“The Boy who Sees without Eyes” (Year 1 Thur.)
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The most interesting thing in this documentary, for me, was the way Ben sees the world. I didn’t know that echolocation is that effective in people. I thought that it can help, but not allow move without the white
caincane. I was very interested in his story and the story of his talent. He’s the only one who can use echolocation on that level (he can even ride bike).I think the blind children/children with low vision could be taught echolocation at school, but I don’t think it’s that easy to learn. Ben is really good at it, but not everybody can be taught it and use it like Ben. In my opinion they can learn to use it with white cane.
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But maybe there is something we don’t know. Maybe blind children are taught echolocation at school these days?
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It could be true but I don’t know if it works that good. I think that some people are more predisposed for using echolocation than others.
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I think that maybe his age was important. Because he was only 4 years old, when he noticed a big building and started to use his hearing in that way. And i think if children are taught echolocation in school they will not know how to do it.
Because they will be too old to learn this skill.
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Not only was i suprised by the fact that boy without eyes lives a perfectly normal life, but also because he thought that he knew everything and did not want to learn how to use the white cane. He did not want to try something new which was supposed to help him live even more independent life just because he did not want to be seen as a
handicapdisabled person. Lack of his humility could cause danger because when he was in the park he got lost and his blind colleague could not find him.-
I think that teaching echolocation at school is necessary and could significantly improve quality of life for this people. Being more independent is crucial, because some people may be alone and they need to teach yourself how to rely on just yourself.
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Do you think that some people are more predisposed to use echolocation? After all, Daniel Kish said that he was probably the best echolocator in the world (or something along the lines).
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I think that is true, because even the scientists from University of Alabama said that they had never met someone with such developed skill of echolocation.
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Indeed, Ben was truly a proficient echolocator. That’s the reason the scientist invited him to the lab. I’m wondering whether it would be possible for an adult who loses his/her sight to learn echolocation? Wouldn’t it be too late? Maybe there is a window, just like in the case of language, to learn it but once the window is closed, you can’t move beyond the basic level?
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As far as I am concerned, adults have more difficulties in adapting to new things. For example, children learn new skills much easier than adults. I think it could be possible but the adult has to put a lot more energy into that and has to be much more motivated.
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I think it was amazing. There wasn’t much he couldn’t do. Mind you, I’ve used the past simple not present simple. Any idea why?
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To be honest, not really.
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The thing that shocked me the most was that Ben could tell if there was any danger (like a car driving towards him) better than his seeing friends. It was amazing, how ably he could ride a bike or roller skate. I think that it’s very important to show blind children that they can live a better life without having to ask their parents for help on every little activity. Again – just like last week’s essey – it tought me to appreciate how easy our life can be comparing to disabled people’s life
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Yes, he could easily detect buildings, cars, and other objects and yet, there was something that could trick him.
Do you know what was it?-
I think the biggest dificulty for him was to detect holes – he had to lean over them to “see” them
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Yes, of course. Echolocation is very useful at head level but on the ground it often fails. An echolocator cannot detect a hole.
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When i was watching this documentary i was amazed by this skill and i haven’t seen any disadvantages of it. But then i saw this hole and i saw that he lost his confidence when he got lost in park and i was very sad that this skill may be usefull in so many moments but then he could be suddenly surprised by danger.
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The thing that suprised me the most was the indepndent of this young man. I was actually shocked how well Ben works although he is blind. The whole echolocation system he uses is amazing for me, to be honest sometimes I don’t hear car moving on the street. This boy not only hears those kind of things, but actually the whole world which sourounds him.
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Ofcourse the clicking system 🙂 This unique technique allows him to respond right in time!
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I was only wondering what would he do if he lost his tongue. Because he uses his tongue to do this “clicks”. What would he use to find himself in this wolrd.
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For me the most interesting thing was Bens relationship with his mother. She was there to support him from the very beggining and never stopped. Their bound seemed really strong, which suprises me because teenagers are usually problematic. His mother admitted she cries sometimes, but she goes to her room so she can stay confident around him.
I belive blind children should be taught echolocation at school because it can help them a lot. Obviously the should be taught other techniques as well, because echolocation won’t work in every situation. It’s best to show them some ways to be more independent and let them pick which one they prefer.-
Yes, his mother, Aquanetta, was a real support for him. But I think she gave him more than just support.
