This blind woodworker's story will change how you see life
What this covers
“I feel like I had to lose my sight to fully gain my vision.” John Furniss on how becoming blind led him to drug abuse, rehab, woodworking, and finally, to a fulfilling life.
Subscribe to Big Think on YouTube ► https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCvQECJukTDE2i6aCoMnS-Vg?sub_confirmation=1
John Furniss, also known as the Blind Woodsman, opens up about his journey from a difficult past to finding peace and purpose. After losing his sight as a teenager, John struggled for years to accept his new reality, battling inner turmoil and substance abuse along the way. It wasn't until he discovered woodworking through a vocational rehab program that he found a way to channel his creativity and start healing.
Woodworking became more than just a skill for John; it allowed him to bring the designs he imagined in his mind to life. This craft also led him to meet his wife, Annie, who has been a constant source of love and support. Through his work and his relationship, John found a sense of belonging and a new way of seeing the world. He reflects on how losing his sight actually helped him gain a clearer vision of who he is and what he’s meant to do, ultimately finding peace in embracing his true self.
John’s new memoir, ‘The Blind Woodsman’, is available through his publisher: https://foxchapelpublishing.com/products/the-blind-woodsman?variant=49478375112985
Read more from this interview ► LINK?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=video&utm_campaign=youtube_description
Explore the Perception Box series hub ► https://bigthink.com/perception-box/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=video&utm_campaign=youtube_description
We created this video in partnership with Unlikely Collaborators.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Go Deeper with Big Think:
►Become a Big Think Member Get exclusive access to full interviews, early access to new releases, Big Think merch and more. https://members.bigthink.com/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=video&utm_campaign=youtube_description ►Get Big Think+ for Business Guide, inspire and accelerate leaders at all levels of your company with the biggest minds in business. https://bigthink.com/plus/great-leaders-think-big/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=video&utm_campaign=youtube_description
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
About John Furniss:
John Furniss, known professionally as The Blind Woodsman, is a skilled woodworker, author, and disability advocate recognized for his meticulous hand-turned creations. After losing his sight at 16, John faced significant challenges adapting to life with total blindness. In his 20s, he found his passion for woodworking through a class designed for the blind, which led to the development of his unique craft.
Today, John’s work has been featured on platforms such as Good Morning America and The Kelly Clarkson Show. He and his wife, Anni, who is also an artist, use their social media platforms to share their work and raise awareness about disability and mental health. John’s expertise in woodworking and his contributions to the art community have established him as a respected figure in his field.
Source description (no synthesized summary yet).
A person who became blind after a suicide attempt describes how losing his sight, combined with overcoming drug addiction, ultimately led him to discover purpose through woodworking and genuine self-acceptance rather than the false belonging he sought through rebellion and substance use.
- Blindness forced confrontation with identity rather than allowing continued avoidance through destructive behaviors
- Woodworking provided both practical employment and a means to externalize internal vision, creating tangible connection with others
- Acceptance of blindness as essential to who he is meant to be became the foundation for peace rather than continued resistance
This asset isn't compiled yet
You're seeing its claims, ranked. Compile it to build the argument threads, weight them, and check each claim against your library — the full view.
The more the speaker hid his substance use and rule-breaking from authority figures and peers, the more it eroded his sense of self or sense of integrity.
“and I did whatever I could to hide it, but the more I hid it, the more it just eroded my soul.”
Human beings construct narratives and stories to convince themselves of what they do or don't want, which enables avoidance of difficult realities.
“I know it sounds odd that I was able to avoid facing something so all-encompassing as total blindness, but we'll tell ourself a lot of things to make ourselves think what we do or don't want.”
The speaker pours a part of himself into each woodworking piece he creates.
“I pour a part of myself into each piece.”
There is a large and established community of blind woodworkers who practice the craft.
“Come to find out there is a very large community of woodworkers that are blind.”
During his addiction, the speaker was 'just kind of existing' and wanted to be high all the time, with drugs being his primary reason for staying alive.
“I really was just kind of existing. I wanted to just be high all the time. Drugs kept me alive. It was my one reason for still living.”
The speaker faced a choice between cleaning up his addiction or going to prison, and initially conceived of his plan as stopping drug use only long enough to get off probation before returning to active use.
“and then it came to the point where I was going to either clean up my act or go to prison, 'cause that was a very real possibility. Basically, in my mind at the time, it was 'Okay, I'll stop using long enough to get off probation, and then I'm back on the horse.'”
Despite his initial plan to resume drug use after probation ended, once the speaker got completely free from active meth use, he actually wanted to remain clean and be totally done with methamphetamine.
“But luckily, once I finally did get totally out from under the spell, I did want to be clean. I did want to be totally done with meth.”
After committing to sobriety, the speaker didn't initially know what his path forward would be, but he was aware that it had the potential to go to a much better place.
“And at that point, I didn't even know what my path was. I just knew that it had the potential to go to a much better place.”
The speaker initially avoided fully facing the reality of total blindness for approximately 10-12 years after waking up in the hospital, despite the fundamental nature of the condition.
