Andrew Leland

Hi, I'm Andrew Leland.

I'm blind, and this is a TED Talk about blindness, which is confusing for me and for you, because just by watching me right now, you can probably tell I'm not blind.

For example, I can tell that on this plate right here, there are five slices of pear arranged in a smiley face.

Or that that is a photograph of a very sad hippo.

So you might be wondering, if I can see all that, why am I talking about blindness?

Okay, so I'm going blind.

I don't know exactly when.

As a teenager, I was diagnosed with retinitis pigmentosa, or RP, which is a degenerative retinal condition.

In my teens and early 20s, I only noticed it at night.

Then in my early 30s, my peripheral vision started to deteriorate.

Right now, I have central vision, but I'm seeing the world through a pretty narrow porthole.

So even though I can see these pears and that hippo, I'm legally blind.

I have severe tunnel vision, but it doesn't look like a tunnel because your brain adapts really quickly to whatever you see.

Like if the frame of the movie you're watching starts to shrink to a much smaller size, at first you'll be annoyed.

This sucks, you might say to yourself.

I don't like watching this movie on this tiny screen.

Then your complaints will soften and disappear, and your brain will adapt to the new normal.

Like the first time you watch a movie on your cell phone, it'll be annoyingly small at first, and then you just get used to it.

So every time I lose another chunk of vision, at first I feel super extra blind, sometimes scared or claustrophobic.

My world is shrinking.