Category: Let's talk
Hi all. Today Oprah had a really interesting person on: a blind high-school student who got around by clicking his tongue and listening for the echoes of that sound that bounced off nearby objects. By doing this, he claimed he could get around places he'd never been to before, and even locate smaller objects on the table, all by the echoes of his clicking sound. He didn't use a cane r anything. I know this skill, echolocation, is used by dolphins and bats to navigate, and I've heard other blind people can do it too. I've never tried it myself and don't think it would work very well, plus I'd rather not go around clicking my tongue all the time, but to each his own I guess. Has anyone ever used echolocation to navigate or do you know anyone who has?
I had oprah on but really wasn't paying attention, wished I did though!
Troy
Personallythough I wouldn't use it but glad it works for him. I could see now people saying "Look at that retarted person clicking his toung!:)
Troy
I use some echolocation to get around. However, I do not click my tongue or clap my hands, as some people do. Though this might be helpful (i'm really not sure it would), I don't want to be looked at as being strange. Well... you know what I mean.
As a test, I once trained three sighted people to get some echo and to use to navigate blindfolded in about an hour per person.
It's a big help, but not nearly as good as sight <grin>.
Bob
I bet most of us use echo location and don't realize it. Sound waves bouncing off objects or passing by them how many of us use that. Our foot steps as we're walking, the cane as it hits the ground, when we pass an object we sense it with our ears don't we. I think we all use it more than we realize.
Hmm, you may have a point there, never really thought of that.
I definitely use echo location. I have done so ever since I was a child. But I don't click my tongue. I use it by the tapping of my cane. I can hear when the tapping bounces off various objects. For example, I've used it a lot when I cross the parking lot at my apartment building. It allows me to go right between two cars, and not run into either one of them, or even touch the cars with my cane. I know that many, many blind people use echo location. Some click their tongues, but most use things like the tapping of their cane, the sounds of their own footsteps, sometimes voices, etc. As long as we have some kind of sound cue to bounce around, we can use echo location.
Actually, this topic has been done before. I'm not scolding, just saying it because if I could remember the topic's name, I'd direct you to it. I agree with those who say we all probably use echolocation to varying degrees. The guy who has done the most with it is Dan Kish, and he lives in California. He's taught some people to do some really impressive things with it like bikeriding. Personally, my reflexes aren't that good that I'd try something like that.
Lou
Yeah. I also think almost every blind person mighty use echolocation, including me. *smile* And yes, I remember responding to another topic like this before, that I use it sometimes. But anyway, yeah, I think that's weird though how that guy on Oprah would personally be so opposed to using a cane. I guess it could be done, but, well, that's is just cool that he is really good with that echolocation thing. I personally could not rely mostly on that, which means I don't know if I'd trust myself doing something like riding a bike or rollerblading. My reflexes aren't that quick either, and I'm so used to physically touching landmarks or (in the case of bike-riding or rollerblading), touching the ground with my feet and cane. I'd be too nervous to stay up on a bike (because I would want to touch the ground with my cane to make sure I knew where I was), and would probably try rollerskating (I don't know about rollerblading), but not to just go around like nothing, as, as mentioned earlier, I think my reflexes would be too slow, and I don't know how one could tell where curbs and ramps are; I wouldn't trust myself to know those things though. I do think it would be cool to try it out sometime though, where I can walk and click a device and see if I knew where I was/was going.
Um, Dan Kish is retarded, and it's a good thing he doesn't care what the general public thinks of him because he makes a big idiot of himself, let me tell you. I know, I've been in the same room with the guy.
As for me using echo location? Well, not the way the blind person portrayed it on Oprah's shhow. I'm inclined to agree with Dragonfire. Most of us use it without realizing it. I mean, how do you know when you've come to the end of a building, or when there's a parked car a few feet away from you? It sounds different, of course. Tapping, clicking, clapping, stomping, talking ... you get the idea. All these are different ways of listening to what's around us.
I use echolocation as well, have done since I was a todler but I use my cane, the sound of my footsteps, ETC, not clicking of my tongue. Although I feel like it's not my place to judge, I wonder if that kid is often given strange looks by sighted ppl who hear him clicking down a hallway or sidewalk?
And did anyone catch his comment regarding canes? I had just turned off the show at that point but my brother who was watching called me and told me that he apparently said canes were for people who cannot walk.
And what do you'll think about how Oprah promoted the show? She described him as "teaching himself to see w/o eyes" which I don't think is an apt description. Certainly, echolocation is helpful and we all use it to some degree or another but I don't see it as a substitute for sight.
I don't click my tongue (never would never will), but, in a pench I will clear my throat, murmur something, something to send out a sound and listen for the returning echo.
I have a friend who is very independent, but he clicks his tongue. However, I've never heard him do it; he just told me he clicked his tongue, one day. I wonder if he has found a silent way to click his tongue? <grin>
Bob
Hi, Laurliz1186. Yeah. I agree, I didn't much like the comment he made about using a cane. (I did watch the whole show to the end though because they had shown some other people after that.) But yeah, although I respected that that was his personal opinion, to me it sounded like he thought less of people who use a cane. (I thought the same thing about the girl who got the movable prosthetic arm because she thought of feeling like a monkey when she had had to use her feet to do things before she had gotten the arm.) I guess they're too ashamed of not appearing "normal" to others because of their disability. I do know how crappy it feels to not be accepted by others, but (aside from taking care of my hygene, being respectful of others, and being responsible for my actions), I don't feel like I need to look and act just like everyone else to be accepted. (No offense to anyone, but that's just what I thought of when I heard those two's specific comments.) They shouldn't have to feel negatively/ashamed to look or do things different from others or feel like that about others who do. *smile* Again, I know it's up to personal preference of what they feel works best for them, and I'm glad their techniques/preferences do work for them, but I still think if a lot of society was socially more accepting of alternative techniques/disabilities that make a person litterally look different, that they wouldn't be thinking/feeling as they do. Somewhat off topic, but I felt I had to comment on that. *smile*