The Blind Man Who Taught Himself To See

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July 5, 2011

a project of CharityFocus

Vision is the art of seeing the invisible.

- Jonathan Swift -

The Blind Man Who Taught Himself To See

Daniel Kish has been sightless since he was a year old. Yet he can mountain bike, navigate the wilderness alone, and recognize a building as far away as 1,000 feet. How? The same way bats can see in the dark. Since his infancy, he has been adapting to his blindness in remarkable ways. He has learned to use what he calls "Flashsonar," or echolocation. He produces a brief, sharp click with his tongue, and the sound waves bounce off every object around him, returning to his ears vastly decreased in volume, but perceivable. Kish has trained himself to hear these slight echoes and to interpret their meaning. Standing on his front stoop, he can visualize, with an extraordinary degree of precision, the two pine trees on his front lawn and the curb at the edge of his street. { read more }