100% blind throughout the ENTIRE movie. Look at all the other questions on YA or anywhere on the internet, you will see TONS of clues that he was indeed blind throughout the movie.
For someone else's answer:
He is startled when he opens the door and sees the dead man hanging there. If he truly was blind and had "heightened senses," he would've smelled the body already and not been so surprised to simply open the doors and smell the body.
***He actually was startled by the DOORS of the closet falling.
Along the same lines, some make the argument that he had heightened senses and utilized them at various points throughout the movie. For example, when he comes upon the woman asking for help, some say that he smelled the hiding men simply through heightened senses. However, I don't think it's too much to say that any man could smell five guys who haven't bathed, showered, or in any way cleaned themselves for years from a few yards away.
**He smelled the stench of the guys behind the thing and that it was a trap.
When he looks in the car to see if the skeleton has shoes, he never actually touches the feet (If you watch closely, you'll notice that when he reaches in, he tests the gas and brake pedals). This would imply that he saw that there were no shoes.
**He does check by feeling
When he cuts off the man's hand, kills all the men, then goes back to that guy, how does he know that the man is reaching for his hand? How does he know exactly where the hand is and kick it aside?
**He's got keen sense of all of his other senses, he knew the guy was reaching for his hand.
The lighter that he takes has an American flag on it and Eli mentions to the engineer that it is American made. How would a blind man know that?
**He had it before he lost his sight, or someone else told him it was american made.
Also in the pawn shop, Eli trades the wet wipes, which are from KFC, noting that they are "finger licking good." How would a blind man know where they're from?
**He smelled the KFC on it, or someone told him it was KFC and he believed him, or he went into a KFC to get them.
Just because someone knows braille doesn't mean they're blind. It's the same as sign language in that regard.
**It doesn't matter at all, he's still blind, by many other clues. I know you can read Braille and not be blind.
At the end of the movie, when it zooms in on his eyes, at least one is clearly glazed over. Let's not forget, though, that after he was shot by Carnegie and revived, he walked for quite a while without sunglasses, leaving his eyes exposed to the sun.
**Both are glazed over, you don't really need to see both eyes to know this. He's obviously blind the entire movie.
Not sure about this last one, but when Eli and Solara make it to Alcatraz Island, I'm pretty sure Eli says something like, "This looks like a museum to me" when they're being given a tour of the inside.
**Eli did not say that.
I could list a TON of reasons why he was blind.
He heard the cat meow, thus enabling him to shoot the cat with the arrow.
He heard the vehicles coming up to the old folks home.
He heard the china rattle thus deducing that they are human eaters.
He kicked the bottom stair before walking up the steps to the old folks house.
He didn't see the no trespassing sign because he was blind.
He told the mouse that "you have to come to me" because he heard the mouse.
He says he walks by faith not by sight.
He says he can "smell" the people doing the ambush from "a mile away" (not sure of the exact quote).
He smells the ocean and knows he is close.
He kept clicking the iPod even though it said battery low. If he could see, he'd realize the battery was low. Only after clicking like crazy did he realize it was low.
He kept telling Solara to be quiet, because he was using his hearing.
When he flicks the lighter open and flicks it, he moves his hand over the flame to prove to him it works because he's blind.