Ada Gillyflower was blinded by her mother, Winifred Gillyflower. (TV: The Crimson Horror)
Blindness is the condition of having severely impaired or no sense of sight.
Blindness often allowed for the heightening of other senses. (TV: Vincent and the Doctor [+]Richard Curtis, Doctor Who series 5 (BBC One, 2010).; AUDIO: Flip-Flop[additional sources needed])
Glaucoma was a disease which could lead to blindness. (AUDIO: Made You Look)
Burning one's eyes, for example with taranium, could lead to such a state of blindness, (TV: "Devil's Planet") as could, in the case of Time Lords, prolonged exposure to the vacuum of space. The Twelfth Doctor himself became blind after walking outside in a vacuum without a helmet for too long. The Doctor's attempts at restoring his sight failed, leaving him unable to see at all. (TV: Oxygen [+]Jamie Mathieson, Doctor Who series 10 (BBC One, 2017).)
Some conditions, like cataracts, could lead someone to effectively be "practically blind", as they could not differentiate between colour and light. King Henry VIII, for example, saw everything as a blur, even with glasses, until the Third Doctor cured his cataracts in 1539. (PROSE: Hiccup in Time)
As his visit to Ravolox was reviewed during his trial at Space Station Zenobia, the Doctor protested that it was "obvious to a blind speelsnape" that he only worked for Drathro under duress. (TV: The Mysterious Planet)
Blindness in humans[]
During one public execution in 2nd century Rome, two blind men were both given swords and made to fight each other. The spectators found the exhibition hilarious. (PROSE: The Stone Rose)
Stevie Wonder time travelled with the Doctor and River Song to 1814 and performed for River's birthday. He didn't realise he time travelled because of his blindness. (TV: A Good Man Goes to War [+]Steven Moffat, Doctor Who series 6 (BBC One, 2011).)
In 1851, Jacob Crackles was blinded and paralysed when C'rizz attacked him. (AUDIO: Other Lives)
Ada Gillyflower was blind from her mother, Winifred's, experiments with red leech poison to create an antidote from the toxins. Winifred claimed that she was blinded by her father in a drunken rage. (TV: The Crimson Horror [+]Mark Gatiss, Doctor Who series 7 (BBC One, 2013).)
Parkinson was a blind vicar who lived in Shoreditch in 1963. His blindness was caused by a German mustard gas attack at Verdun during World War I. (PROSE: Remembrance of the Daleks) He prepared a grave for the Hand of Omega at the request of the First Doctor, and later presided over the burial of the coffin containing the Hand at the request of the Seventh Doctor. He stated to the Doctor that he had noticed the Doctor's voice had changed since they last met, to which the Doctor replied, "Yes it has changed, several times". (TV: Remembrance of the Daleks)
On Karn, Sarah Jane Smith was temporarily blinded by a flash of power from Maren's ring. (TV: The Brain of Morbius) Soon afterwards, she discovered the Bona Dea cult in Ancient Rome whose misuse of an alien machine was causing temporary blindness in wealthy women. (PROSE: Sarah Jane and the Temple of Eyes)
Elizabeth Rowlinson was blind until Morgaine restored her sight. (TV: Battlefield)
Grace Holloway was temporarily blinded from looking into the beam that used a human retina to open the Eye of Harmony. (TV: Doctor Who [+]Matthew Jacobs, Doctor Who Television Movie (Fox Broadcasting Company, 1996).)
Professor Francis McCallum blinded himself when he was a child to help him escape the influence of the Red Lady after the entity killed his parents. He subsequently used his inheritance to buy up all other examples of the Red Lady's appearance across history to try and protect others from suffering the same fate. After his wife and son looked at his collection and died, McCallum killed himself. When the collection was taken to a museum, the Eighth Doctor and Liv Chenka fell victim to the Red Lady's influence, but temporarily blinded themselves with their scarves until they could 'exorcise' her from their minds. (AUDIO: The Red Lady)
Rita-Anne Smith was blind. In 2002 she broke her neck and died when she tripped on carpet Mickey Smith forgot to fix. In a parallel universe in 2007, Rita-Anne Smith was also blind, and after her grandson died Mickey fixed her carpet so she would not suffer the same fate as her counterpart and stayed with her, allowing her to believe he was Ricky. (TV: Rise of the Cybermen [+]Tom MacRae, adapted from Spare Parts (Marc Platt), Doctor Who series 2 (BBC One, 2006).)
