Blind man explains what he can see in his head when imagining and dreaming at night
A blind man has opened up about what dreaming is like for him as he admitted it can be 'incredibly strange' for a blind person.
Toby Addison, 23, sat down with LADbible as part of the Honesty Box series to discuss his life as a blind person, touching on what has changed, his mental health and how it is to form relationships after the diagnosis.
During the YouTube video, he answered questions from the public on how to approach him in the street, whether he aims to be a parent, and what he would like to see if he got his sight back for a day, among other things.
What is he able to see?
The Brit explained that over 16 years, he developed a genetic health condition called Retinitis pigmentosa, a rare eye disease that affects the retina.
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He explained that the cells on the back of his eyes died, causing his sight to deteriorate as he 'lost detail and definition', revealing: "Now, all I see is light and changes in light, I went blind about 7/8 years ago.
"Now I'm 23 years old, so I was 16 at the time - that's when I passed the threshold from being partially sighted into being what we'd now call blind."
Is it dark in his mind?
When asked if it's 'dark' in his mind, he revealed that 'weirdly' this is not the case.
"I can actually see my visual memory, (it) still works so I'm imagining things in my head as I'm talking all the time," he said.
Toby said it could be a car, football, or how he remembers himself looking, having last seen himself as a teenager, something he jokes is 'a horrendous image'.
"There are some people who are born blind who obviously have no visual memory because they've never seen, who wouldn't necessarily have visual imagination," Toby explained, adding that he feels 'lucky to have this.
Can he see dreams?
Later on, he was asked if he could see in dreams, to which he answered: "Yes, very, very weirdly, dreams are incredibly strange as a blind person."
Toby added that after growing up with vision, he has a 'decent' visual memory.
"I do sometimes see my dreams - now it's not all of the time, sometimes I will have dreams where I'm blind and there'll just be senses everywhere and those are just as crazy as the sighted ones."
He added that he will see what he saw six to seven years ago, which is 'pretty weird' to look back on for him.
"They could be fun and sometimes they can be sad because you wake up in the morning you think, 'oh I actually can't see'."
Toby's full episode, titled 'How Do You Choose Your Outfit? Questions You Always Wanted To Know About Blindness', is available to watch on the LADbible Stories YouTube channel.
Joshua Nair