Blind Say They Lose Eyesight, but Gain Vision

May 23, 2006 — -- Blindness may mean an end to normal eyesight, but those who lose the ability to see are able to adapt in remarkable ways.

Shelly Linsky said that she could still apply her makeup years after losing her sight.

"I don't know. I just do it," she said. "I'll get to work, and I'll say to somebody, 'Is my makeup all right?' I mean, I know my clothes are OK because I can identify all my clothes [with] this little gadget. … And it says, 'That's blue.' 'Black.' 'Very dark brown.'"

There are some things that the blind cannot replace or compensate for, such as the memory of their loved one's faces.

"I always tell my wife that she's still 26 as far as I'm concerned," said John Kolnsberg who was blinded by a random gunshot to the face. "She likes hearing that. And I try and imagine that everybody's good looking."

Blindness may seem a rare and distant condition, but someone goes blind or suffers vision loss worldwide every five seconds. According to Lighthouse International, which helps people of all ages overcome the challenges of vision loss, 16 million people in the United States have low vision and that number is expected to double by 2020.

To understand the challenges the visually impaired faced every day, "Good Morning America" anchor Diane Sawyer wore glasses that simulated blindness.

Daniel Murphy is only 27 and still has his entire life ahead of him. His vision is very poor, and he fears that if he loses it entirely, he will never be able to see the family he hopes to someday have.

"That's the thing that's killing me the most if I do lose my vision. I mean I do want to get married, and I do want to have a family," he told Sawyer. "That thing's going to hurt the most. And it's killing me right now."

Kolnsberg understands what Murphy means because he has lived it. He has never seen his 9-year-old daughter.

"It hurts at times, but then other times I come home, and she comes running up and says, 'Daddy,' and jumps in my arms, you know," he said. "I can see her just fine then, you know."

Murphy misses watching sports, especially baseball. In a poem, he describes the way he still sees his loved ones.

"Pictures of you will be imprinted and cherished/ In my mind and in my heart/ That I will never let fade away into my darkness," he wrote.

Compensation

Today, Murphy said, he can distinguish people by their shape or the color of their hair.

"And then I'll go and try to remember that," he said. "I do remember faces. My sister, my father, my mother, co-workers and friends. It does pop up. And I'm going to try and keep them stored away in memory."

After being attacked with acid in a political assault in Bangladesh, Masud Khalim said he had to focus more on what was inside a person.

"My face is a little bit different, of course, it is because [of the] acid burns," he said. "Sometimes, the people have a nice face, but their mind is not good. Some people, they have [a] bad face but mind is good. But I don't care what kind of face he or she has. I try to get into the mind."

Judy Roller, who once lived a fast-paced life trying to balance career, family and social obligations, said that she had lost her eyesight, but had gained vision.

"I appreciate friends more," Roller said. "Same thing with my husband. I think the two of us have had far, far more time to build a relationship after being married 35 years. We have a different way of appreciating one another."

Losing your sight, some people say, can make you appreciate every given day and gives you more insight on human behavior.

"I think you see people more clearly," Linsky said. "I think that you recognize things in people you never recognized before because you become maybe more perceptive, more intuitive. And you really learn to appreciate, you know, the day you're in."

This story was originally reported by ABC News' Diane Sawyer on "Good Morning America."