To See and Not to See

In Oliver Sacks’ book, To See and Not to See, Sacks delivered information about the process and experience of blind vision after they recovered through his and the wife of his friend’s diary. In his book, Sacks’ friend, Virgil, is born with eye sickness that impacts his vision, eventually causing Virgil unable to see things clearly or blindness. Virgil later had his vision recovered through surgery. 

In Sacks’ journal, he described that after the blind recovered from blindness, they’re in their first stage of seeing everything new as they’re on an adventure, they’re eager to explore the objects surrounding them. This is what a lot of people are receiving from, blind and their families will be happy because the patient can finally see. Sacks later in his journal wrote that, after the first stage of recovery, the blind will face difficulties in their daily life, which I gained and know more about the difficulties that the blind face after they recover. 

Unlike the scientific article that talks about blind recovery from scientists, and statistics, Sacks notes the information down when he visits his friend Virgil and also takes the note from Virgil’s fiance, giving me a sense that it’s a personal data record of a patient but also it’s a diary that tells about blind. Through the observation from Sacks and Virgil’s wife, I learned that to a blind person who gets to see all of a sudden, walking on the street without a stick is hard because they can’t interpret the distance of the road. They also have a hard time identifying the object as well. Sacks’ article helps me know that being blind is not one difficulty that the blind has to face, but how their vision and behavior will change and have to get used to after they recover from long-term darkness.