I’m not crazy. My reality is just different from yours.

 The Cheshire cat from Alice in Wonderland is one of my favorite fictional characters. This line is the best example of why. Alice is constantly trying to make sense of the dream world around her. But every time she can’t, she simply calls it “crazy.”

 

If you think about it, we do this all the time. If we don’t understand something or someone, we simply call it crazy, as if the thing we can’t understand is what’s wrong. Often times, people will argue their own point, trying to prove they’re “right.”

 

What if we accepted that everyone’s reality is their own?

 

That’s the truth though. My brain sees a tree and interprets the colors of it as a tree – browns and greens, mostly. But if someone if colorblind, they don’t see it the same way. It’s still a tree but it looks very different to them.

 

So, who’s right?

 

Well, in society, we like to believe that the typical depiction of a tree is what’s right – brown trunk, green leaves. Typical because that’s what the majority of us would describe.

 

And yet, can we really call what the other person sees wrong? It is, after all, how they are interpreting the world around them. Reality is just that – an interpretation of the world. 

 

Many people now say that we have glasses, so a colorblind person can see the world the “right” way. That is the justification, the evidence, they claim. That’s the way most of us see it, so it must be correct.

 

Except, what if it isn’t? A different point of view, a different way of seeing things isn’t necessarily wrong. 

 

Let’s go a little further. What is we’re talking about a person with limited or no sight? Again, we have decided that it isn’t normal to not see and that they must be missing something.

 

Have you ever closed your eyes and really let your other senses take over?

 

This is obviously not like being visually impaired but it’s impressive how our other senses take over and provide information for what our eyes may not be able to provide. Close your eyes and listen to the world around you. Or feel it. You’ll likely be surprised at how different things sound or feel. 

 

A visually impaired person lives in that world. Their senses provide them information, and it’s far more than what our “typical” senses are providing. Consider all of the details you miss because you rely on your eyes. 

Maybe our realities are just a little different. That’s not bad. And it doesn't make them wrong.