[nabs-l] Heightened Senses

[Ignasi Cambra]

I think our other senses are just as good or bad as everyone else's, but we use them more and more often, which in practice makes it seem as though they are better. It doesn't really matter if the actual senses are better or not. What's clear is that if one has been blind for a long time (even more if one has been blind since birth) he/she develops other senses more than others, which doesn't necessarily mean that they are any better. I also think that my sense of smell is particularly terrible. I just never use it for anything useful. If I think of a sighted person using hearing just like I use my sense of smell, I can totally understand why they think that I hear  better than them. I guess the older the person gets, the harder it is to further develop senses. And this is just a guess, because I'm not really sure about it.

Ignasi
On Sep 21, 2010, at 7:46 PM, Joe Orozco wrote:

> Dear all,
> 
> Today I had the rare privilege to meet some of my favorite Fox News Channel
> personalities.  One of my friends from judo practice made it happen, and
> while we were telling one of the anchors about how we'd met, she, the
> anchor, said judo must not come all that difficult for me since it only made
> sense that with the loss of sight, my other senses would be enhanced.  I
> only consider myself a somewhat average judoka, but I did not have a brief,
> witty comment to educate her on my reality that my hearing and other senses
> are similarly average.  My sense of smell is most definitely not impressive.
> I had too many questions of her to bother correcting the misperception.
> 
> My questions are these:
> 
> 1. Do you feel that blindness has enhanced your other senses?
> 
> 2. How do you generally field remarks like these?
> 
> Under normal circumstances I would have more time to educate people.  If the
> anchor in question weren't one of my favorites, I may have taken a more
> instructive tone, but in general I want to answer such perceptions
> accurately and succinctly.  Church is another one of those venues where you
> want to be polite but informative.
> 
> Anyway, all thoughts welcomed.
> 
> Best,
> 
> Joe
> 
> "Hard work spotlights the character of people: some turn up their sleeves,
> some turn up their noses, and some don't turn up at all."--Sam Ewing
> 
> 
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