blindness

Subhisara Bhalakula 5207640706

STEVIE WONDER Just because a man lacks the use of his eyes does not mean he lacks vision.

The closely synonymous terms, "sightless" and "blind", that covers the contemporary theme of disability studies, in the context of blindness. The terms "blind" and "blindness" are much more common than the terms "sightless"

and "sightlessness". This usage reflects a particular aspect of Western culture: people who lack sight are not viewed by the able-bodied as merely people who

have a condition of limited physical disability. Rather, they tend to be viewed as people in whose existence sightlessness is all encompassing, overarching, total.

The condition of sightlessness is symbolically enriched and magnified, sometimes mystified and even demonized.

Thus, in popular culture, delimited sightlessness becomes "blindness". That familiar term conveys much more than a particular condition of physical disability.

There is a difference between having better hearing, and using auditory information more effectively, which some blind people do to an

extraordinary degree. This difference is at the root of the myth. This is “the use of the senses.”

Hearing The spatial hearing abilities of blind and sighted individuals were examined by

Ashmead et al. (1998). They tested how well participants were able to tell the direction a sound was coming from. In this test the blind children did perform better, but only marginally so. Again, this suggests blind children are making

better use of their sense of hearing, not that their sense of hearing is ramped up to compensate for lack of sight.

Smelling Studies have compared the threshold at which blind and sighted young people

can identify smells. Rosenbluth, Grossman and Kaitz (2000), for example, found no difference in this, nor in blinded and sighted children's ability to identify the different smells they were exposed to. The blind children did, however, give a wider range of labels to the smells, suggesting they paid more attention to smells.

Touching Morrongiello et al. (1994) tested this by giving blind and (blindfolded) sighted children different types of objects to identify. Some objects were miniature versions of large objects, like a bicycle, while other objects were oversized versions of small objects, such as a big key.

The use of Guide dogs and Long canes Blind people need to study about how to use guide dogs

and long canes in order to go outside.

I do not view blindness as "a problem" that requires eradication, so that people "cope" and "adapt successfully." I think blindness is viewed dispassionately, as an interesting fact of life.

“Giving them the right way, light them up.” It is just in our hands to pass the light to them. Give them the sight

to a brighter day.

Special Thanks The Bangkok School for The blind Ajan Piyatat Hemmatat Monthakan Chantra