born blind

[mully]

I know this may seem like a weird question, but I was having a discussion with a friend about blindness  and  it got me wondering,If a baby was born blind, when it grew up how could you describe things to them- if they had never seen anything at all how could you describe colours and objects to them, it's really puzzled me and was just wondering if anyone had any ideas?

[Scarlett]

I think Blind People know a lot more than one would think. I teach a blind girl singing, and we frequently talk about films we have seen, and so on. It doesn't seem to make much difference to her. I also asked my class how mountains were formed and she, of everyone knew the answer! It amazed me at the time, as she had never seen the earth, the plates, or the mountains. But she can feel things, and smell and hear and imagine. I don't suppose she really knows what "red" is, but who is to say that my red is the same as yours or anyone elses?!

[undercovers]

you can't describe a colour without mentioning other colours so that would be completely out, the only way you could offer discriptions of colours would be to utilise the persons other senses e.g. orange is a warm colour like the sun on your face - this info could be translated into the persons imagination and give them some point of reference to what orange might be like. and when it come to objects you would just need to describe what you is there, e.g. height, weight, texture etc its the smae as someone trying to describe something to you down the telephone you have never seen it but you can imagine what it is given enough info

[undercovers]

scarlette - i don't see why it amazed you that a blind girl knew how the mountains were formed - surely that has nothing to do with sight and more to do with education - blind people obviously have a different learning approach in that they may need someone to make notes in class for them, read them books or help format text etc. but their capacity to learn in not diminished at all. It does always stike me as odd that people with a disability are always presumed to be difficient in all areas of mental and physical ability - i am not having a go but it is a bit patronising and would (rightly) annoy a blind person if you heaped praise on them for understanding a geological process because you didn't think a blind person could do that sort of thing.

[Octavius]

I would imagine that you could use word association to describe feelings or sensations that a blind person could relate to.  Such as red HOT, blue COLD etc etc

 

 

[bernardo]

I think of it by using an analogy.  In our real world, most people have five senses, including sight.  People who have been blind since birth cannot properly understand what colours are like because it is outside their experience.

 

Imagine a parallel universe in which there is an Earth just like ours, but where the people have six senses.  The sixth sense is electricity.  Each person can "feel" electrical impulses from machines, animals and people, and can recognise the different patterns or "signatures" of electricity which each thing produces.

 

Each person has their own individual electrical "signature" which is as individual as a face or a voice.  Therefore, people can know when someone is near, who they are, and roughly what they are doing (what position they are in) even if they are behind or silent or hiding in the next room.  In other words, people can detect each other and interract with each other without needing to use sight or hearing (i.e. you know that someone is there before anybody has spoken, and without having to look up to see who it is).

 

Imagine that you are born into this world without the sixth sense working - so that you are "electricity-blind" (it would have its own word).  People could explain to you what the sixth sense was, and how it works, but you can't have an exact idea because you can't actually "feel" it yourself.

 

Now think what you are imagining this electricity as.  I am thinking of it as flashy coloured lights (indicatingf the shape of the person) and a sort of crackling static sound.  In other words, I am imagining one sense (electricity) in terms of other senses (sight and hearing).

 

 

[bernardo]

(continued due to the tyrannical and

oppressive 2000-character limit)

 

That is probably what blind people do - as other people have suggested, red and blue would be hot and cold; white could be fluffy (cooton wool); green could be smooth and wet.  So a blind person would have an idea of what sight is only in the sense of imagining the colours as different textures or temperatures.

[Octavius]

Whether someone was blind or not, how else would you describe 'red' other than by word-association.....?

 

 

[Scarlett]

Undercovers- you misunderstand me!

What I found amazing was the fact that she knew more than everyone else did. She was in fact better educated tham the others people in the group, even though they go to the same school etc.

[Curious79]

Something that I have found interesting is that everyone may see colours differently.  From a young age someone will point at a colour and tell us what it is i.e red, blue etc.  But how do we know that the red we are seeing is the same as the red they are seeing??  Our lives are full of colours but how do we know that what someone else sees is the same as what we see?  We have no way of knowing.  Does any of that make sense :o)

[Octavius]

Well someone (e.g. Nicola Red) will say " do you like my red hair?" and we will all say "yes, it is very red innit".  Perhapos you are referring to colour-blindness (which is not what the question is about really).

 

I think generally red is red, blue is blue etc, but pink really is a crime, and men should definitely not have blonde highlights. 

[Curious79]

I don't mean colour blind.  I mean that we are just told what is red and what is blue but how do we know that the colour we are seeing is the same colour as the next person is seeing.  Unless we could see through their eyes, which is impossible then we will never know...  Bit deep for a Thursday afternoon