What techniques should children be taught at school? And what do you mean by saying that echolocation doesn’t work in every situation?-
Except for echolocation children should be taught how to create a mental map, because the ability to hear objects around them is not enough to, for example, find their way back to the place they were beofre. They should also learn how to use white cane properly.
Even though Ben has mastered echolocation, he was not able to detect big hole in the ground. He also got lost in the park. It shows echolocation can be really helpful in many cases, but certainly not all of them.-
Yes, you’re right. What about a guide dog or a guide person? Do they make a blind person more independent than a white cane?
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I think it all depends on the personality of the person. Guide dogs and guide people could be better, easier solution, and for some people that is the best option. I also understand that for others independence mean being able to walk alone, for them it’s better to stick with a white cane.
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Yes, every person should decide for themselves. After all, they know best what is right for them.
Why did Ben lose sight? Can you explain that?-
He lost his sight because of retinoblastoma, type of eye cancer. Thanks to early disgnosis it did not get into his brain. Unfortunately, he had to have his eyes removed.
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Yes, of course. In Polish it’s called “siatkówczak” and it affects almost exclusively children.
Did you know that many parents realise that something is wrong with their children eyes after using a flash camera to take their pictures? It’s only then when they notice a white glow in their eye(s).
Cameras, including phone cameras, saved many children’s eyes.
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Irmina, I also really admired how his mother was engaged in improving the boy’s life. Her first words to the baby after the surgery were absolutely moving to me, they just evindenced her durable hope that the disease wouldn’t take away their happy future. Maybe he wasn’t so problematic as a teenager thanks to the certainty of her unfailing love 😉 Do you think whether without her support he could develop such an independence and self-confidence?
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Are you talking about these words: “…you don’t have eyes anymore—but you can see me with your ears, you can see me with your nose, and you can see me with your hands. That means you can still see me.”
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Yes, exactly.
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Yes, these were beautiful words and Aquanetta was a wise mother.
If you care to read some more about Ben, here’s a chapter of a book about Ben written by his mum.-
Thank you for the link to her book. I’d be keen on reading it because after watching the film I was wondering how the Ben’s story proceeds and how old he can be right now.
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You’re welcome.
Unfortunately, as I wrote earlier today, Ben died. The same cancer that took his eyes, claimed his life after 14 (?) years.-
Well, I feel ashamed that I missed your post on it.
It’s a devastating information. The story looked certain to pan out happily.
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To me the words were perfectly accurate to the situation. The mother didn’t deny the loss but at the same time she didn’t let it to become the only way of looking at the life. Thanks to her the kid accepted the fact of blindness, but didn’t get overwhelmed with it.
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I don’t think he would be the independent person he was if he would not receive this much love, attention and support. Propably he’d be told he needs help to live a normal life and he’d belive it. His mother is definitely the main reason he had grown into confident and independent person.
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AllThe whole documentary was amazing. I really enjoyed watching it but my favourite and the most interesting moment was seeing him at the Human Behaviour Lab taking the test. I couldn’t belive that he saw or could tell the location even the smallest things without really seeing. Also I was interested when Dan tried to convince Ben that walking with a white cane can make his life easier. Sometimes I was even scared that something could happened to him when he walked near the croweded crossing. It amazed me how many things Ben could do while using echolocation. Thats why in my opinion blind children should learn echolocation at school. Maybe it would take a lot of time to be at the same level as Ben but if this would help blind people to be more independent or do stuff like the rest od society it would be worth the time.-
Sophie, but why did Ben need a white cane? After all, he was probably the best echolocator in the world.
Do you think that everyone can learn echolocation? Could we learn echolocation?-
He needed it to move better because there were some obstacles which he could not see using echolocation. With a white cane he would be more independent becasue it’s the safest option for a blind poeple to move around. I think that everyone can learn the basics of echolocation by practicing. For me even people who are not blind can be taught echolocation because Ben’s audition was
ontypicalat the average level so with echolocation it isn’t needed to havespecial skills ofexcellent hearing. -
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What I found the most interesting and surprising was Ben’s self – confidence. He didn’t call his blindness
asdisability because he felt quite healthy, like alltheother kids.
I think that echolocation could make life easier for blind children, but I’m not sure if that is something everyone can learn. In my opinion they should know about this ability and have a choice to learn it or not.-
I agree with you completely. Do you remember what did Ben dislike at the school for the blind?
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He could not live a life of a normal student, for istance, it was forbidden to play basketball, because someone may have got hurt.
