[nabs-l] Spacial Awareness as a Totally Blind Person

[Kolby Garrison]

This is something that I am very interested in as well. I have been totally
blind since birth, and I literally cannot understand the different facial
expressions when people try explaining them to me. I am told that I am very
expressive, but I cannot capture facial expressions when I am showing them
or produce them on command. When someone is photographing me, they have to
make me laugh for me to smile correctly. It is rather frustrating when I am
trying to communicate something nonverbally to someone, and the expression
that I think I am giving is not what I am actually portraying on my face. As
a communication studies major, nonverbal communication is something that I
am interested in and especially because nonverbal communication happens so
rarely for those of us who are blind. I remember the first day that I had a
voice lesson with my vocal professor she asked me to breathe for her. I did,
and she asked me who taught me how to breathe. I thought that she was trying
to be funny, but she was very serious. I told her that no one had taught me
how to correctly breathe, and then she asked me if I had been born blind.
When I answered yes, she exclaimed that I knew how to correctly breathe
because I had not ever seen someone breathing incorrectly. The way that
visual information is communicated is fascinating to me even though I will
probably not ever fully understand.
Kolby