[stylist] Thinking of Words

[Bridgit Pollpeter]

Anita,

As a sighted person, I could read print words and immediately construct
a visual image in my mind.  Just like how sighted people don't know how
we construct things in our mind, the same applies for the flip side.  I
don't know how to explain it except to say you just do it.

I have always been an extremely visual person, and I have been reading
since I was 6.  I have never been at a loss to create visual images in
my head even when I was sighted.

The really weird thing is I now have visual memories even though I do
not see.  For example, I can bring up visual memories of my wedding with
great detail even though I could not visually see.  My husband and I
took a picture in front of a fire place with a mantle (we were married
in a large Victorian home( and I not only (in my memory) see us, but I
see the detail of our clothes, the detail of the mantle and the detail
of the decorations.  Most the time, too, my memories are fairly
accurate.

I am not suggesting I have magic powers, I think I have just learned to
transpose other sensory information, along with an active imagination,
to create detailed images in my head, but it is weird nonetheless.

I do have some light perception, and at times, I can see shadows, but I
always have TV fuzz, as I call it.  I constantly "see" swirling dots,
like on a TV when the channel is not coming in, and pops of colors along
with spinning rainbows at times.  Very trippy!  *smile*

Bridgit

Message: 24
Date: Mon, 17 Jan 2011 11:52:31 -0500
From: "Anita Adkins" <aadkins7 at verizon.net>
To: "Writer's Division Mailing List" <stylist at nfbnet.org>
Subject: Re: [stylist] Thinking of words
Message-ID: <451EE37DCE024B1D91C9B5361A39FE12 at AnitaAdkinsPC>
Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed; charset=iso-8859-1;
	reply-type=response

Hello,

Yes. I always have.  The picture is one single unit for me rather than a

letter-by-letter vision. It has color, and it is always in contracted 
Braille. Colors are associated with this picture because I have a
different 
color for each letter. Perhaps, this is why I can also quickly jump
through 
days or months when hunting for a future date in my mind because I can
use 
color and counting at the same time on the journey. Interestingly, I
have 
been able to identify colors on Uno cards before, but I would guess I am

color blind since I couldn't tell you what color something is if you
showed 
it to me. I imagine the uno card deal was because blue and green are
smooth 
colors. With glasses, green was different-looking than blue. Red is dark
and 
yellow is light, and both are grainy colors to me. So when I say I have
a 
different color for each letter, I cannot identify these colors;
however, 
they are varying shades of light and dark, smooth and grainy. And, if
the 
book I am reading is interesting enough, I do not picture the words on
the 
page at all, but the vision of what scene the words are portraying, for
ex., 
a man walking in a dark alley or a bunch of children on a playground. I 
wonder how sighted people do that since they would both have to see the
word 
and envision the scene. When I envision something, I am not sure, but I 
think my eyes are closed or squinting, at least. In fact, typing this
email 
is an automatic process for me as I am not picturing the words I type,
but 
the scenes that result from the words being typed, in most instances.
Have a great day. Anita