[stylist] Thinking of Words

Tue Jan 18 00:57:29 UTC 2011

Bridget, Somehow I'm stuck in the middle of all you guys.  I still have a 
certain amount of vision, but I use it as a guide rather than depending on 
it.  When someone looks at me and stupidly remarks that I don't look blind, 
I hold back my punching arm, smile and calmly tell them the damage to my 
eyes is in my retina.  I can't read hard copy, drive a car or sew on a 
button.  I can sit across the table drinking coffee with you for hours but 
after we get up to leave and go our own ways I'll pass you on the street or 
in the supermarket.  I won't recognize  you.  Sure there are those idiots 
who insist I must recognize them, but I smile sweetly and tell them to have 
a good day.  When it comes to visualizing it seems that the things I can't 
do are what I visualize.  Things like reading the printed page, the memory 
of how to construct a garment or decorating a cake.  I can visualize these 
things but can't do them any more.  I think I see colors, but when I tell my 
girls that the blouse is really a hot pink and they tell me it is rust what 
can I do but shrug?  Ah yes, the adventures of legal blindness. 
Judith  ----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Bridgit Pollpeter" <bpollpeter at hotmail.com>
To: <stylist at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Monday, January 17, 2011 5:52 PM
Subject: [stylist] Thinking of Words

> 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
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Writers Division web site:
> http://www.nfb-writers-division.org <http://www.nfb-writers-division.org/>
>
> stylist mailing list
> stylist at nfbnet.org
> http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/stylist_nfbnet.org
> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for 
> stylist:
> http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/options/stylist_nfbnet.org/jbron%40optonline.net
> 