Judo and Blindness - But Who Is Who?

An old poem says:

Judo has water's nature.

Water flows in order to reach

a balanced level.

It does not have its own form,

but it takes the one of the container which contains it.

It may not be tamed and penetrates everywhere.....

If this is true, it is a mistake to state that being visually impaired is an impediment to practice judo. As a matter of fact a judoka never stares at the opponent's eyes while competing, since he is concentrated in order to find the strength and the favorable position to attack or to defend himself. Blind judokas do not have any difficulty to find out about these body sensations. Perceiving the opponent's strength and action is what allows to choose the right move.

Many years ago judo experts blindfolded themselves during their technical performances in order to show that eyesight does not play an overwhelming  role while performing this sport. Old Japanese masters have always said, that while practicing judo it is important to feel the opponent's attack through the grip on the kimono.

Prof. Kano has summarized judo's aims by saying: Judo is the best way to give a value to body's physical and spiritual strength. Through continuous physical exercise of attacks and defenses, body and spirit perfection may be obtained; furthermore, judo's spiritual essence will become part of you. In this way you will be able to perfection yourself and you will give your contribution  to improve humanity.

This is, in other words, what judo practice's aim is. Whoever intends to follow this way before all will have to permeate his soul with these teachings.

The blind arouses embarrassment, discomfort, curiosity, fear, pity, but also respect, admiration, sympathy. Blinds who move around with their white canes are usually avoided by the people; some judokas during practice might comment "poor guy, he is blind", "he doesn't see", "this certainly is real bad luck!", "how will he be able to perform the fall?". The embarrassment of some teachers is obvious.

Some people while encountering a blind on the street let him by without saying a word and a little worried. Others tend to defend themselves from the cane by raising their arms, others switch over to the opposite side-walk. But there are also others that observe the blind at a distance without saying a word, in order to see how he is able to make it.

The help offers are quite rare and often inadequate. But there is also who is able to get closer with courtesy. Sometimes questions such as "But is he blind? Why? What happened?" are asked. Maybe because of the fear to offend the blind these questions are often asked the guide.

Quite often there are drivers who tell a blind with hand gestures that he can cross the street. They look out of the car window and yell "just go, you can cross". All this shows a clear communication difficulty, which is probably due to a lack of information on what behavior to adopt, to the fear to get negative reactions and to the prejudices one might have on blindness. Sighted people feel uncomfortable when there are blinds around. They avoid them or adopt behaviors which show uncertainty. This is due to a lack of knowledge on visual impairment.

There are different levels of visual impairment and each condition influences sight in a particular and distinct way. Being visually impaired does not necessarily mean a total loss of sight. Some people might distinguish the difference between light and dark. Others see as if there would be a big white curtain in front of them. Others will never see a complete figure, either only the upper or lower part, or only sideways, as if there would always be a big black dot in the center of their eyes. For others there is nothing else than a very small light dot. Others do not see anything at all. These are only few examples of visual impairment.

It is very important to understand up to what degree a person is visually impaired. Some might have fluctuating sight, while others might lose sight gradually, due to a degenerative disease. It is always better to ask all necessary information on the sight of such people. It may help in order to decide what teaching method to apply and what ideas or modifications are the most appropriate ones. It is good to keep in mind, that not always the visually impaired person is willing to talk freely about sight loss's causes.

Many people with weak sight see in a different way. Some see exploring the object, others by turning slowly their head in order to locate objects or people. Others turn their head in order to see with the end of their eye. Some people see better by not looking directly at the object. Very often people who are partially sighted have the same or even more difficulties than blind ones, especially because they have to focus on what surrounds them.  This might be due to different reasons, among which the difficulty to judge distances.

Visual impairment has different levels and can be divided into:

1. Total blindness;

2. Acquired blindness due to:

a. the aging process;
b. to a traumatic intervention.

3. Absolute blindness;

4. People with a slight visual residue.

Among those with severe visual impairment there are those who might have special problems in the dark, others when there is too much light and others might only have a very small visual field. The terms used in order to indicate these differences are:

1. totally blind;
2. legally blind;
3. partially sighted;
4. 10/10 vision;
5. visually impaired.

The term visually impaired is an all inclusive term, it refers to the full range of legal blindness from partially sighted to totally blind. Within the partially sighted range there are people with low partial and high partial vision. The distinction between totally blind and partially sighted needs to be kept in mind as the needs of each person are very different.

People with a disability are usually comfortable with words used to describe daily living activities. People who are visually impaired see what you mean, are glad to see you and in order to understand how judo can really be useful for the visually impaired it is worth it to take a look at the video as the obvious question, that will arise will be: "But Who is Who?"

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