The answer to whether blind people can move their eyes is generally yes, because the ability to physically move the eyes is distinct from the ability to see. Blindness is most often a problem with the sensory input—the visual information—or the brain’s processing of that input, rather than a failure of the mechanical system that controls the movement of the eyeballs. The structures responsible for directing the gaze function independently of the visual cortex. This means that even without sight, the motor commands can still be executed. Understanding this difference requires a look into the separate biological systems governing vision and eye movement.
Why Eye Movement Is Usually Possible
The physical movement of the eyes relies on a set of six muscles known as the extraocular muscles, which attach to the outside of each eyeball. These muscles—the medial, lateral, superior, and inferior rectus, plus the superior and inferior oblique—are responsible for all directions of gaze. Their contractions are directed by the brainstem via three dedicated motor cranial nerves: the oculomotor nerve (III), the trochlear nerve (IV), and the abducens nerve (VI).
Unless the condition causing blindness specifically damages these nerves, the extraocular muscles, or the brainstem nuclei that control them, the mechanical capacity for movement remains intact. This oculomotor system operates at a lower, more reflexive level than the cerebral cortex where conscious visual perception occurs.
How Vision Loss Changes Eye Movement Patterns
Although the mechanical ability to move the eyes persists, vision loss profoundly alters the pattern of movement. Sighted individuals constantly employ two primary sight-guided movements: saccades and smooth pursuit. Saccades are rapid, jump-like movements used to quickly shift the gaze, while smooth pursuit is used to continuously track a moving object.
When visual input is lost, these highly coordinated reflexes that depend on seeing a target cease or become disorganized. For instance, the ability to perform smooth pursuit is extremely difficult or impossible without a target that is visibly moving. The type of blindness also matters: individuals who acquire blindness later in life often retain the ability to voluntarily initiate saccades, even though they cannot see the target.
However, in individuals with profound blindness present since birth, the development of voluntary saccades may be impaired or absent because the motor system never received the visual input necessary to calibrate its function. The eye movements that remain tend to be searching, voluntary movements or more random shifts, reflecting the shift from a visual-guided system to one dependent on other sensory or internal cues.
Specific Involuntary Movements
In some cases of profound, early-onset blindness, the lack of visual information leads to the development of involuntary eye movements, most notably Nystagmus. Nystagmus is characterized by the rhythmic, repetitive oscillation of the eyes, often occurring because the brain lacks the visual feedback necessary to stabilize the gaze. This condition is common in individuals with vision impairment that began in the first six months of life, a time when the brain is developing its gaze-holding mechanism.
Nystagmus can manifest in different forms, such as pendular Nystagmus, which involves slow, sinusoidal oscillations in a smooth, wave-like motion. Another type is jerk Nystagmus, which involves a slow drift of the eyes in one direction followed by a fast, corrective movement in the opposite direction.
Furthermore, binocular blindness often causes general gaze instability, which can appear as slow, drifting movements that are larger than the subtle micro-movements seen in sighted individuals. These disorganized movements, sometimes described informally as “roving,” are a sign that the neural network responsible for holding a steady gaze is no longer receiving its necessary visual input.