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That’s correct, he wanted to do all the things he did at home but teachers were too afraid to let him do so.
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What surprised me the most was fact that he didn’t have supersensitive ears, probably he had just trained his brain to be able to live normally. Before I thought that maybe he was born with special abilities. It’s amazing that he can see with sounds and that he doesn’t need for example dog to help him in daily activities. For random people he looks like a boy who can see like everyone else.
I think that blind children should be tought echolocation in schools, because it might really help them in life. Ben showed that with this ability he can live almost like every other kid. He is able to play video games or basketball. In my opinion other children should have oportunity to try if it is something for them. Life would be so much easier for them.-
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I don’t know any blind person, but I guess it’s hard for them. Fortunately nowadays some of them have posibility to get psychological and medical help. Additionally there are some special schools for them and the society is more aware of them being normal people like everyone else.
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True, public awareness of vision loss is much higher than awareness of proprioception, for example.
There’re lots of different aids and devices such as screen readers, white/long cane, dog and human guides as well as magnifiers, binoculars, telescopes (for people with low vision), not mentioning glasses or contact lenses.
Did you know that because of e.g. screen readers and audiobooks, there are fewer and fewer Braille users?-
I didn’t know about it. It’s great that they have more and more oportunities to make their life easier. In my opinion it’s amazing that dogs can be trained to help them. But I think that an ability to read in Braile is still useful, we still can find it on medicine boxes.
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Yes, it’s very useful. The EU demands Braille e.g. on medicine packs, which is quite expensive for the producers, and only very few people can benefit from it.
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I didn’t know it was expensive. So maybe instead there are some programs for blind people where they can find some informations about their medicines? It would be good solution.
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Yes, it’s possible. But don’t you ever check some information on a medicine pack? People do that, including some blind people. Unfortunately, in yongsters the ability to read Braille is disappearing.
No, it’s not very expensive, but for sure it’s an extra cost.
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Yes, I agree with you. So I think that blind children should still be tought Braille at school or have opportunity to join extra classes of this.
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This short movie was very surprising to me. I didin’t know that blind people can successively move using other senses. The most shocking moment for me was when the boy was in the car with his mom and he said to her ,,look at this building”. It is a perfect example that he can realy admire the world without
sencethe sense of sight. That’s unbelievable.
I think that blind children and children with low vision shouldhouldbe taught echolocation at school. This ability can make their life much easier and give them chance to become more independent. It must be very difficult to learn, but Ben’s example shows that it is possible. -
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The Ben’s talent was really intriguing to me, although I found the most interesting the part of the film considering Ben’s srtuggles with excessive self-confidence, which at first prevented him from accepting the fact that in spite of his uncommon way of dealing with the blindness he still has some limits. I am always impressed at how our human feelings and perceived threat of our value as a person constrict rational decision-making, and to what extent we don’t even realise this influence.
When it comes to teaching echolocation to children with visual disabilities – I’m of the opinion that such decison firstly demands conducting psychological research on how common and effective it can be to acquire such an ability. It should be confirmed that it’s more beneficial than methods of management with one’s ability in use until now. Perhaps it may lead to a revolutionary attempt to visual impairment.-
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Perhaps this is the most effective solution. However, I am concerned that echolocation requires a pace of learning adjusted to individual capabilities and mostly this aspect makes it difficult to be realised at school. I would compare echolocation to learning playing an musical instrument, whereas conventional methods to learning reading or writing. But it may be a matter of how particular skills are current in
the socialpublic awareness.No, I haven’t met anyone blind yet.
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I agree with you, Julia. I was also thinking about the need to conduct experiments and do more research in this topic. It would be really interesting to know more about echolocation in humans. I found some new articles and research on echolocation on Google Scholar, so maybe psychologists have now more answers to those questions.
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Wow, I really hope that. I believe it may extend our understanding of human capabilities and also help to explain another aspects of how our brain integrates different types of information.
Thanks for inspiration to look for further knowledge. And have you already managed to run through those articles? 🙂 Would you like to share what hooked you the most?-
I haven’t read them yet, but the abstracts seem promising. I found interesting that apparently, people can use a variety of audible sounds, not only tongue clicks, but also their own vocalizations, tongue clicks, whistles or footsteps to echolocate. It looks like there’s a lot to read, because there are numerous articles and publications on that topic.
