Category: Let's talk
I was reading another post on here titled: "Things Blind People Hate".
I felt that I should make a whole new topic because I've been meaning to post the question for a while having seen other people mention this time & time again before.
Is there anyone out there who DOES believe that they can hear better then their sighted counterparts? I ask because maybe it's just me since I was born blind (& maybe it has more to do with my other problems as opposed to my blindness itself), but I do believe that I can hear better then sighted people.
Examples: I've been walking down the sidewalk with my mobility instructor & actually heard trees, telephone poles, cable boxes etc. Not because they make noise, but just simply hearing that they were there, & even being able to distinguish between them. Like:
"Hey Doug, that's a tree! & that's a cable box!" Or:
"There's a sign post over there."
Also, he measured it (he had wanted me to track a car), & he figured out that I could hear that car up until it was about 6 city blocks behind/ahead of me.
So I'm just wondering if there's anyone out there who has noticed that about themselves.
I don't believe that...but I do believe that's one of the misconceptions of blindness.
No, what I'm saying, & I already know most here see it as a misconception, but for me it's not a misconception because in my personal life, it's real.
So that's why I'm wondering if there's anyone like me, who can say that it's true "for themselves" as a blind person.
It's already been well established that most think it's a misconception, & for them, it must be otherwise they wouldn't say that. But for me, it's not. So I'm wondering if there's anyone out there like me.
Thanks,
Michelle
I'm with Chelsea on this one. However, I hink we perceive more with our hearing, simply because we've honed the skill, while sighted people rely on a combination of sight and hearing. We're just more attentive to sound.
that's the wording I was looking for: we're just more atentive.
what really fucks me off is those blind people who are held up as super human. there's some who advocate echo location as being the b all and end all, and it ain't. these people go around clicking their tongues and listening for echos, my gawd! how to win friends and influence people! that's bound to endear you to your sighted counterparts. and no, the hearing thing is bollocks, there is no prooven link to blindness and better hearing. it's just that we use it more as blind people, so the sighted, who cannot imagine ever being blind, um, sorry, 100 of you are losing yoru sight every day, so welcome to our world, can ever imagine a blind person living any kind of life independantly, so they make up super hero status for us. stupid tossers. back to the echo location thing, i've even had it spouted that you can take one of these clicking morons into an unfamiliar place and they can identify trash cans, lamp posts etc without first knowing they are there in the first place. without wanting to start a flame war, i hazard that the original poster of this thread knows her route very well and knows what she is passing is a mail box, or a trash can etc. unless trash cans, or mail boxes were uniform in construction, one will not sound like another. but use of the cane/dog cannot be replaced by such bullshit. listening out for your surroundings can give you clues, but not be the sole guide to your world.
we use it differently then our sighted counterparts. the only way the hearing misconception ever helped me was in high school. My senior english teacher was a real yeller and screamer. I kid you not when mr. M. got going you could here him on the other side of the courtyard. The windows were shut. When we got in to class the first day he said "I will not yell at this class. I don't want to hurt holly's ears." I was like "thank you sweet jesus." When he would start to raise his voice I'd sit there and hold my ears and shake my head. My classmates loved me.
I don't think I have any better of hearing than what I had before going blind. However I do think hta tI pay more attention to my hearing because I don't have th e eyesight to use. I notice things that sighted people don't because they let their eyes take controle.
I don't use the whole click my tongue thing, I saw something on Oprah about that, or some other talk show.
I didn't know the route well, I was taken to different locations all around my area & my mobility specialist's area as well.
I don't think I'm super human, but I do think we all have our own opinions on this topic, which is why I originally started it, because as I said, I was curious to find out if I was alone in this or if anyone here believed as I do.
I will also add, that I did use a cane & still do. I do not currently own a dog due to cost.
In our mobility classes, you couldn't get away with not bringing your cane. Lol. You didn't bring your cane, you were simply set aside while the rest of the kids did their thing, so I always carried my cane when in class.
Nice to see you get so riled smokey bear, I had no idea. Lol.
I do think that some blind people have better hearing than others, just like I believe that there are some sighted people that have better hearing than others. For one thing, if you use a certain sense or ability, it will be heightened or be better than that sense or ability of other people.
I know for a fact that my hearing is much more sensitive than other people's. For example, many people have their cell or house phones on the highest possible volume. I have my cell phone on the lowest possible volume and still have to hold it a few inches away from my ear. Also, when I go to church, attend concerts, or sit in a car in which loud music is playing, I must wear earplugs because the sound is much too loud.
I can also hear when I pass trees, telephone poles, and street signs, though I can't differentiate one from another just by listening. Too, I use echo location, but I can't identify specific objects with it. I can just detect objects far off.
I don't think that blind people should be looked at as superhuman or super heroes. But having better hearing than others is not a misconception. If some sighted people have better sight than other people, the same is true for blind peoplewith hearing.
Thank you Digressive. . .
That's all I was wondering. I to wasn't making it a point that I had to be super human. Anyone who knows me in real life, or even who's chatted with me enough through the zone knows that I'm not an egotistical bitch who has to point out all my "perfections". If anything, I point out my "flaws" too much, not the other way around.
Now that I've got my answer as to whether anyone felt like I do the topic can be permanently closed down, but I know it won't be,.
Again, thank you.
i wasn't spacifically digging at the poster, but the whole echo location thing got tonnes of press over here, and even my mum rang me and tried to convince me it was the best thing since fresh bread. i told her it was a load of shite, that the claims were far too excentric and far fetched to be true, and that this was not a substitute for learning routes and using a cane well.
That's definitely true & I second your motion on that.
I think the kiddies may start trying other things though, & it wouldn't surprise me if they did. You know, that whole "out with the old, in with the new" thing, & if it works for them, I'm happy for them. However, I would never do it myself.
Ah! Echo location is quite helpful, but substituting it for canes and learning routes? Uh, no way! That's a little farfetched. It comes in handy, but I don't use it that often. I prefer a cane, for they are much less annoying.
And the best thing since fresh bread? Lmao!
I saw a boy on the oprah show who uses echolocation to help hiimself get around, and to me, that's just plain ... God, he had the nerve to say something similar to, 'I don't need a cane." Fucking arrogant brat! okay, rant over.
that might have been the same lad who i heard of train to use echo location. poor little shit.
i knew a guy who used echolocation and refused a cane or dog. he fell off the metro platform and became track pizza. What on earth was oprah thinking by having this kid on her show?
echo location without a cane or dog? wtf? track pizza indeed. hmm.
Psssh, forget guide dogs. We need guide DOLPHINS up in this mo fo. Echolocation fo real, yawl.