For sure, yes, a lot of blind people are not particularly interested in talking about this sort of thing, and just prefer to get on with it. I’ve also found, incidentally, that a lot of sighted people find it very uncomfortable too, as if they might upset me or something. Which is a pity, as the very opposite is the case.
Yes indeed, the circadian rhythm is determined primarily by light. It’s not as if I can’t tell when it’s day or night, because I can, very easily. Not just the drop in temperature, but a whole host of other cues, including the smell of the air. Out in the countryside, animals and birds are much quieter at night, and different types of animal are present. In the city it’s even more obvious, as the sounds are all different, if, in most cases, equally unpleasant and grating. Conversely, especially on sunny days, the feel of the sun on my skin is as obvious as it is welcome. But with no light input, those other cues are not sufficient to tell my body that it’s time to sleep or wake up. As for the internal body clock, I remember reading somewhere that studies have shown it to be slightly longer than 24 hours, on average. Not by much, but enough to get you out of sync pretty quickly. My own experience is that, without a rigid routine, I’ll just fall asleep when I feel like it and wake up any old time. It also makes me feel like crap, which is why for some years now I’ve forced myself into a pretty strict daily exercise regime.
It’s not like I’m living in a constant night though, which is similar to the misconception that blind people just see black all the time. This isn’t the case, especially for those born totally blind. We just don’t see anything at all.
Some of the teachers were also careers advisors, assessing each student’s aptitudes and abilities, and advising them what to specialise in. At the end of every school year there were a range of choices, which became greater each year. Parents were closely involved too, with meetings arranged every term so they could discuss these and other issues with the staff. The school had a higher than average proportion of its students going on to university, but by the time I got to the sixth form I had decided not to go down this route, and instead to train for work in the care sector, which is where I ended up. I do occasionaly regret not going to uni but there’s no reason why I still couldn’t do so, if I ever wanted to. I much prefer to be active, however, and the thought of being stuck behind a laptop all day, or in a lecture theatre, just doesn’t appeal.
I’m not certain that it’s strictly true that we can never know about the afterlife in this life. There’s no theoretical reason why we couldn’t, anyway. There are lots of people who claim to have seen ghosts, or spoken to the dead, and so on. Doesn’t mean that any of them are right, but what I find suggestive is that these sorts of claims have existed throughout human history and in all cultures. Why would all societies throughout time and in all parts of the world have a similar idea about ghosts, for example? Or spirit communication? If they were just subconsciously making it up out of fear and loss, surely they would have come up with a million different ideas? When I was little I had a theory that when we die we go and live inside stones, just normal stones like you find in the garden. Why? I have no idea, it was just a childish thought, and not one I actually believed, either. This is the sort of random idea you would expect if people were making up their spiritual beliefs out of thin air. But this is not what we actually find.
I think there’s actually a very good reason why, at least at first glance, it appears that we can know nothing certain about the afterlife, and that is natural selection. Evolutionary pressure would favour the survival of those who fear death more, thinking it might be the end. So most of us end up hardwired to be unsure about it.