Question: was mary from little house on the prairie blind in real life

Answer: Yes, At the age of 14, Ingalls suffered an illness--thought to be scarlet fever--at the time believed to have caused her to lose her eyesight. A 2013 study published in the journal Pediatrics, concluded it was actually viral meningoencephalitis that caused Ingalls' blindness, based on evidence from first-hand accounts and newspaper reports of her illness as well as relevant school registries and epidemiologic data on blindness and infectious diseases. Between 1881 and 1889, Ingalls attended the Iowa Braille and Sight Saving School in Vinton, Iowa.