Blindness and sensory acuity

[aaker]

This is only semi-related to autism, but the tendency for autistics to have extremely strong senses got me thinking about various theories about blind people's senses of hearing, smell, etc

Comments

[pet_lunatic]

I don't know about other senses getting stronger, exactly, but it has been demonstrated that in expert (blind) braille readers, the part of the brain which normally processes visual input is active during braille reading. So it seems as though the visual system can be given over to other functions when it's not needed for processing vision, at least! It may well be that some of that spare processing capacity is given to sensory attention. It would make sense!

I like your theory!

[nekusagi]

I have an on/off preservation for perfume and when someone wearing a fragrance walks by, if I've smelled it before I can usually identify it instantly, even if I've only smelled it at a store or in a magazine sample once.

I can also pick out individual notes in a perfume (rose, pepper, woods, etc) and tell what brand made a particular Lolita dress based on what fabric, lace, and design traits are in it. I always wondered if this had anything to do with my Asperger's.

[ext_237340]

This reminds me of an experience I've noticed recently. (Not necessarily autism-related, though I do have at least some autistic tendencies

[made_of_paradox]

I have a blind friend who is learning to echolocate.

http://www.worldaccessfortheblind.org/

[ext_237340]

That training program features in the documentary I linked - the boy the documentary is about taught himself to echolocate on his own, but was later introduced to Daniel Kish who developed that training program.

[foundunicorn]

In people that are blind from early childhood, a large parts of the vision centers of the brain are used for hearing.

[wb6pco]

I'm a terrible picky eater and food tastes and textures are a huge issue for me. I've come to understand that most people don't have much of an issue with food textures. I get some pretty bizarre reactions if I mention I don't like a food because of the way it feels in my mouth. I've learned to lie and say that I don't like the taste