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Oh, but that’s already something. It’s incredible that every human can find their own way to learn the echolocation then, I wouldn’t ever suppose it. It’s really uplifting to get to know we all have a chance to find our own way to adapt to reality, even in the most severe positions. Thank you for sharing the information 🙂
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For me it was absolutely amazing that Ben can using echolocation so well, he partically sees everything with his amazing skill, I’ve never thought that people can use this
specyficspecific abillity in everyday lif. For me it’ s something unimaginable.
I think it’ s crucial that blind people should be taughtin theat school echolocation and everything that could improve independence of theirlifeslives. -
The documentary shows teeneger who can live a normal life without eyes what is amazing of course. Sometimes he has difficult moments but generally he never gives up. He doesn’t feel worse than “normal” kids. What inspired me the most was his relationship with his mother. She believes in him endlessly and gives him strenght. It’s really important to have somebody who helps you in every situations. If she was too protective maybe he would never be so self-reliant like now.
I think blind children should be taught echolocation because it would make their lives easier. I believe that children should learn it when they are small. Maybe then it will be easier for them.
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I agree that his mother had her own part in Ben’s success. Do you remember what she said after Ben was moved from a special school to a mainstream one?
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I remember she said she was surprised that all mothers are not like her. She had also thought that every blind child is like Ben. But the true is that not every blind child’s mother would let her son play in the street. They are too afraid that something bad can happen to their children.
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I think they help their blind children in most everyday tasks. Probably they tell their children to go to special schools. I know that they want the best for their children but in this way they don’t have oppurtunity to get to know life of
healthysighted people. They may often project their fears onto their children. But I also believe there are a lot of parents like Ben’s mum who was really supportive and understanding.
When I was in high school Iwas onattended a lecture given by a blind person. He is independent andfullfillsfulfils/fulfills his dreams. He told that hedon’tdoesn’t feel like a disabled person but people treat him likedisabledone. Ben felt the same way. I think a lot of blind people have similar feelings about it. We should let them live like they want and don’t limit them. Parents should accept it.-
You know, there is a positive language for talking about people with disability.
Rule 1 is use the person first, so instead saying e.g. “an impaired man”, say “man with impairment”, or instead saying “wheelchair bound woman”, say “a woman who is using a wheelchair”.
Rule 2 – do not say “he suffers from”, “she is afflicted/stricken with”, “they are victims of”. Instead use “have”, “experience”, or “live with”.
Rule 3 – avoid referring to a person without an impairment as “normal”, “able-bodied” or “healthy”. Use “non-disabled” or “a person without an impairment” instead.
Rule 4 – do not refer to people with impairments as “the disabled”, “the mentally disturbed.”
Of course, there are some exceptions.Therefore, you should have said: “he doesn’t feel like a person with disability”.
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Ok. Thank you for your advice. I will pay attention to use it correctly.
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It’s good to know these things.
One of the exceptions I mentioned is “The Deaf”.
Use deaf (written with lower case ‘d’) to refer to deafness or hearing loss in medical terms, and Deaf (written with upper case ‘D’) to refer to Deaf culture and people who consider themselves as having a distinct cultural identity.
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But we can notice, that this confidence may be fatal (I’m not sure if it is good word for “zgubna”). Because he was even perky sometimes. That he is unique. And then he got lost in park, or he could find a way to school. Of course his skill is awesome, but i think that he need a little bit of humility.
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In my opinion the most interesting part of it was Ben’s confidence. He was blind, but because of echolocation he could interpret surroundings sometimes better than people who weren’t vision impared. Also he could recognise when two objects were the same by using his technique of clicking. Such a young boy with a unique skill.
Learning echolocation may be a good idea. It’s probably a difficult process, but it can be helpful for many blind people.-
True, his ability to use echolocation was really impressive. So why his mum want him to use white cane?
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Maybe because she wanted him to live even more independent life, she also wanted him to go to college. Moreover, they moved in new house and Ben did not know the new neighbourhood. I think his mom wanted him to learn creating mental maps and that is why Daniel Kish was needed.
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I think that his mom wanted him to use white cane, because she was worried that he could hurt himself – by that I mean that he can’t detect holes in the ground by echolocation (in the documentary that was showed) but by white cane he can.
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Because echolocation isn’t a flawless technique. You aren’t able to detect a hole and it’s dangerous for blind people. His mum wanted him to use white cane, because that could help him and make him more safe.
