Welcome dear Alice, tell me, what is your given name? Uh, well, it's not Alice. People just call me Lilly.
Forgive my impoliteness but pray tell, what is your age? Twenty one! Haha...no, but really, I turned thirty two a month ago.
Well, quite a charming appearance you have!Hmm. So I've been told.
How did you arrive to our Wonderland? My guide dog Scout chased after something. Which is unusual, because she's very well trained. So I followed her and she dove headfirst into some kind of rabbit hole. I felt around, and suddenly, I was falling. Which was, you know, exceptionally terrifying. I'd prefer if we could keep away from that kind of thing in future.
What is it like? In your world? Tell me about your past. Well, what we call human history all began roughly 5,000 years ago, in a country called Sumer. Oh, you mean my past, in particular. Figures. I was born blind, with something called Cortical Blindless. This was back in 1968. My family wasn't exactly very well off, and my parents, bless them, weren't really sure what to do. Healthcare was shoddy back then, and, well, if there was a chance I could have gained sight through therapy, I lost it. Which kinda sucks, because apparently seeing is quite useful.
I loved reading and exercising when I was a kid. I figured I might as well be as healthy as I could. Plus, it was something I could do very easily. As long as I had braille, or just an empty space in my house. Inevitably, I was picked on by the other children. I mean, what nerd hasn't? Sure they isolated my blindless as a flaw but hey, other kids got called pizza face and piggy. So, really, it just made me feel more normal, haha. My good humor was enhanced as a kind of counter-measure. It worked okay.
It wasn't all bad. I also made some good friends. Most of which I've lost contact with since, but, so it goes. I ended up spending a lot of time at the library.
I also had an incredibly vivid imagination. Hell, still do. My cause of blindness isn't found in my eyes, its found in my brain. A neurological disorder that means I can't really interpret what I'm seeing. Instead of things being in focus, everything is a contextless swirl of colors. To cope, I would imagine I was actually seeing some pretty crazy fantasy stuff. Things nobody else could. Made me feel like the world was full of magic. I wrote all kinds of stories. Sometimes my dad would help me transcribe it into the latin alphabet so others could read it.
I decided I wanted to be a history teacher, since the subject had always fascinated me. And, well, I did. Fortunately feminism and all that chugged along during my youth so...I mean I've had a few bad or uncomfortable moments but hey, I can do what I want to do.
Everyone knows my braille globe is cool. No one can deny it. It's better than your globe. It's the turn of the millenium now, the year 2000. We're basically living in the future. Things have only been getting easier for people like me, which is great. technology is fantastic. Computers are awesome. But, y'know...who hasn't fantasised about getting away from it all? It's tiring, sometimes. Just existing. I'm not a very mopey person, but yeah, sometimes I wish I could take a break. My parents passed away too young, too recently. My boyfriend and I broke up. And yeah, I'm a blind person in a world designed for those who can see. I don't want to be some inspirirational martyr, but no, it hasn't been easy.
Anything else you care to share, dear Alice? ...Again, it's Lilly. You already asked my name? Remember? Anyway. I haven't heard my dog, Scout, around here, so I'm assuming I got baited and she's actually still back home. She's a smart dog. I have a dog sitter and at the end of the day, she's so exceedingly useful and talented that she could be assigned to someone else. She'll be all right. Only thing I'm worried about is she'll feel like she did something wrong. D-...do you have any animal or something that could help me? I hope it's kind of weird.
(Madness.)