Pitied The Blind Research Paper

Reaction Paper In a world in which sight is the most commonly used sense, people gifted with the ability to see often do not take advantage of all of the wonderful perceptual cues around them. People like Mike Mays, John Hull, and Sabriye Tenberken have overcome the obstacles of being blind, and have inspired others to do so. One of the many challenges people without sight have to face is ridicule. I was not surprised at how poorly blind people were treated because I learned in my Understanding human cultures class that people with disabilities are treated poorly in some cultures. I understand that it is hard to change people’s beliefs and culture, and that it is their right to believe whatever they want to. However, I am still disgusted …show more content…
10). Before reading the excerpts from Hull’s biography, I pitied the blind because I believed that they were missing out on many wonderful visual experiences. What I did not realize was that I, and most other sighted people are not taking advantage of all of the wonderful stimuli in our environments. Because we can see, we take our vision for granted, and forget to engage our other senses. Only if people took a moment to stop and use their other senses as well as their sight, they could have a much more rewarding perceptual experience. I think what I found most interesting about this quote was that the rain actually helped him to be able to “see” obstacles. Because Hull could hear the rain beating on a roof, or the pavement, or many other objects, he could use a form of echolocation to maneuver around objects. He knew from experience, how far away an object was, or what the object was, by the particular sound the rain made when hitting those objects. To me, this is fascinating. Rain is something sighted people take for granted. We complain when it is raining, but to Hull it provided him with a beautiful