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I think she also wanted to make sure he can walk safely, because when there is a person with white cane, driver needs to stop the car. Otherwise it’s dangerous.
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Mothers are often overprotective. I thing Ben’s mother wanted him to use the white cane to feel calmy and be sure that he is safe.
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It’s said, that they wanted give him extra skills to be more independent. I think it could be the reason.
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As far as I am concerned, it was truely shocking. I have never thought that someone can live such a vigorous live witch such an issue. Being blind very often is like sentence, something very terrible. This boy has never given up and what is more, he manage to see in different way! Truely amazing. It was truely interesting to see, that clicks can be such useful. Human echolocation? It’s true phenomenon. Due to this case, I would definitely recommend echolocation as a subject for all blind children. Ben Underwood proofed, that this can realy save your life from despair and, what is the most important, he gave hope to all blind people for a better life.
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I totally agree with you, Ben is an inspiration not only for blind people but all the people. He shows that never give up, be yourslef and develop some skills is key to strenghten yourself and be the better version of yourself
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I partially agree with you, because Ben was very stubborn and did not want to become better at echolocating and being more independent as Daniel Kish said. I think it is not the wisest approach, because people are constantly learning new things due to changes in our environment, we need to adapt to new things and overcome new challenges.
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It’s true that Ben was very self-confident but in the end of the documentary i think he convinced to use new stuff f.e. when he was with Dan and rest of group and used stick while climbing
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Yes, I agree with you, he finally understood that he had not known everything and must have listened to people who wanted to help him.
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The most shocking and interesting thing about this documentary is how well Ben is doing alone. Thanks to echolocation he could live a normal life. I was amazed by Ben‘s skills like riding a bike, or playing basketball, but the most of all he could recognize the danger. I wasn`t aware that echolocation can be this useful.
I think it`s a good idea totoughtteach blind children/children with low vision echolocation at school. That way they can be more independent. I also think they shouldeducateshow/teach them that a white cane can be useful.-
Susanna, how did his mother find out about his echolocation?
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She found out during car ride. Ben asked her if she could see the big building.
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I was amazed by how well he described the building and that he could “see it”. I couldn’t belive it first until I saw him riding a bike and playing basketball
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The main thing that surprised me was Ben’s ability to adjust to the world without one of the most important senses – vision. It shows a whole new perspective for blind people/people with low vision and especially children, who can learn really fast. Also I found all of the information about echolocation and sound waves very interesting. It helped me understand Ben’s perception of the world and way of dealing with everyday tasks as a blind person. It struck me how well adapted Ben was and how tremendously self-reliant and independent he felt. He also didn’t have supersensitive hearing, which was surprising. Maybe this means that echolocation wasn’t just his ‘superpower’, but many other kids could be able to train their brains and practice echolocation. I think that blind children/children with low vision should be taught echolocation at school or at least should get to know the basics of it to try and learn by themselves.
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Do you think that echolocation was a more effective and safer method than e.g. a white cane or a guide dog?
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Maybe it was more effective in terms of being successful in producing a desired result. Thanks to echolocation Ben improved his mobility, became more independent, aware of his surroundings and didn’t have to use other tools a lot of the time. He really desired to be as similar to other kids as possible and to not use any visible tools like white canes or guide dogs.
I wouldn’t call echolocation a safer method, though. I think that all of these things (echolocation, guide dog, white cane) have advantages and disadvantages depending on the situation. Probably the safest option would be combining those methods (maybe not all of them at the same time, but at least two of them, like using echolocation and a white cane). -
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I agree with you but do you think that it was dangerous for him to feel independent as you said?
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I don’t think the sole feeling of independence was dangerous for him, but maybe feeling too independent (almost rebellious) could have lead to some irresponsible actions, reckless risk-taking or give him the courage to neglect and ignore his disability. It’s good to feel independent, but also be able to acknowledge one’s weaknesses or struggles and ask for help or use helpful devices (just to be both independent and rational).
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Yes, i totally agree!I replied to someone’s comment, that i think he is too confident sometimes and he needs a little bit of humility.
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I was suprised by the fact that Ben was so good in using echolocation that some of his friends at first didn’t realized he was blind. Another unusual thing that surprised me was the information that his ears are no more sensitive to sound than ours. The whole documentary was extremely interesting cause I’ve never heard about human who can see the world thanks to echolocation, just like some examples of animals. I can surely agree with my friend Weronika Borucka with her opinion about the difficulty of learning echolocation, so better option could be to teach children how to move with white cane. I also can not imagine who would teach these children echolocation, a blind teacher, or some specialist, who actually isn’t blind? I don’t know.
