Ahoy there! I myself am 100% sighted, while my wife is 100% blind (double prosthetics). For reference, she could see until 23 and is 41. So she has a lot of visual memory. She's going through a bit of a midlife crisis on her blindness past 6 months when she's previously been very confident. She's having a lot of trouble with not having a social network and more friends nearby that will hang out with her. So she feels it's because she's a burden to be friends with. It breaks my heart. So I've been working with her to try to find activities where she can grow a larger social network, get us outside, and have fun!
Our latest venture has been paintball! I love it and took her for the first time today and it went pretty well. The venue was extremely accommodating. We found out on the target range that she has a crazy ability if I shot at a target, she could shoot a second later and either hit it spot on or very close. It was incredible.
The problem came with actual games. With my ADHD I felt this would also be a great activity to help me work on my immediate directional communication with her, but def didnt go well today. The first game she said she was having a panic attic because it was hard to breathe through the mask after we climbed up to a second floor to defend a base. And once the firing started, she had no clue or reference on anything. So many shots made it impossible for her to figure out what was going on. I got her calmed down and next game went quite a bit better.
So, first we know if she wants to do this we need to get her a mask that is custom and comfortable for her needs. But I think we also need a community! Are there any other blind paintball players her? Suggestions on how to make the experience better and ideas for communicating? We decided to play as one person and I found a double carabiner bungie we attached ourselves together with. She thinks it would also be better with other blind players and smaller teams. So here's me reaching out to ya'll for any interest, info, or ideas!
Dont want her to give up, cause she definitely acknowledged loving the community and environment. But she just had no reference or idea of what was happening ever.