“When I woke up in the hospital, they didn't tell me I was gonna be blind for a while. It took me a long time to really come around to it and face it fully.”
After becoming blind, the speaker moved back to Craig (his hometown), where he knew every detail of the physical layout, and subsequently became heavily involved in methamphetamine use and dealing.
“After I shot myself and was blind, I got out of the hospital. I couldn't be the rebel that I wanted to be, so I moved back to Craig. It's where I grew up. I knew every square inch of that town. I got heavily involved in meth. I got in trouble. Got put on probation for dealing drugs.”
The speaker experienced significant anxiety during his youth, constantly fearing being looked down upon by peers and feared getting in trouble from parents for smoking cigarettes and drinking.
“I had kind of a hard time growing up because I felt like I didn't really fit in. I felt kind of different than my peers, I guess. I'd been experiencing a lot of anxiety. I just constantly feared things. I feared being looked down upon by my peers. I feared getting in trouble by my parents because I was smoking cigarettes and I was drinking.”
The speaker has a vivid visual imagination and describes it as having a computer design program in his mind, allowing him to manipulate layers, shapes, and colors mentally, and change anything and everything he wants.
“I have such a vivid visual imagination. It's really like I have a computer design program in my mind. I'm able to literally take the layers and put them together, the shapes, the colors, and change anything and everything I want to.”
After the suicide attempt that caused blindness, the speaker contemplated suicide again because, as a teenager, he didn't want to be different.
“I definitely contemplated suicide after that again, 'cause no teenager wants to be different.”
The speaker had always been into crafts, and when he discovered woodworking as an elective in vocational rehabilitation, he decided to give it a try, and it came second nature to him.
“I've always really been into crafts, so I decided to give it a try, and it's one of those things that came second nature to me.”
Woodworking is how the speaker met his wife, Anni, and he refers to her as his 'honeybee,' expressing deep affection.
“There's one other really good thing that happened. Woodworking is how I met my wonderful wife, Anni. She's my honeybee. I love her buzz.”
The opportunity to become 'The Blind Woodsman' and to find a person (his wife) to both share his gifts with and help him share those gifts has allowed him to use his vision to look below the surface and beyond the horizon.
“The opportunity to become The Blind Woodsman, and find my person to both share my gifts with and to help me share those gifts-- it's helped me use that vision to look below the surface and beyond the horizon.”
The speaker truly believes that to be who he is and to do what he's supposed to do, he is supposed to be blind.
“I really, truly believe to be who I am and to do what I'm supposed to do, that I'm supposed to be blind.”
The speaker feels that he had to lose his sight to truly gain his vision, and that this experience helped him finally decide to be himself and accept himself for who he is.
“I feel like I had to lose my sight to truly gain my vision. I've finally decided to be me, to accept me for me.”
The loss of the ability to drive and to target shoot hit the speaker hardest after becoming blind, as these were activities he loved and activities he prided himself on.
“I think the two things that hit me the hardest were that I couldn't drive anymore, and I couldn't target shoot. I loved driving, and I very much prided myself on target shooting, and those were two of the things that were going to be taken from me permanently.”
The speaker reached a critical breaking point where he no longer wanted to continue hiding his substance use and decided he was done with it.
“Finally, I got to the point where I just didn't wanna do it anymore. I was just done, and then I went and sat in my car and did what I did.”
The speaker shot himself in a suicide attempt, and the experience was sudden unconsciousness with everything 'instantly' going black.
“It didn't knock me out. Just went black. Everything went instantly black.”
The speaker's belief that he is supposed to be blind has helped him come to peace with the world, and this peace is based on the integration of seemingly contradictory emotions.
“but it's something that has helped me come to peace with the world. I really think that.”
One of the things the speaker loves most about woodworking is taking a design that only he can see in his mind and turning it into a real physical object that he can hand to someone else and say 'This is what I see.'
“One of the things that I love the most about woodworking: I can take this design that only I can see in my mind, and then I turn it into a real physical thing that I can hand to you and say, 'This is what I see.'”
It is both rewarding and difficult for the speaker to believe that he is supposed to be blind, and there are days when he feels this way but does not want to be blind—a complicated emotion that is warm and fuzzy and cold and rough all at the same time.
“It's rewarding to feel that. It's also tough because there are definitely days that, yeah, I feel like I'm supposed to be blind, but damn it, I don't wanna be. It's a complicated emotion. It's warm and fuzzy and cold and rough all at the same time.”
The speaker felt a 'belonging peace' when he met his wife Anni, which told him this was where he was supposed to be.
“I felt this, like, belonging peace that told me this is where I'm supposed to be.”
Vocational rehabilitation is an organization that helps disabled people find employment, and they also offer elective classes like woodshop.
“I started working with vocational rehab. It's not a substance rehab. They are an organization that helps you find employment, specifically with disabled people, but they also had the elective of wood shop.”
Because most of his money was directed toward his methamphetamine habit, the speaker lived in seedy boarding houses during his addiction period.
“Since most of my money was going to my habit, I was living in these really seedy boarding houses.”