Comments on: Do Blind People Dream?

By: Jhester Eusebio

Jhester Eusebio — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 12:15:21 +0000

It was our topic in my class that triggered me to research about what do blind people dream about and fortunately I came across to this site. For me my first reaction to this question as our college professor asked to us is that blind people dream only about their auditory sensation. But now it was clear to me that blind people dream too not only about their auditory sensation but their dreams also include their other functionig senses. But there was a question that came into my mind. Do blind people imagine how someone or something looks like and if they do, do their imagination affect their dreams too? I’m just curious…

By: N'Awlins Kat

N'Awlins Kat — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 21:58:37 +0000

To add to what greenstrawberries said: we’ve had five foreign exchange students live with us over the years, and played host to a number of others. Two of my girls, in particular, were quite excited when they had their first dreams in English. Bear in mind, each of them was polylingual; one spoke three languages fluently, then other spoke four and was learning a fifth. Both were about 16 or 17 at the time. Now that they’re in their mid-20s, I’d bet their dreams are really fantastic!

By: greenstrawberries

greenstrawberries — Wed, 29 Aug 2007 07:36:20 +0000

Tamara,
I am bilingual, and I dream in 2 languages regularly. I did not become fully bilingual until I was 14 (past puberty), and that is definitely not a determinate in how bilingual a person can be, but rather whether or not a person will have an accent. My father, who did not become bilingual until he was around 30, dreams in both languages, and recently retired from his position as the vice president of an international corporation. He speaks English with an accent, however, he does speak English fluently, and with little to no grammatical mistakes. He does not spend his entire day translating things in his head, he thinks in English or in French as the case may be.
I think in 2 languages, it kind of works like a light switch, I think in French, or I think in English. I do occasionally get stuck in the middle, but most bilinguals that I have spoken to have similar experiences. The brain is perfectly capable of thinking in more than one language.
I realize that you did not mean to put down second language learners, but your statements were not only wrong, but somewhat derogatory towards learners of other languages. Please be careful what you say in this area, it is a sensitive topic.

By: Mark Morgan

Mark Morgan — Fri, 03 Aug 2007 16:37:08 +0000

I would like to know how Blind People
perceive sounds in a dream and how is this intepreted by the person.
In other words what formation is created by that sounds.
Can any tell me a dream that they had
and how this was intepreted.
I want to understand how you intepret
dreams.

By: Patti

Patti — Thu, 12 Jul 2007 14:41:11 +0000

I am a teacher of the blind and visually impaired, and yes, my students tell me that they DO dream. I taught elementary school last year, and one little girl told me that she would have nightmares about the guy who read “The Green Ribbon” (the story about the lady whose head falls off when you take off the ribbon) on our audiotape.
From what I gather from my students, they dream of sounds, feelings, smells, etc.
And, as mentioned above, there is AMAZING technology for folks who are blind or VI. I am dying to get these “pens” where you literally move the pen over text and it reads it to you. There are also computer programs to help folks with VI/blindness use a computer (some will read the screen to you). Of course, there is still the good ol’ Perkins Brailler!

By: Tamara

Tamara — Thu, 12 Jul 2007 11:06:56 +0000

Most people who speak English (or any other language) as a 2nd language are unlikely to think in English most of the time (and very many second language learners will never think directly in the second language at all), unless they learnt the language very young (before puberty) and / or have lost their first language through migration or other circumstances. An exception might be if there is a particular area of life where they have only ever used English – say maybe a scientist who did all their training in English would be likely to think about scientific problems in English.

Regarding sign language, the main issue is not really whether the person has been deaf since birth, but whether or not sign language was their first language. I’ve known deaf people who have had to mentally translate things written in the main language of the community in question into sign language, so yes, I’d say they were thinking in sign language.

By: Jason

Jason — Tue, 10 Jul 2007 15:50:08 +0000

Jerse — I can’t speak to how many blind readers we have. You’re probably right; it’s probably zero. But I was shocked to learn how many blind people are actively using the internet through screen readers and other similar technologies.

Here’s an explanation of how they do it:

webbie.org.uk/webbie.htm

By: Jerse

Jerse — Tue, 10 Jul 2007 12:53:52 +0000

Seriously, I bet your “blind community” is off the hook with all those braille screens…

By: Sarah

Sarah — Tue, 10 Jul 2007 08:02:33 +0000

This makes me think of two questions which have been bugging me -
Do people who have been deaf from birth think in sign language?

How many years does it take for a new speaker of english (ie: english being their second language) to start thinking in english?

By: Steve

Steve — Tue, 10 Jul 2007 00:39:49 +0000

I would also think that the answer would be different for those that are blind from birth than those blinded by disease or accident later in life. I haven’t heard of visual dreams and memories being erased by blindness later in life.