Meaning Of Perception In Blindness

Perception

Each one of us lives in our own unique world of perception. As individuals, we may experience life in an entirely different way through our senses and life experiences. Therefore, perception can be tricky since it is very personal to each one of us. According to the Merriam-Webster online dictionary, perception has three meanings; (1) “the way you think about or understand someone or something,” (2) “the ability to understand or notice something easily,” and, (3) “the way that you notice or understand something using one of your senses” (2014, para. 1). C.S. Lewis said, “What you see and what you hear depends a great deal on where you are standing. It also depends on what sort of person you are” (n.d., para. 11). In other words,

He was born with the ability to see, but slowly lost his eyesight over the course of his lifetime. He said “Being blind has many advantages. I owe to the darkness some gifts: the gift of Anglo-Saxon, my limited knowledge of Icelandic, the joy of so many lines of poetry, of so many poems, and of having written another book, entitled, with a certain falsehood, with a certain arrogance, In Praise of Darkness” (p. 381). While many people would likely consider blindness to be a disability and place them at a disadvantage, Borges’ felt that his blindness opened the door to many other opportunities for growth. What Borges experienced in his past through his love of literature, along with having the ability to see for several years, likely shaped his perspective, giving him an optimistic view of his reality. However, if he had been born blind, his life experiences could have been different, and his point of view may not have been as

I once spent a full three minutes looking for a bullfrog that was so unexpectedly large I couldn’t see it even though a dozen enthusiastic campers were shouting directions. Finally I asked, ‘What color am I looking for?’ and a fellow said, ‘Green.’ When at last I picked out the frog, I saw what painters are up against: The thing wasn’t green at all, but the color of wet hickory bark” (p. 695). This example illustrates how we can perceive colors differently from one another. Annie had visualized her idea of what the green bullfrog should look like, possibly from a picture she had seen in the past. The person that told her the frog was green may have meant that it was an olive green. For instance, what some might call burgundy, others would call dark red or even crimson. Furthermore, people who are colorblind have an entirely different perception of colors; depending on the degree of colorblindness, they may not be able to recognize the colors red, green, or