[stylist] seeing with your tongue

[Donna Hill]

Hi Allison,
I think this sort of thing is a double-edged sword. As science, it is 
fascinating, but I personally have a viseral reaction against it. Even 
with no heavy equipment, the idea that we would use such a technique, 
which would seem to have its own social stigma, instead of developing 
other senses like hearing and touch just seems like a re enforcement of 
the social stereotype that blindness must be so aweful that people would 
jump at something this weird.
Just my two cents,
Donna

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On 8/26/2010 9:47 PM, Allison Nastoff wrote:
> Hi Everyone,
> Since this list has been talking about technology that would allow the 
> blind to drive, I thought it would be interesting to start a 
> discussion on a story I saw on yesterday's episode of Good Morning 
> America.  The story was about technology being developed that projects 
> images on to the tongue using electrical signals that the blind can 
> feel, which in a sense allows them to "see with their tongue".  I hope 
> you don't mind me cross posting this since it was discussed on another 
> NFB list, but since it was off topic for that list, I thought it would 
> be interesting to continue the discussion on this list.
> I also wanted to get your opinions because when I was in sixth grade, 
> I participated in a research study for this technology at a local 
> college when it was very early in its development.  I dropped out of 
> the study after the first year, and maybe in the years since, the 
> technology has improved.  But I remember that when I was in the study, 
> the strip that I put on to my tongue extended from a large machine 
> which sent the electrical stimulation to my tongue.  This machine was 
> connected to a camera which sent the images to a computer, and a board 
> covered with cloth to create a white background also had to be set up 
> behind the camera.  So the point I am trying to make is that this was 
> way too much gear to walk around my kitchen or go rock climbing with 
> the way the blind participants did in this segment.  But it also 
> seemed kind of impractical because it was hard to tell what the shapes 
> were, even when it came to braille dots which I read expertly with my 
> fingers, and I know I can locate objects around the kitchen much 
> faster with my fingers.  Don't get me wrong.  The concept of seeing 
> with your tongue is pretty cool, and I understand how it could be 
> useful for people like the man featured in this video since he went 
> blind as an adult, but since I have been blind all of my life, I 
> wonder if investing in this kind of technology makes sense, or if it 
> would be more beneficial to invest the resources in teaching people to 
> adapt to their blindness with the traditional, and I think more 
> efficient way, using your fingers, ears and nose, or at least invest 
> in technology that restores sight for real, rather than just coming up 
> with some weird inefficient contraption to see with their tongue.  
> What do you all think? Is there anyone else on this list who has 
> participated in research for this kind of technology? If so, what were 
> your feelings about it? I am always interested in getting other 
> people's perspectives about innovations like this.  Here is the link 
> to the story.
> http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/video/helping-blind-people-tongues-1147
> 7360
> Allison Nastoff
>
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