Francine was blinded when her fighter craft was shot down during the Thousand Day War. (PROSE: Transit)
Gantman was blind, but as he was curator of the Museum of Aural Antiquities, this did not affect his ability to work. (AUDIO: Whispers of Terror)
In the Game Station version of Stars in Their Eyes, losing contestants would be blinded. (TV: Bad Wolf)
Mikhail was blind in his later years. (PROSE: Reversal of Fortune)
One old woman went blind because an alien insect had taken her eyes. After the Sixth Doctor killed the alien, he returned the eyes to the old woman. (PROSE: The Eyes Have It)
On the colony world known as the Elysian Fields, healing nanites were corrupted by a pair of con artists so that they would allow people to relive old memories, or be relieved of painful ones, in exchange for some of their senses. Victoria Waterfield was blinded in exchange for a brief opportunity to relive a memory of her father, but the Doctor was able to restore the artificial intelligence controlling the nanites to its original programming, restoring Victoria's vision and the senses of various other parties. (AUDIO: The Elysian Blade)
Hanne was blind for as long as she could remember. She had no trouble getting around, and primarily used touch and sound to ascertain her surroundings. (TV: It Takes You Away [+]Ed Hime, Doctor Who series 11 (BBC One, 2018).)
By the 51st century, humans still sufferred with blindness. The Villengard Ambulance Units deemed blindness a fatal condition that warranted smelting the Anglican Marines who served in the fabricated conflict on Kastarion 3, as John Francis Vater experienced. (TV: Boom [+]Steven Moffat, Doctor Who series 14 (BBC One and Disney+, 2024).)
Blindness in other species[]
Davros was left blind after he was crippled in a Thal attack. (AUDIO: Davros, Corruption) He was later able to see via a cybernetic third eye embedded in the middle of his forehead. (TV: Genesis of the Daleks) At some point before he met the Twelfth Doctor, his eyes were at least physically restored, although he still relied on the cybernetic eye. As a result of his eyes being restored, Davros could use them if he so chose which he did while meeting with the Doctor in the Dalek City on Skaro. Davros stated at this point that it had been a long time since he'd used his real eyes. (TV: The Witch's Familiar [+]Steven Moffat, Doctor Who series 9 (BBC One, 2015).)
Daleks could be blinded if their eyestalk was destroyed or if the lens was covered. (TV: "The Escape", Destiny of the Daleks, Resurrection of the Daleks, Revelation of the Daleks, Remembrance of the Daleks, The Parting of the Ways [+]Russell T Davies, Doctor Who series 1 (BBC One, 2005).) However, by the time of the Time War, the Daleks had developed a means of protecting their eyestalks. (TV: The Stolen Earth [+]Russell T Davies, Doctor Who series 4 (BBC One, 2008).)
Mother Finsey was blinded when the Master attempted to kill her after they had spent some time travelling together. She was able to learn how to compensate for her lack of sight, and eventually created a set of lenses that allowed her to 'see' in infrared, as well as giving her an artificial version of the Master's hypnotic ability. (AUDIO: The Transcendence of Ephros)
In 1890, a blind Krafayis was left behind on Earth by its pack. (TV: Vincent and the Doctor)
Peri Brown and Erimem met a blind Pakhar beggar on Garazone. (AUDIO: Nekromanteia)
Some species were naturally blind. The Cimmerian race was totally blind and had no concept of either sight nor eyes. They accidentally blinded Orllensa, Mike Ferras and Haliard, but later healed them. (AUDIO: Embrace the Darkness) Slithergees were also naturally blind, but compensated for this with a keen sense of smell. (AUDIO: Flip-Flop) The Masters of Dorada lost the organs for sight and hearing when they became disembodied brains, but could still sense others' thoughts. (PROSE: The Dream Masters) The Kantrofarri were blind and deaf. (TV: Last Christmas [+]Steven Moffat, Doctor Who Christmas Special 2014 (BBC One, 2014).)
The Time Lady Solenti had been blind in her current incarnation for ninety-one years since she witnessed some catastrophic event that damaged her eyes. However, the neural pathways controlling her sight were still intact in her brain, with the result that she would regain her vision when she regenerated, although even after this was confirmed she decided to remain in her current incarnation until she absolutely had to change rather than regenerate just to regain her sight. (PROSE: The Suns of Caresh)
The Twelfth Doctor was left blind after being exposed to the vacuum of space. (TV: Oxygen [+]Jamie Mathieson, Doctor Who series 10 (BBC One, 2017).) He subsequently compensated for this by using the sonic sunglasses to transmit information directly to his mind, giving him a framework to allow himself to walk and interact with others without anyone recognising his loss of sight, the glasses presenting the Doctor with basic images[disputed statement] of his surroundings and quick biological details of anyone around him. (TV: Extremis [+]Steven Moffat, Doctor Who series 10 (BBC One, 2017).) His eyesight was eventually restored by the Monks when Bill Potts made a deal with them to restore the Doctor's vision in exchange for surrendering Earth to them when the Doctor was trapped in a lab with an explosive and could only escape if he could see the locking mechanism. (TV: The Pyramid at the End of the World [+]Peter Harness and Steven Moffat, Doctor Who series 10 (BBC One, 2017).)
