Blindness Isn't a Tragic Binary — It's a Rich Spectrum | Andrew Leland | TED

譯者: Lilian Chiu 審譯者: SF Huang

(Audio description) A white man with glasses sits at a marble table

（語音描述）一名戴眼鏡的 白種男子坐在大理石桌前，

桌上有一盤切片的梨子。

next to a plate of sliced pears.

Hi, I'm Andrew Leland.

講者：嗨，我是安德魯‧李蘭德。

I'm blind.

我失明了。

And this is a TED Talk about blindness,

這是一場關於失明的 TED 演講，

which is confusing for me and for you

這個詞可能讓你我都感到困惑，

because just by watching me right now, you can probably tell I'm not blind.

因為你現在看著我， 可能可以看出我沒有失明。

For example, I can tell that on this plate right here,

比如，我可以知道在這個盤子上，

there are five slices of pear arranged in a smiley face.

有五片梨子，擺成一個笑臉。

Or that that --

或者那個——

(AD) A framed photo hangs on the wall behind him.

（語音描述）他身後的牆上 掛著一張錶框的照片。

AL: Is a photograph of a very sad hippo.

講者：照片上的是 一隻非常悲傷的河馬。

So you might be wondering, if I can see all that,

你可能很納悶， 如果我都能看到這些，

why am I talking about blindness?

為什麼我要談失明？

OK, so I'm going blind.

好，我將會失明。

I don't know exactly when.

我不知道明確的時間。

As a teenager, I was diagnosed with retinitis pigmentosa, or RP,

我十多歲時被診斷出 視網膜色素病變（RP），

which is a degenerative retinal condition.

是一種視網膜退化的疾病。

In my teens and early 20s,

我十幾歲到二十初頭時，只有 晚上才會注意到它的存在。

I only noticed it at night.

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

接著，三十初頭時， 我的周邊視力開始變差。

Right now I have central vision,

現在我還有中央視力，

but I'm seeing the world through a pretty narrow porthole.

但我是透過一個非常 狹窄的孔在看世界。

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

所以雖然我可以看見 這些梨子和那隻河馬，

依法來說，我是個盲人。

I have severe tunnel vision,

我的隧道視覺相當嚴重， 但看起來並不像是隧道，

but it doesn't look like a tunnel

because your brain adapts really quickly to whatever you see.

因為你的大腦很快 就會適應你所看到的。

Like if the frame of the movie you're watching

比如，你正在看的電影畫面 開始縮到一個很小的尺寸，

starts to shrink to a much smaller size, at first you'll be annoyed.

一開始你會很惱火，

"This sucks," you might say to yourself,

你可能會對自己說：「這爛透了，

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

我不喜歡在這個小螢幕上看電影。」

Then your complaints will soften and disappear,

接著你的抱怨會軟化並漸漸消失，

and your brain will adapt to the new normal.

你的大腦會適應新的常態。

Like the first time you watch a movie on your cell phone,

就像你第一次用手機看電影，

it will be annoyingly small at first, and then you just get used to it.

一開始你會覺得螢幕小到讓人 惱火，接著你就會習慣了。

So every time I lose another chunk of vision,

所以每當我再失去一部份的視力，

at first I feel super extra blind,

我對新增的盲區會超級有感，

有時會害怕或有幽閉恐懼。

sometimes scared or claustrophobic.

My world is shrinking.

我的世界在縮小。

But then a week will go by, I get used to it,

但接著，一個月過去，我就習慣了。

I don't feel so blind anymore.

我又不覺得自己有那麼盲了。

This experience of super gradual vision loss has given me time

這種超級漸進式的視力喪失體驗

讓我有時間可以思考失明是什麼，

to think about what blindness is,

which might seem like an obvious question.

這個問題的答案似乎很明顯。

Blindness is the absence of sight,

失明就是看不見，

但其實更複雜。

but it's actually more complicated than that.

若想試著定義失明， 可能會讓人感到矛盾。

Trying to define blindness can start to feel paradoxical.

There's a paradox that's useful in thinking about blindness.

在思考失明的時候， 有一種悖論很有用。

It's called the paradox of the heap.

它叫做堆垛悖論。

Let's say you have a heap of something, like sand or marbles or goji berries.

假設你有一堆東西，

比如一堆沙、彈珠或枸杞。

Now imagine I take a single little goji berry off of the heap.

現在想像一下，我從這一堆 枸杞中拿出小小的這一顆。

Is it still a heap?

它還算一堆嗎？

OK, what if I remove a second tiny little goji berry from the heap?

好，如果我再拿出 第二顆小小的枸杞呢？

Obviously that is still a heap also.

顯然，它仍然是一堆。

But, the ancient Greek philosopher wondered,

但，古希臘哲學家很納悶，

at what point is it no longer a heap?

到何時它才不算是一堆？

How many goji berries do I have to remove?

我得拿掉多少顆枸杞？

Is it still a heap when there's only ten left?

只剩十顆時它還算是 一堆嗎？五顆呢？

Five?

Vision works this way too.

視力也是這樣運作的。

How much vision do I need to lose

我要失去多少視力， 才能合情合理地說我失明了？

before I can legitimately call myself blind?

I saw this photo online the other day.

有一天我在網路上看見這張照片。

(AD) In the photo, a Black woman holds a white cane

（語音描述）在照片中，一名手持 白手杖的黑人女子在看手機。

and looks at a cell phone.

講者：這張圖被轉傳時加上了說明：

AL: The image circulated with a caption,

「如果你能看出圖片有什麼 問題，說『我看見了』。」

"If you can see what's wrong, say 'I see it.'"

Can you see what's wrong with this photo?

你能看出這張照片有什麼問題嗎？

分享這張照片的人給的答案

The answer that the people sharing the photo had

is that the woman can't be blind.

