[nabs-l] developmental delay and blindness

[Andrew]

Hi Michael thank you for your note   it is a great topic by the way  I
will be looking forward to hearing the other's views on this.

On 12/29/14, Michael D Ausbun <mausbun at unr.edu> wrote:
> Hello:
> 	First, a couple of disclaimers.
> 1)	No question is ever dumb.
> 2)	I'm not a doctor, medical or otherwise, nor is Nero cognition my area of
> expertise.
> With that said, I would like to propose two different theories. First, I'd
> argue that developmental delays ought to be normal for most blind
> individuals. A large part of human adaptation comes from visual analysis; if
> we lack that capability, then adaptation is slower and thus, development is
> slowed. Now, with that said, I know there have been studies (at my
> University and probably others), in the neuroscience field, which show that
> other senses (smell, sound, etc.)  Produce responses within the visual
> cortex of blind individual's brains (there is a gentleman from California,
> by the name of Brian something, who was on the discovery channel who
> referred to this as a form of echo location). This would expedite the
> development somewhat I'd think, but not to the same degree.
> 	My second theory is that people are more inclined to label visually
> challenged individuals as developmentally delayed, in order to explain the
> inability to grasp certain things (personally, I'd argue this is ablest in
> nature). What I mean is, if a blind person does not receive tactile
> representations of inherently visual things, but a person expects them to
> know what it is (I.E. a round-Square), they might decide that person is
> merely developmentally delayed.
> 	I don't know if either theory is accurate, perhaps Arielle or someone with
> a little more relevant expertise might be able to give you a better answer.
> Respectfully,
> Michael Ausbun
>
> ________________________________________
> From: nabs-l [nabs-l-bounces at nfbnet.org] on behalf of Andrew via nabs-l
> [nabs-l at nfbnet.org]
> Sent: Monday, December 29, 2014 11:46 AM
> To: nabs-l at nfbnet.org
> Subject: [nabs-l] developmental delay and blindness
>
> Hi all
> have a rather dumb question.   Is developmental delay quite common
> amung blind people or is it not that common the person who  works with
> just disability people over all said i have a slight developmental
> delay  that is why i am asking.  like they re fer to her as a doctor
> so and so but not really medical doctor though. but anyway is this a
> common thing?
>
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