• Alternatives... 3.

    From Ardith Hinton@1:153/716 to Richard Webb on Fri Mar 2 02:36:56 2018
    Hi yet again, Richard! This is the last installment in the current series:

    You'll always hear or read us stressing the term
    "alternative" because utilization of "substitute"
    connotes inferiority, not quite as good as.


    Makes sense to me. I did the same without thinking about it.... :-)



    when we teach folks adjusting to blindness these
    techniques we teach them with the student under
    sleepshades, so that he/she learns them as a totally
    blind person, and understands at the gut level that
    the residual vision remaining is not the reason they
    are successful using them.


    Yes... sighted folk often shut their eyes when they are concentrating
    on input from other sources, which your students must also do. And they may be
    pleasantly surprised at how much they can hear after a bit of instruction. Our
    young friend & her mother were so thrilled when they noticed their voices would
    sound different if they held a cushion close to their mouths that they couldn't
    resist showing us what they'd learned. To us as musicians it may seem obvious.
    But we weren't born knowing these things... we just paid our dues earlier. ;-)




    --- timEd/386 1.10.y2k+
    * Origin: Wits' End, Vancouver CANADA (1:153/716)
  • From Ardith Hinton@1:153/716 to Richard Webb on Fri Mar 2 02:36:56 2018
    Hi, Richard! Awhile ago you wrote in a message to Ardith Hinton:

    You'll always hear or read us stressing the term
    "alternative" because utilization of "substitute"
    connotes inferiority, not quite as good as.

    Makes sense to me. I did the same without thinking
    about it.... :-)

    YEp, a lot of what we perceive is through the language
    we use to describe it <g>.


    Agreed. One example I often used in my English classes is that the Inuit... whose survival may depend far more on a precise knowledge of which is which than either yours or mine does... have 36 different words for snow. For us all that really matters in the majority of cases is whether we need to take turns shovelling the stuff, what is likely to happen when people drive or walk on it or when it melts & refreezes, and whether we can still get around with a car or a wheelchair. As a native speaker of English whose ancestors (at least as far back as I can trace) resided south of the Arctic Circle, I'm limited to using adjectives & remembering the family who skied down our street once. :-)

    Once I have learned the name of a person or a plant or an animal, I begin to notice details I hadn't noticed before. The use of words may help us clarify our observations. Assigning a "filename" enables me to collect what I know about xxx somewhere in my brain where I can find it again & compare it to similar examples. Language is a tool which we can use to refine & clarify our thoughts. Language can also limit thought, however, and I think some concepts may be better expressed in one language than in another.

    Anyway, I understand why you're careful about the vocabulary you use with folks who are beginning to come to terms with a physical handicap of some sort. I could spit nails WRT those who spout whatever "political correctness" decrees without changing their thinking one iota... or who firmly believe that certain medical conditions are limited to senior citizens, nasty evil smokers, etc. etc. despite evidence to the contrary. Bottom line is, we've been there. And those of us who have been there tend to choose our words differently. ;-)



    Our young friend & her mother were so thrilled when they
    noticed their voices would sound different if they held a
    cushion close to their mouths that they couldn't resist
    showing us what they'd learned. To us as musicians it may
    seem obvious. But we weren't born knowing these things...
    we just paid our dues earlier. ;-)

    Indeed, musicians do have an advantage there <g>.


    Uh-huh. Although my learning mode is primarily visual, I'm grateful that the study of music has taught me to use my ears more efficiently.... :-)



    I've told more than one person that if the miraculous
    were to occur tomorrow and I'd find myself with full
    20/20 vision I probably would be so confused and
    disoriented I couldn't cope for quite a time, as my
    brain wouldn't know what to do with the input it was
    now receiving.


    Yes, I can well imagine what might happen in some parts of Vancouver ... especially where the pavement narrows at bus stops! Others tend to give a person with an obvious physical handicap a wide berth. I can't begin to count how many times I've been thumped on a vulnerable joint by various individuals, or by their purses & backpacks, because I look more or less able-bodied as far as they are concerned. Although they may have 20/20 vision they don't seem to notice what's going on around them in many cases. I must warn you that if the miraculous suddenly occurred you might find yourself wishing it hadn't. These people evidently have difficulty sorting out what matters from what doesn't in the big city, where the pace & quantity of visual input can be overwhelming at times even for those who have had decades of experience with it... [wry grin].

    I'm reminded here of a fellow Dallas & I met during our CB days. We knew he was blind before we invited him to visit our place. He coped so well, however, that by the time he enquired where the bathroom was I answered as I'd have answered a sighted person. We both had a good laugh when I realized just after I'd told him where to find the light switch that it was irrelevant. :-)



    Adding sensory input could potentially be as debilitating
    as taking it away.


    I imagine so. Visual input interferes with the alpha rhythms in the brain, as I learned from reading the report on some study or other while I was trapped in a hospital waiting room. More about alpha rhythms on request. :-)




    --- timEd/386 1.10.y2k+
    * Origin: Wits' End, Vancouver CANADA (1:153/716)