I have a very hard time believing someone would fake blindness for over a year. Not saying it is impossible, but going all the way with guard dog, brail school, support money, and on top of that fooling all your friends and people you know seems very extreme. I know I for sure would not be willing and/or able to pull a stunt like that for such a long time. Anyway, not sure how to feel about it, but you'd think assessing blindness shouldn't be too hard, so there could be an answer to this question.