The Do's and Don'ts of Writing a Story

HOW TO: Writing blind characters

Here are some things to avoid:

 - Blind people don't actually give a shit about touching faces, so please, please steer clear of that. the only exceptions may be the same way sighted lovers may caress each other's faces and map rents may hold a child's face in an emotional moment, but it's just like a sighted lover or parent would, nothing more. 

 - Please avoid giving your character a cure. One of the most crushing things as a disabled reader is to finally have a disabled character, but for them to end up with a fantastic magic cure half way through. It rarely makes for a good story and often a much better story is that person's journey in understanding themselves as equal and learning that they aren't broken and useless and can do whatever they want, overcome internalised ableism rather than 'overcoming the disability.'

 - Few blind people actually wear sunglasses or eye coverings, so your character probably won't either if the likelihood says anything. Chances are they will not be part of that minority, so probably better not to do that. 

 - Something similar can be said for characters with white or cloudy eyes. the vast majority of blind people will not have abnormal looking eyes, so chances are your character will not be part of that minority. 

 - Another very similar thing should be noted about the level of vision they will have. Somewhere between 80-90% of blind people have some level of remaining vision, whether it be a little more than light perception or enough that they were forced to use their eyes a lot growing up and weren't taught braille or to use cane because they could get by well enough not to die most of the time. 

 - Blind people watch TV.

 - Blind people usually like to know what colour things are if they ask you to describe something. A lot of people either had vision at some point or even if they were never able to see, they often associate colours with concepts. 

 - Blind people don't use braille for everything. Audio books exist (and every blind kid could get a free tape player and audio books set to them up until about 2010 - they never moved to CD's, but now anyone can buy them online even if you aren't blind) and now everything is scanned/digital. In fact, you only really need to know how to read signs/basic alphabet and signs nowadays. Well, unless you're in school.

 - For the love of God, know what tech your blind character will be using for what year. 

 - Blind people often walk around familiar areas without using a cane or guide dog. you learn the layout of that area and don't really need the mobility aid.