SightlessLightWeaver

To Blind Radiant and other blind site users. I've found the easiest way to post on this forum is to compose my message in a word processor and then copy and paste it here. You avoid the site weirdness that way.

Hello Everyone, This is a topic that is very near to home for me as a blind person myself. It will therefor be somewhat long. First of all, Blind Radiant, welcome to the forum. I'm glad to find another blind sole on this forum. Before I do a deeper dive into how plausible it is for a blind person to become a Radiant, let's take a look at a few facts. 1. How many Surges could a blind person use effectively? 10.. They would be able to use them all as effectively as their sighted counterparts. How they would use them would simply differ. 2. What special traits would a blind person need to be considered as a Radiant above and beyond those of their sighted counterparts? None, blind people are a cross-section of humanity and could therefore exhibit all the traits a sighted person can. 3. Why would a Spren consider bonding a blind Radiant? Why not? If that person is the best fit for the job, there is absolutely no reason. Okay, now that those points are out of the way, let's do a deeper dive, shall we? To understand the probability of a blind person becoming a Radiant, we need to understand a little more about my answer to point number two above. When I say that blind people are a cross-section of humanity, I mean that both for the types of traits and personality they exhibit as well as the variety of interests and aspirations they have. There are blind straight people, blind gay people, nice blind people, truly awful blind people, blind construction workers, blind heart surgeons, blind murderers, blind rapists, blind actors, blind academics, those who are blind and like sports, those who are blind and hate sports, blind white people, blind brown people, parents who are blind, children who are blind, blind people who are positive about their disability and don't let it stop them from doing ANYTHING, blind people who let their disability stop them, blind soldiers (yes, active soldiers), blinded veterans who will never fight again, pilots who are blind, blind people afraid of flying, blind mayors, blind federal politicians, ... I think you get the point. The thing is, blindness does not define what a person goes on to do but it can, and often does, shape how a person goes on to do it. Another point to consider when discussing the probability of Spren bonding blind people is the question of whether or not the blind person is at a "disadvantage" when compared to a sighted person. Often a determining factor in the success of blind people in the world is one of learning opportunity. Just like any sighted person who has had the chance to learn and experience a particular thing, for example the opportunity to learn to read, has an advantage over someone who has not, blind people who have had the opportunity to learn how to be proficient in the skills of blindness have a huge leg up over those who have not. To put this in the context of the Stormlight Archive, a blind person who has had the opportunity to learn to travel independently would have no problem navigating using the Surge of Transportation without a sighted guide even if most individuals would consider the task to require sight. Many blind people travel to unfamiliar environments unassisted. Similarly, a blind Radiant who had had the opportunity to learn to fight non-visually would have no problem effectively fighting as a Wind runner. Again, there are many blind people who fight entirely non-visually, often against sighted opponents. Opportunity is a very important concept in the field of blindness. Blind people are often compared to other blind people and told they aren't good enough because they don't have a particular skill or a particular set of knowledge. However, those skills and knowledge sets are acquired, like in my example of sighted people and reading, through opportunity. There is no shame in not being an independent traveller if one has never had the chance to learn. Opportunities are a combination of those given to a blind person, and those created by oneself. Another point that factors into the whole discussion of opportunity and skills is society. Quite often blind people are limited by the misconceptions about blindness that the general populous have. Simply reading this thread is enough to see that at play. The fact that many are willing to dismiss the idea of blind Radiants outright or that some feel that blind people are less worthy for selection by Spren clearly shows how far we have to go in changing societal views on the abilities of blind people. It is many of these very misconceptions that lead society to deny blind people the opportunities to reach for the stars. Do these misconceptions exist in the world of The Stormlight Archive? where I work, we're an organization of blind and Deafblind people speaking for ourselves. Our work to change societal views can be summed up somewhat is breaking down myths and misconceptions about blindness/Deafblindness to show the world that blind/Deafblind folks (myself included) can participate on terms of equality with our sighted and hearing counterparts. Have they reached the point in the world of The Stormlight Archive where blind people are scene as equal? Have they recognized the abilities of blind people? Do they allow them to hold positions of power, leadership, or other positions of influence? Are blind people given opportunities to become well-versed in the skills of blindness? These questions are truly what's at the heart of whether or not blind people could be Radiants. P.S. A guide Cremling would be somehow amusing. P.P.S. I am a big believer in a person's choice to use a cane verses a guide dog. At different points in my life I've preferred a cane to a guide dog and the other way around. It's about whatever works for someone. Neither is more valid than the other.

As of Oathbringer, we know that all humans are known to have originally inhabited Shinovar upon arrival from the world they destroyed. Shinovar is a land with soil. We also know that Shinovar was given to humans because it presumably matched the world they originally destroyed. For these reasons, I would guess that "soil" has just become part of the language and probably spread when the humans did.