? Over and over people will say audio books aren’t reading. I say until you’ve learned to read with all your senses and in different languages, you haven’t really experienced the full immersion of reading. I’ve gone for walks in the woods and beside my river as a sighted person and enjoyed nature so much. Then I began to walk by sound. Every change in the rivers depth and speed produces a different pitched sound. The gurgles, booms and splashes, there are hundreds of sounds that are completely identifiable as coming from a certain section of the river. I began to walk as easily by sound as by sight. And enjoyed recognizing bird and peeper songs and that became a fuller experience. Now I walk the river paths bare foot. I take each step and recognize the feel of the changes of ground under my feet. I walk barefoot as soon as the snow goes until it comes back again. AND I walk with my guide dog and the young dog I’m training to be my next guide. We are a team. So fine tuned to each other that it’s almost like dancing. The boys walk off leash but often in safe areas but we are so connected that a leash is unnessecary and the touch of my hand on the harness handle is it’s own form of communication. I can feel my dogs positions before I ever would notice by sight. This goes spectacularly wrong sometimes! Lol! As it can do for anyone with a thoughtless step and a trip over a tree root. A moments in attention by a dog still learning his game. But we have so much joy. Any embarrassment is far less important than our connection. I started to use scent as well. The slow wide river parts where the frogs and algae grows smells much much different from the hot scorched smell of the gravel parts of the path. The raspberry and wild mint areas smell so fresh and delicious. The ramps/wild onions along the side of the trail, smell so strongly yet I used to not even notice Every thing I did sighted, I have learned to do blind. (Except for driving a car) My favourite things to do are gardening, training dogs, drawing and reading and these are far richer being blind. I’ve leaned to slow down and be organized so that I don’t lose my tools or my purse. This took time as I’m messy. I lost my purse one time for a week and my room a vacuum disappeared for months when it got stuck under a sofa and I couldn’t find it. But I learned to train my young dog to find anything with my scent on it and since he was just 12 weeks old, he has been happily retrieving my dropped gloves (the only item I can not seem to learn to put in safe places) as if it’s the greatest game in the world! No one chooses to go blind. But all the people who tell us it’s the worst thing in the world and that we are now just burdens on the medical system, our families and the world and then come up with the only thing they think we can do, to be a lump that others “pity” and learn to be more kind, is completely and terribly wrong. There is a movie where a father learns his child is going blind and he gives up everything to take her to see the mountains before her sight goes. As if that will be the end of her life. Many of the comments were about pity for the girl and her father as if the child were going to die and many even said they would commit suicide rather than be blind. This is how people think of us. This hurts so badly that most people think my life is worthless just because my eyes no longer function. But I’m still here. I still love my life because I’ve learned how to do that. I fall a lit, I make mistakes like bumping into posts and walls if I forget my cane or am without my guide dog.

You have to be blind to be focused wtf are you out if your mind. No need to be blind to be focused wtf its even the contrary

Watching this in 2021 and I couldn’t agree more

Correct

No doubt!

Be blind if you think yoy will be more focused im sure you gonna love it

We need to be blind to be focused ?

Not physical blindness. Blind to distractions.

Thank you Rose kenneth for sharing! I wanted too, to invite BJ Beasley to this talk and your comment which bring such value. BJ: from the bottom of my heart.