I have been fortunate for the past few days to share the company of a blind person that is participating in our research. Just walking and talking with her opens up new ways of "looking" at where I walk, how I talk, and what I notice through my other senses.
Walking: Offices, houses, hallways, and sidewalks are all cluttered! There are so many objects to be avoided, steps to navigate, branches to duck under, and cords to step over.
Talking: I use the words see, look, and picture in normal conversation to a high degree. It makes sense--we are usually either using our visual system or instructing someone else to do so as well.
Hearing: Many stoplights have no auditory tone accompanying the walk signal. Some are equipped with vibrating units, but many of those do not work. However, if there is traffic, one can hear the direction of the cars moving, and anticipate the likely signal for crossing a street. If the streetlight has a walk signal that is not coordinated in that way (such as when there is a left-hand turn green arrow and the walk signal is red), then that can be a challenge.
The guide dog gets breaks of course to run around on the grass, play, and use the facilities. Careful listening can be pretty revealing of not only where the dog is, but what it is doing. Rolling around on the grass makes the tags jingle quite a bit, while running around is heard with the heavier footsteps.
Touching: While walking I can notice the surface below my shoes even through the fairly thick sole and two pairs of socks (yes, two, but that is another story). The change from brick walkways to a sort of cobble-stone parking lot to concrete are something that can be noticed a bit, and provide cues to the location.
Smelling: I have allergies to some pollen right now, so my nose is sort of useless.
Jose Saramago (his books are great! read them!) wrote a very good novel called Blindness (and an accompanying "sequel" of sorts called Seeing, also good and a very interesting idea for political activism). It was revealing of human nature at both its best and worst, and a page turner (sometimes a stomach-turner as well). I recently read a review that pointed out the bias in the novel that arises from having the heroine be sighted, and helping some people who suddenly (and inexplicably) became blind. Why wasn't the heroine a person who has been blind from birth, and would best know how to navigate a world in that way? I think this choice of Saramago's (if it was a "choice" in the conscious sense of the word) is probably a common sighted bias, but perhaps if he spent some time seeing the world without eyes, he would have chosen differently.
Technorati Tags: blindness, Saramago, science, sensation
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4 comments:
One of R's postdocs is very nearly blind and his biggest complaint - dog poop on the sidewalk!
One question, on a different front, that I'd have for your research subject: Is there anything like a "blind" culture in the way that there is a deaf culture? My sense has been--and I have no idea if I'm right--that people without sight are typically much more assimilated into the broader culture, whether they want to or not...
I will have to ask! I think your intuition is correct. I do wonder, though, how the use of instant-messaging, email, blogs, etc., has impacted deaf culture. Although there is a communication barrier face-to-face, maybe the internet opens things up a bit?
So interesting!! Or the reverse -- the instant messaging has made the hearing people more like the deaf. Sounds like an fMRI project....
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