do you use your other senses more?

[Alice Blue]

Just curious as I tend to use touch etc for things I cannot see, or even manage to do more than one thing at once by doing things by touch.

have you found you use other senses more due to lack of sight or are you very reliant on sight?

[Andrew MacLean]

Alice

I was really unable to see very much at all when I stopped being able to wear contact lenses. In that time I learned to do quite a lot without the use of my eyes; even today if I am in a hurry I sometimes find it easier to do some things 'blind'. I get around the house without seeing, often with no lights on. I dress and tie my shoe laces without seeing.

When I am out and about I use my hearing a lot. It is not entirely true that your hearing gets better, but I do think that we all learn to understand better the things that we do hear. An example would be that I can tell by the tone of a car's engine whether it is comint towards me or going away from me.

Andrew

[Sweet]

Alice,

When I had a lot of problems with my eye and couldn't wear a lens my sight was really bad, I got around the house by remembering where everything was and by touch. I have also found that my hearing and smell is very good which could be down to having such bad eyesight!

We can rely on touch and hearing very well, I used to stand on the pavement and just listen without looking for any cars, I have lost most of this skill as I can see very well now to look. It is amazing at how much you can tell is happening just by listening to everything around you!

[Louise Pembroke]

I don't feel my other senses have become better at all when my sight has been less

[cherishu2]

i can do lots with touch in fact i find it easier to shut my eyes at times. especially when crossing roads (do take into account im reg blind so have no useful sight anyhow, wen it comes to the road.) so my hearing is better too.
i closed my eyes wen i do up millies babygrows to or i get confused cos there are 200 press studs instead of 8 lol.

[Anne B]

lol cherishu2. After i had my third child i was also at the stage where i could of been registered blind. I used my sense of touch with my children loads, doing up babygrows was one thing and could do it with ease. My husband on the other hand who has good sight always struggled, i used to say to him wich one of us is disabled!! I used to have to feel to do the kids coats up and i would feel their faces to see if they were dirty. My esnse of hearing is quiet good no one in my house can mumble anything about me without me hearing them

[GarethB]

I use my other senses more.

They are not better developed, I have just learnt to use them more effectivly.

As a consequence when I can see I properly observe things and see the detail most take for granted.

[mike scott]

i find i can navigate just as well if not better around the house in the dark , i rely very much on my memory too to find things especially keys lol. touch is very important to me and i feel that i have an increased awareness of sound.

Mike

[Rich Moore]

Interesting question. I do feel that my spatial awareness and hearing are more acute since living with KC for 5+ years. For example, when riding my bike, I often hear approaching cars long before my fellow riders.

I think beng diagnosed with KC makes you aware of your visual limiations and therefore forces you to question what you see (or don't see).

[Amarpal]

This is an interesting discussion. When in my house without lenses, I suppose I remeber things down to memory too, but yes, I rely on touch alot to be able to do things. I don't bother switching lights on in the room if I'm only there to get something, because I use my sens of touch to find, say a set of keys on a table, for example.