是這名女子不可能是失明的。

If she is, why is she looking at her phone?

若她失明了，她怎麼會看手機？

Blind people don't look at things.

失明的人不會看東西。

The caption wants you to remember: blind people don’t see.

照片的說明要你記住： 失明的人看不見。

And if she can see,

如果她看得見，

what's she doing with that long white cane

她幹嘛拿著那支白手杖 告訴全世界她失明了？

that signals to the world that she's blind?

Maybe she's trying to get sympathy that she doesn't deserve

也許她想得到她不應得的同情，

or trying to trick us somehow.

或想用某種方式騙我們。

So how blind you have to be to be blind?

所以，你得喪失多少視力才算失明？

How much vision do you have to remove from the heap of sight

你要從一堆視覺中移除掉多少視力，

before it becomes blindness?

才會變成失明？

People love binaries, especially people on the internet,

人喜歡黑白分明， 特別是網路上的人，

which is a place that's not always very friendly to ambiguity.

網路有時是個對模糊性 不太友善的地方，

This photo was shared more than 33,000 times,

這張照片被分享了三萬三千次，

and I think it went viral exactly because of its ambiguity.

我認為它被瘋傳 就是因為它的模糊性。

It illuminates a weird, paradoxical truth about blindness.

它闡明了一個關於 失明的怪異矛盾真相：

Blind people can see.

失明的人看得見。

I don't mean this in the way that people mean it

這並不是大家講到丹尼爾‧ 基什時所意指的那種意思。

when they talk about Daniel Kish.

Kish makes clicking sounds with his mouth

基什用他的嘴巴發出咔嗒聲，

that he uses to navigate his environment the way a bat uses sonar.

用類似蝙蝠聲納的方式 在環境中找到方向。

Brain scans show that when Kish navigates his environment this way,

大腦掃描發現，當基什 用這種方式在環境中找方向時，

using his DIY sonar, his visual cortex lights up.

當他用自己發明的聲納時， 他的視覺皮層會亮起來。

That's amazing.

那很神奇。

But the point I'm making is much simpler.

但我要講的意思更簡單。

On the one hand, blindness is a binary.

一方面，失明是黑白分明的。

You're either blind or you're not.

只分成失明和沒有失明。

But on the other hand, blindness is a spectrum.

但另一方面，失明像是一道光譜。

There are different degrees of blindness and different styles.

有不同程度和形式的失明。

Some people have the inverse of what I've got.

有些人的狀況和我相反。

They only see through their peripheral vision with nothing in the center.

他們只有周邊視力， 中央什麼都看不見。

也有失明的人看世界就像 他們的眼鏡被塗上了凡士林，

Other blind people see the world

as though their glasses have been smeared with Vaseline

or their head's been wrapped several times in saran wrap

或像他們的頭被包了好幾層保鮮膜，

或像他們透過很厚的破魚缸看出去。

or like they're looking through a thick, broken fishbowl.

失明的人當中只有非常少數 是完全看不見的，一片黑暗。

Only very few blind people see nothing at all, total darkness.

As I lose my sight,

隨著我失去視力，

I experienced this degeneration the way you might expect:

我對這種退化的體驗 可能和你預期的一樣：

as a loss.

認為它是我的損失。

In the meantime,

同時，我也覺得我有殊榮 仍然能看見比如

I feel privileged to still be able to see things like sunsets or tree frogs

日落或樹蛙，

or celebrity breakfasts on Instagram.

或者 IG 上名人吃的早餐。

There's another paradox lurking around here.

在此還藏有另一個矛盾。

If blindness is a spectrum,

如果失明是個光譜，

could it also include somebody who's not actually blind?

它有沒有可能也包含 其實沒有失明的人？

The paradox works the other way.

這個矛盾也可以反過來。

How much sight do you have to add before someone's no longer blind?

必須要增加多少視力， 失明的人才不算是失明？

At a certain point, we do have to agree that someone's not blind,

到了某個程度，我們必須要 認同這個人沒有失明，

even if they don't see very well.

即使他看得不很清楚。

我認為很重要的是要把 「失明」留給這些人：

I do think it's important to reserve blindness for people

who don't have the luxury of correcting their vision,

沒有機會修正視力的人，

who need assistive technology to do things like read print or walk around.

他們需要輔助技術才能做一些事， 如閱讀印刷字或行走。

另一方面，把失明像這樣區別出來，

On the other hand, separating out blindness like this

can lead people to view the blind as strange or mysterious or off-putting.

可能會讓大家把失明 視為奇怪的、神秘的，

或讓人反感的。

And that can lead to fear and sometimes damaging misconceptions and stereotypes,

那可能會導致恐懼，有時 是會造成傷害的錯誤觀念

和刻板印象，比如認為 失明的人會通靈，

like the idea that blind people are psychic,

which some people actually believe,

有人還真的相信，

or that they have super hearing.

或者認為失明的人聽力超強。

(AD) Words appear: Superpowers for the blind.

（語音描述）畫面上寫： 「失明者的超能力。

The brain rewires itself to boost the remaining senses.

大腦重新建立連結， 提升剩下的感官。

AL: Or more destructively,

講者：更會造成傷害的觀念 是他們無法就讀正常學校、

that they can't go to a normal school

or hold a normal job or travel on their own.

做正常的工作或靠自己行動。

So the next time you see a blind person do something

所以下次當你看見失明的人在做 你認為只有視力正常的人才能做的事，

that you think only a sighted person should do,

like making eye contact with you or watching a movie,

比如和你有眼神接觸或看電影，

or standing at a bus stop checking their phone,

或站在公車站牌旁看手機，請切記，

remember, it might be possible to see even if you're blind.

即使是失明的人，也可能還看得見。