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I think that Daniel’s way of moving is more effective. Thanks to his white cane and echolocation he could go through very busy road safely, what more Daniel has experience of travelling around the world thanks to his abilities. If I were honest I really admire him for wanting to go outside the comfort zone to learn more and more about the surrounding world.
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Yes, but Daniel was much older than Ben. He was way more experienced and sensible. I was impressed by his independence (in the true meaning of this word) and his expeditions.
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Oh yes, you are right. I didn’t think about it earlier, but i think even though Daniel is older, he looked more interested in developing himself than Ben. Maybe that’s because of his maturity and awareness of capabilities, which life could offer him only if he would try to get them.
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Some of you are using the present tense to talk about Ben. Actually, it should be a past tense. The cancer that lead to his blindness returned when he was 16. Unfortunately, he lost the second battle.
Aquanetta is an amazing woman. I think that life made her a very tough person. Have you noticed that in the video there was no mention of Ben’s father? Surely, she was a single mum. Then her son had a cancer, lost his sight and eventually, years later, his life. Moreover, she lost her other son – Isaiah – to gunfire.-
She experianced so many trials and horrible situations in her life. However, we can see her smilling on the video. This shows that she is a superwomen with a huge energy!
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I think that she’s really strong woman. Despite her son’s cancer and being single mom she was really positive and was smiling often in the documentary. I admire her a lot.
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I wish everybody would have such strong motivation for not giving up when obstacles occur.
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Me too, but it is, unfortunately, not that easy to be strong in a hard situation like this.
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She is like a superhero, She had never shown her son that she was scary even when it was really hard, she gave Ben chance to live normally
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This example shows how women can be independent no matter what is going in their lives. Her life practically fallen apart and she still stayed strong, because she had to. She didn’t let the life broke her. I think that the reason of her behaviour was also her race. In my opinion black women has really strong temperament, and they takes from the life what is their.
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I’ve just seen your comment. By now I used present tense to talk about Ben.
Do you know what happened to Ben’s father?
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Yes, I’ve noticed the fact there was no sign of Ben’s father’s engagement in their life and that made me sympathize with their situation even more.
I feel shocked with the further history of Ben’s family. It’s hard for me to restrain from an impression that Aquanetta’s life is like a fate’s irony. She was persistenlty defying the difficulties but anyway the reality was against her. I hope the whole fight hasn’t broken her heart completely… But fortunately, as I can see from the net, she’s turned her odds into helping and now shares her life wisdom with others as a speaker and a head of a foundation.
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This documentary is really intriguing for me. In the future I want to be a typhlopedagogue, so Ben’s case is a great occasion to read and learn more about echolocation. In my view, Ben was extraordinary person, he had his eyes removed when he was three. He was strong enough to teach himself to use echolocation by “clicking”. To be honest, I didn’t believe that people heave ability to use echolocation when I was younger. I thought that only animals can do this. This case open my eyes and now I think that every visually impaired person should try this. I know that thay can use white canes or dog which helps them. But learning echolocation might change whole life. Unfortunately, we need people who will teach them echolocation and it may be a problem because it’s probably very tough job.
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I’m intrigued, what is typhlopedagogy?
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Typhlopedagogy is a branch of pedagogy dealing with education and rehabilitation of the visually impaired people.
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Thank you for replying. I had never heard about it before, but it seems very interesting.
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You’re welcome. Yes, it’s very interesting, especially for me.
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At our school I sometimes see students wearing blindfold and using white canes. Have you had such classes?
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No, I haven’t. I’ll probably have such classes in a year or two.
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Thank you, I was looking for an appropriate word to describe it but I didn’t know which is the best.
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I’ve heard about echolocation, but i thought it is impossible to use it by people. I was very surprised. I think they shoul try to teach blind children the echolocation, but I’m not sure if you can learn it.
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I’m sorry but i had problem with Internet caused by strong wind.
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Iga, you know what, it was my first thought when I started to write my opinion about this movie. As far as I was concerned I always believed that echolocation was something what animals use, only animals. I also couldn’t imagine who and how could teach those children echolocation. Have you got any idea? Let me know cause I can’t stop thinking about that!
