It’s annoying. I can imagine things. I just do it differently than people who can visualize. I can buy a lottery ticket and spend hours planning what I would do with the money if I won. I can think about what life would be like if computers had never been invented. I can create a rich world of characters, places, and events when writing or telling a story.
Despite what some of these researchers seem to believe, my brain is not broken. Nor do I need pity. This is not a disability. Sure, I guess I miss out on some things that brain-sighted people experience. For instance, I’ll never be able to close my eyes and picture my dad. That’s not great. But I will also never need trigger warnings on things either! I don’t have to relive the worst moments in my life involuntarily because I stumble upon a clock that is the exact same clock as the one in the room where I was raped. I don’t have a flashback to watching my friend get shot every time someone gets shot in a movie or book I’m enjoying. Some would say I’ve forgotten about it since I can openly talk about things like that…they don’t know what they’re talking about. I remember these events, I can sit and describe them in great detail 35 years later. The events were horrific, yet I was able to cope with it pretty quickly because my brain isn’t constantly making me relive those moments.
The one thing I will never understand is how people think brains built like mine are weird. Really? These people are all out here hallucinating stuff in their brain and I’M the weird one?