How about in this video we shine a little light on blindness?
[swoosh] [music plays]
A question that's been coming in a lot lately is this one:
Do blind people turn on their lights when they're home alone?
The short answer. No.
I mean, I don't use them. Right?
So, if I turn them on, what do I need them for? You know what I mean?
I can get around perfectly fine in the dark. I don't need to look at anything
so I don't need light for that. I actually have heat so I don't
need to turn on the lights to try and heat the house a little bit.
The basic thing is no. I don't turn them on.
Here's the thing. If I turn them on, I'll probably forget to turn them off.
I mean, the way I know whether or not the lights are on really is to just touch them.
I mean, not to touch the bulb, but I can feel the heat coming off the bulb.
Alright, so I can feel whether or not the light is on. I mean, these new bulbs
make me crazy because now I really can't tell whether or not
the lights on because they don't heat up anymore.
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When people come over, I'll often forget to turn on the
lights. It's not top of mind for me.
I'm not thinking, 'oh boy, sighted people are coming over, I better turn on some lights.'
I forget. So when I open the door and people come over
they start to think like, 'what's he's doing?'
'Did I come at a bad time? Maybe he's got somebody in here, you know.'
'You getting ready for bed or something? It's 8 o'clock at night.
What are you doing?' It's always funny. I like when people
have the awkward, "hey, can we ah...
do you mind if we turn on a light in here or something?' Sometimes it will take people
a few minutes to get to that point. You know, 5-10 minutes of sitting
in the dark and they might get frustrated after a little
while and then ask if we can turn on a light.
You know, like it's this big inconvenience for me. Of course we can turn on the lights.
Absolutely. And then they leave.
And it's a funny thing. I guess when sighted people walk out of a room
or out of someone's house they don't think to turn the lights off.
Somebody's still in there. So, you know, a few days
will go by and a cab driver will say, 'hey, you know your bathroom light's on
upstairs?' 'Oh, you're kidding me.'
I remember I had the porch light on for about a week after Halloween.
It's just one of those things that I don't know. I'm not even thinking about it.
Because it's secondary to me. I don't care.
Then my electric bill is $470.
Then I care.
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People are also curious about why I would have art on my walls. Well, it's a good question.
I mean, but I put it up because people give it to me.
They're gifts. You know? Or maybe it's something
somebody painted or drew for me. You know, you're nice enough to give it to me
I'll put it up. The truth is I don't even understand why people would put stuff
on their walls. What do you need that for? You know?
Like, I don't get it. You want to look at pictures and stuff
you go to a museum or you look at them in a book or something...
I don't know. Do you need that on your wall in your house?
Doesn't the landlord go crazy with the holes and everything.
You don't get your security deposit back anymore.
'You put up six pictures and there's a bunch of holes in the wall, so...
that's $2500. You're out.'
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A lot of people wonder why I have a television.
'I mean, you can't look at it.' Yeah, you know what,
that's for company. That's for when you guys come over and hangout and you want to
watch a ballgame or something. We put the TV on for you.
So, I listen to Television through the stereo. Right, it just sounds better
so therefore I don't need to turn the actual part on, right.
The screen part isn't even on. So people will come over
and TV's on and they'll be like, 'Um, hey can we out on the picture
would you mind?' But when I'm home I don't use the TV
part. I don't need to. I just turn on the stereo and listen
to Television that way. Again, what do I need the picture
for if I'm alone? I always feel like the cable company
should let me get off for half price but they never do.
I wonder if I could get the internet for half price.
You know, all the memes and stuff that's I'm missing.
Another one is books on the shelves. "Why do you have books on your shelves?"
Well, listen, sometimes people would give me a book. Perhaps
they'll read it to me sometime. I one time
bought a copy of the Guiness World Book of Records. It was a big, giant
coffee table book. I bought it right at the beginning of the year.
And I thought it would be fun for company to come over and flip through the Guiness
World Book of Records. And I'm sort of interested in that odd stuff too, so
that was fund for me and company.
No, it wasn't braille. They don't sell braille books at target.
Strangely enough, you can get the Harry Potter books in braille. They're giant.
They cost a lot of money and they have to bring an 18-wheeler
to get it to you, but...
they are available.
[credits music plays]
See, here's an exception. Right, I'm talking about all this stuff that I don't
have or that I don't do, but you know what, I do have
window treatments. I have curtains and blinds and stuff on all the windows in the house
and there's many, many windows. And you know what,
I keep all that stuff closed. I do because I don't
know whether or not you're looking in and I'm sure as hell not going to look out.