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I think they should do more research to understand how young dolphines get the skill. Maybe laryngologist could help the scientist and blind children could live on their own! Amazing
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My first thought was that he used toy to make this sounds. I don’t know when i realized he uses his tongue.
Iga, do you think, that lessons with teacher and dolphins in water, could be more interesting for children learning echolocation?
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In this documentary I was really surprised by the fact that the boy learnt to live normally with his disability. He was able to “see without eyes” and I find it very interesting. It’s amazing that he didn’t give up after losing his sight. I didn’t know that people can learn echolocation and use it in normal, daily life. In my opinion, blind children and low children should be taught echolocation at school, but only if they’re going to special school. I think in normal school, when most of kids are healthy, teaching echolocation isn’t necessary, but it could be an extra subject is such schools. So, in my mind, children with low vision or blind children should take classes in special schools and there they will be taught such useful abilities for them like echolocation.
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I’m sorry but I didn’t know we have to start the discussion exactly at 11 o’clock. I thought it will work like the one last week. It was not possible for me to be here at 11.
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I think that this documentary was great! I was really impressed by Ben’s echolocation skills. He was so confident and I believe that this helped him in contact with other, completely healthy people. I know his story now, but If I wouldn’t know I will never thougt that he is blind. The fact that he could easily fit in the whole between two cars without touching them was surprising form me. I think that blind children/ children with low vision should be taught echolocation in school, that could help them with orientation in the space, but beside that I think that cane is really helpful and they shouldn’t resign from using it like Ben.
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I’m really sorry, I didn’t know that I had to be exactly at 11 am.
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For me, the most surprising thing about this documentary was the fact, that people can use echolocation. When I saw how developed this ability was in Ben’s case I was shocked. I always thought that echolocation is for animals such as dolphins or bats. It’s amazing how humans can adjust to the new conditions.
Despite his blindness Ben Underwood was very independent child. I think that’s the key of his success. He never wanted to be seen as „disabled”. I think that it’s very important. In schools, blind children should be taught how to handle their life as independently as possible. -
I find this documentary really interesting. I knew about echolocation before, but Ben’s skills are impressive! I didn’t know that echolocation can be helpfull that much. I was surprised how exactly Ben could recognize objects with only using his ears. I think it’s a great idea to learn echolocation in school for blind or with low vision children. It would make them more skillful and confident in everyday life.
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I agree :)! I think the most impresive thing in his case was that he did not had hypersensitve hearing but still menaged to use echolocation.
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This documentary was really interesting to me. The fact that Ben was so strong and that he learned how to love without vision was really surprising. He adjusted to the new situation really well – because of echolocation his life was almost normal.
I really liked the fact that Ben didn’t give up and he tried to live normal life.
I think that it’d be a good thing to teach all blind children echolocation, because it can make their lives a lot earlier and it’ll be really helpful for them. -
Please accept my apology, I didn’t know that I had to be exactly at 11 am.
The documentary is very interesting. What surprised me the most was the technique that the boy used, called echo-location. It is amazing, he taught a technique that also dolphins and bats use. Echo-location is known for ages, but no one (I mean a human) has used it before. Also it suprised me that every object had a different sound and that the sound made him more aware of danger.
I think that blind children/children with low vision should be taught echo-location at school, because this incredible technique can enable to live them a normal life and do things that they can’t do without vision. For example they could play basketball, skateboarding or even drive a car.-
No, not exactly. I’ve already explained my reasons to Weronika. I don’t have much experience in running e-learning, forum-based classes and after our last discussion I could see what was working and what was not. What I really want is engaged students who do their assignments and later talk about it in – hopefully – pleasant circumstances. If you have your wishes as well, please tell me about them.
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Once again we are very sorry. Next time we will know that we have to be exactly at 11 am.
I really want to be engaged in the discussion and I get better.
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This documentary was very interesting. For the first time I heard about using echolocation by people. It is amazing for blind children like Ben. I’m impressed how Ben managed with everyday life activities but also how he did a lot of sports. I think that blind children/children with low vision should be taught echolocation at school, because it would be very helpful for them, and make their lifes easier.
I’m sorry for being late. -
I am really sorry, I was convinced that we are talking about this subject like about the previous one.
