The Importance Of Vision And Vision

When I removed my own sense of sight, the first thoughts were of complete fear. Vision is an essential part of the human experience and to suddenly deprive the body of light is a shock to the system. Alternately, when deprived of the ability to hear my body adjusted relatively quickly to the experience and even relaxed in the silence. In the two hours spent without vital senses, I had hoped to come gain an understanding of life as an individual with a permanent disability would. Instead, I came to realize that I could never fully understand the day to day life without visual or auditory ability. To remove my sense of sight I wore an eye mask from a relaxation gift set I had received from a family member. Little did I know the following hour would be about as far from relaxing as I could get. With one of my best friends by my side, I set out to experience the world as a member of the blind community would. In the next hour, we had planned to watch a short show on TV, cook and eat a meal, and walk around

Until I began this project, it had never crossed my mind to question why this might be. I found that when I did not have my sense of sight all of my other senses began to work in overdrive in order to interpret and understand what was happening in my environment. Undoubtedly, I became more aware of the things I could take in. When “blind” each stimulus I encountered was a hint as to the conditions I was exposed to; tastes, smells, sounds, and being able to feel changes in the tension of my friend’s arm as she reacted to the things I could not. Conversely, when I could not hear I became overly aware of shadows and my “seventh sense” to tell if there was someone coming near to me. Additionally, most everyday situations became more frightening than I had realized. I became increasingly aware of the dangers of being without a sense and my own mistrust in my