The Boy Who See's Without Eyes!

[GarethB]

I know this is not KC related, but it is on Chanel Five, 9pm part of the Extraordinary People series.

Apparently this boy in the US who is totally bilnd has trained himselft to find his way round using tongue clicks, picking up the echoes as they bounce off surfaces around him!

[Sweet]

Yes i saw the advertising for this, it sounds really good!!

I will try to watch it for pure curiosity value lol!!

[donna]

I missed it! I work with deaf/blind people and some of the ways they find to cope is amazing, one lady is blind and she has a blind partner and they have just had a baby, It amazes me how well they cope....proof there is always a way around problems

[Lesley Foster]

I watched it. It was fascinating to watch the lad cycling and rollerblading and not bumping into things all by just using echo sounding.

His mother deserves a lot of credit for how she encourages him not to think of himself as disabled and to manage on his own.

The ending was a bit abrupt I would like to have known if he chose to make use of a white stick that he was so against using. Matbe there will be a followup at some point.

Lesley.

[Andrew MacLean]

I have a friend who has no optic nerve. His eyes work perfectly well; his brain is extremely agile but the 'wiring' between the two is absent. He has no sight at all.

As a child he developed what he calls 'object sense' which helped him not to bump into things when he was on his own. He also havigates his way round cities using the echoes coming back from buildings, trees etc to tll him what sort of area he is in.

The one thing that he complains about 'blinding' him is a parked vehicle with its ngine running or even worse a pneumatoc compressor for one of those drills.

Andrew

[Pat A]

I recorded it - hopefully will get round to seeing it later today. Sounds very interesting!

[GarethB]

It was interesting viewing.

I could understand why he was against using a white stick because of the experience he had at the blind school. This resulted in him feeling the stick was the sign of disability rather than a tool to overcome disability.

It also highleghted prejudices which blind people face. In that through ignorance people see you with a white stick instantly think you are diabled and need looking after. My friend in a wheelchair says he is only diabled on land without his chair. The chair removes the disability, it is a tool and so is the white stick.

The ending was abrupt, I would have like to know in the end if he used the stick to aid his echo location for the situations it would not help.

It does show what a great help positive role models can be.

[samba_elite]

Finding your way around in the dark by using your tongue is not a new thing,i've been doing it for years,works a treat