When it comes to the documentary, I was impressed how such a young person could cope with as traumatic experiences as cancer and blindness. Blind people are using white sticks, dog’s lead but echo-location is something new. I think that, if there was such a possibility, it should be taught to the blind people. I wish I could see the world through his eyes. I am intrested how it looks like. Also, I was impressed with his mother. Certainly, it was not an easy decision to remove a children’s eyes.
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Both Ben and Christina from “The Disembodied Lady” had their own limitations, but their situations were drastically different.
Most people when asked what sense they cherish the most, answer that this is vision. I’m sure that Christina would gladly swap vision for proprioception.-
That’s right, prioperception seems the most important since i know that exists, maybe people pick vision because they dont know about prioperception? In my opiniom second most important sense is hearing, i can’t imagine myself hearing nothing, that would be a nightmare.
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I agree. It is possible to well functioning without vision thanks to the new technologies, apps or in Ben’s case, echo-location. In Christina’s case, vision only replaced her proprioception. I see proprioception as a kind of basis of body functioning.
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I think that people forget that proprioception is also a sense. If someone asked me this question, I wouldn’t be able to answer, because I’m a person, who has every senses and I can’t imagine my life without one of them. Every sense is very important and losing one brings a lot of hard work to live properly.
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In my opinion it would be really hard to get used to living without some senses, but we would be able to live without it over time. When I first thought about it, I thought that losing vision would be the hardest lost for me. After consideration I agree that losing proprioception would be worse, because it limits people in more ways.
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In my opinion the most interesting thing about the documentary is that blind people can adapt to the environment that they live in to make their life easier. It is surprising how smart is our organism and what it can do to help us. I think that echolocation is not so easy to teach or learn. It contains time, money and tools that are necessary and I don’t know if schools afford that. If they could it would be wonderful. It would help not just blind children but their parents too because it would be a relief for them in some ways.
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When we were watching this film in class I wasn’t really convinced to it, because of the first scenes – when Ben put his eyes in their place. When I started watching this movie again, I discovered a lot of value in it.
In my opinion Ben, just like previous – Christina – is an absolutely inspirational person. The way he dealt with blindness was and still is incredible.
Before I watched this story about Ben, I heard about echolocation only in the case of bats and other animals. I have never heard of a case of human echolocation and I was extremely interested, so later I started reading about this more in the internet.
I think that all blind people (especially children) should have this opportunity to learn how to use echolocation. -
It’s unbelievable that the boy can even play in video games! That he can find a gap between two cars. I think, that it’s not strange, that he found out that there was a big building (when he was 3 years old) because i can notice things like that too (with my hearing of course). But i think it’s interesting, that he was so bright when he was only 4 years old.
His mother has to be very strong women, because this decision which she had to make was very difficult. And she had uplifting behavior for his son. I can’t imagine putting myself in her place, telling my terrified son that maybe he can’t see me with his eyes, but he can see me with his hands, ears, nose.
This documentary was so interesting, that i told about it my parents. And now, they are watching it too 😀 -
The other thing that comes to my mind when I think about Ben and his story is that he must have been really determined, because he didn’t want to go to the school for the blind people, he was convinced that he could overcome adversity and study in normal school like his age-mates. He really wanted people to treat him like he was a normal teenager.
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I don’t think that it was determination. He told that he wanted to play games as a “normal” teenager. He had this ability to play with other teenagers, but students in school for blind people had not. So what his breaks would look like? He had more opportunity to behave as healthy boy. Spending time with this children could be boring for him, because he could do more.
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I can’t decide what was the most surprising to me because I find the whole story incredibly surprising. I had no idea that something like this could take place. The documentary tells the story about a boy who despite the lack of eyes is able to see thanks to echolocation. It’s amazing how independent he is and how he copes with it – he lives like an normal, ordinary teenager.
I think echolocation could be very helpful for blind children and children with low vision, but also very difficult. For me not everyone is able to learn it, therefore if echolocationwould bewere taught at school, it shouldn’t be evaluated. -
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She was a huge support for him. After Ben’s surgery she was depressed but she found a strength to cope with it because she realised that if she gave up, he would gave up too. She had never let him believe that he is blind. She treated him exactly like other, sighted kids.
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It’s a hard question. I think that both of these things are important. Nature because like I said before – not everyone is able to learn echolocation very well. And nurture because thanks to his mother’s faith, Ben never doubted himself- she taught him that she would always support him. So if he had been born to a different mother, who wouldn’t give him love, faith or strength like Aquanetta, maybe he wouldn’t have become such an excellemt echolocator.
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