[nfb-talk] New THOUGHT PROVOKER #133- What is Facial Vision

[Robert Leslie Newman]

NFBtalk members
RE:  What is Facial Vision 

The newest TP has facial vision as its topic. Do you have facial vision? And
how do you use it? Do you think all of us has facial vision? the If you have
not read the PROVOKER, it follows.  Recall that I collect responses and post
them upon my web site for all the WWW to read and learn from and that URL
is- Http://thoughtprovoker.info  If you wish to receive THOUGHT PROVOKERS
sent directly to you, just write me and ask, at-  newmanrl at cox.net 

THOUGHT PROVOKER 133
What is Facial Vision

 "What is facial vision?" a young sighted kid had just stopped me, curious
about how I knew his father's car was parked across the sidewalk; he had
observed my progress coming down the walk and my swerve around the silent
vehicle , cane not touching it. I loved these opportunities to educate some
one of the sighted public. We know that most people when seeing a blind
person, will just stand back and watch and though we understand their
motivation is more then likely  born of a natural curiosity of how we
travel, how we live, it is also true that we and they rarely get to talk
about it. And in response to this youngster's boldness and politeness in
stepping forward to confront his curiosity, I had started to tell him how I
know where I am going, track things in the surrounding environment and had
just put a label to how I could feel some objects around me. I wanted to
give him a good and clear answer and I was figuring out how I'd would
explain this facial vision thing, this unique ability which is too many
times seen as being almost magical , and always amazing. This wasn't the
first time I'd been asked about it and over the years I'd given many long
and short explanations as to what it was for me, how I thought it worked and
how I made use of it. And now gathering my thoughts, I had a collage of
facts and remembrances flying through my mind at light speed-

I went blind at age 15 as a result of a car accident, going from normal
vision of 20-20 to no light perception. When just a couple of months into my
blindness, walking across our backyard I became aware of a presents off to
my side. Reaching out I found it to be the painted metal surface of my
mother's clothes-line pole. And in traveling around after that, indoors and
out, I became aware of being able to pick up on other objects around me,
like an oncoming wall, the with of a hallway, a recessed doorway, trees
and/or poles off to the side of my path, a parked car setting across the
sidewalk, a building across the roadway, an oncoming curb as I cross a
street, and more. 

Other blind people have it too. I'm a good traveler, a cane user, but I have
friends who are dog users and they also speak of this awareness and their
skill in using it. 

then there are a few blind people I've seen who apparently have this ability
in a larger measure than most of us. They travel about without the use of a
cane or dog. And frankly, I'm not sure how good they are or what
difficulties they experience --- picking up on all steps up or down or
objects high or low or how is it for them when the environmental conditions
change like in heavy traffic sounds, rain, snow and ice, a cluttered area,
potholes, of which all these things I use a combination of cane, echo and
facial vision to find for me. 

Then here is one I don't know the answer to. What of this facial vision can
a deafblind person pick up on? I mean, in my experience, I can't totally say
that hearing isn't part of this facial vision thing.

I'd also say to this kid, "Hey, bet you've experienced it. Did you ever get
up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom, didn't turn on the
lights, and you are walking along and all of a sudden you jerk back and say,
'WOW!' Reaching out you find that you almost ran into a wall." 

Or, "Hey kid, go talk to some sailors. See if any of them will tell you of
sailing on a dark night, no moon or starlight and being able to feel or
sense the loom of a towering rock off to the side or that of an oncoming
island." 

So, what was I going to tell this kid?


Robert Leslie Newman
E-Mail- newmanrl at cox.net
Web Site- thoughtprovoker.info