[stylist] seeing with your tongue

Fri Aug 27 22:50:17 UTC 2010

Robert et al,
having sight is better than being blind?
Robert I think you just tossed a bomb.
aren't there advantages to being blind too?
and doesn't sight sometimes bring pitfalls and  illusions?
yes you made an overgeneralization my friend.  if it were possible 
would I have my sight, yes.  in my case, it would be totally bionic 
eyes as the originals I was born with are gone, one in the kansas 
university med center pathology vault and one I think at U.C. Davis 
med center they just tossed it.
however, here's an advantage I have: the eyes I have now are very 
nice, look good.  the eyes I was born with always looked deformed, 
bloodshot and creepy.
it took a couple years to adjust to having prosthetic eyes.  however, 
today I am so incredibly happy I have these eyes now!
am I different being blind than I otherwise would have been if all 
things remained the same but I was born with sight?
being blind led me into more auditory pursuits such as radio.  when i 
went completely blind at age 13, I became a very dedicated reader.
do I have certain strengths because I am blind?  of course.
I can't just judge people by their appearance.  I probably listen 
more intensely than most sighted people do.

maybe I just threw a bomb, too.
lol
jc

At 05:56 AM 8/27/2010, you wrote:
>On this seeing with your tongue thing. Guess I am of the opinion that if
>there is money out there for research and development of alternative sight,
>then go for it. And I say this, tongue in cheek, sight is better than being
>blind. --- Hold on with the storm of thoughts words and recriminations ---
>I'll just explain my last statement by this super generalizing definition-
>This world is setup for the sighted and there are fewer hassles if you are
>sighted. And so in saying that "having sight is better than being blind,"
>and getting back to the general topic of this thread, I support things like
>these experimentation "seeing" projects, though many of them will be too
>weird and not functional or practical or acceptable for one or more reasons.
>Yet, there probably is one or more eventual outcomes that will be equal and
>acceptable to "normal" vision and/or even superior to what we were born
>with. And I also support any research that could prevent the human embryo
>from developing with a medical and/or physical condition that would upon
>birth be there or develop blindness later in that persons life. And in
>saying all  this, in general I'm saying that I am for eliminating all human
>abnormalities, be they hereditary or congenital or even cause later in life
>by accidents (repairing the broken part or replacing it).
>
>And so, can we successfully live with blindness? I don't feel I need to tell
>you this answer --- you know it and I know it and most of us believe and
>live it. Again, I am for improving the human experience; which includes the
>personal choice of being blind, if you so choose to be.
>
>
>
>Robert Leslie Newman
>President- NFB Writers' Division
>Division Website
>http://www.nfb-writers-division.org
>Personal Website-
>http://www.thoughtprovoker.info
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: stylist-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:stylist-bounces at nfbnet.org] On
>Behalf Of Allison Nastoff
>Sent: Thursday, August 26, 2010 8:48 PM
>To: stylist at nfbnet.org
>Subject: [stylist] seeing with your tongue
>
>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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