On losing senses...

[conuly]

Something leora said made me think.

Way back when, in the 8th grade, my health teacher asked us all if we'd prefer to lose our sight or our hearing. I was, I think, the only one to say my hearing. My hearing is, for the most part, an annoyance mihi - too good for its own good. But the idea of losing it scared me so much that I can still feel it, if I think. It took me years to figure out why.

My eyesight, with my glasses, is perfectly good. Without my glasses is another issue, but I'm never without my glasses, so. With my glasses, I have perfectly good eyesight. But what I finally figured out, years later, is that my primary sense in deciding if it's safe to cross the street, or if I'm about to get smacked with a large object, or even where people are in relation to me is my sense of hearing.

I was in California when I finally figured it out. I was trying to cross the street to get to the community pool, and I... couldn't cross. I'd look both ways, see there were no cars, start to cross - and stop, convinced I was about to get hit by a car. And then it would repeat, and repeat, and repeat. I eventually realized that even though I couldn't see cars coming towards me on the road, I could hear them on the freeway - and this was overriding even the evidence of my own eyes. Granted, the road curved in a way I didn't like, but there was enough space on either side of the curve to see oncoming traffic. If there hadn't been the freeway, I'd've been fine.

Once I realized that, everything clicked. This was why gym was such a trial (I mean, aside from the obvious). The teacher would try to get everybody to go outside on the field, they'd all complain that it was cold, and I'd be there going "Right, out, let's go!" because inside there was an echo. The echo of several games of volleyball, or several people practicing basketball. Hard enough to keep track of several objects in the best of circumstances, but with the echo, I had no way of knowing where anything was. It could be targeted towards me right now!

Of course, my sense of hearing isn't my least favorite sense to lose. That'd be my sense of touch, then hearing, then sight, then balance, then smell, then taste. But, of course, mainstream society likes to pretend those other options don't exist. We're all caught up on this whole binary system for everything, aren't we?

Comments

[mortaine.livejournal.com]

I would rather lose my hearing than my vision. My vision is crucial to me-- I use it to READ, dangit. And deaf people can still drive.

My great-aunt lost her vision and died within a year. Granted, she was elderly, but nobody can convince me that she didn't die in part because she could no longer settle in to read a good book.

[conuly]

I can't drive. Never will, either. That's why I live in a city where I don't have to (I mean, other than the fact that NYC is the world).

As for reading... you know what? If my friends and family can't be bothered to read to me for hours on end like they do for Ana, I don't want any part of them! Hmph! :P

[kibbles.livejournal.com]

My sight, too. Not to read, not to see the faces of those I love? The faces would hurt me even more. I could look at people for hours. And things. Well, I'm a photographer so...

And as I am aging, a bit of that is going with age. I believe I need glasses now, and asking people to repeat themselves is annoying.

My sense of smell is pretty bad, I have a few theories why, but I'll deal with it.

[leora.livejournal.com]

Blind people read.

[kibbles.livejournal.com]

I know, that's what I meant when I said that part wouldn't bother me (as much).

[leora.livejournal.com]

... we just don't comprehend that well. *G*

Ah okay then. I misunderstood your statement. Although looking back at it, I think it was a little ambiguous. Probably one of those things where it'd be clear with the right tone of voice or somesuch. Anyhow, that's good. I just don't want people jumping to this whole - ack blind, can't read anymore, that's it forever idea.

[kibbles.livejournal.com]

Hey if knowing braille means I can read in the bathtub, sounds like a skill I need to learn, with or without an immediate need to know. :)

[leora.livejournal.com]

Not practically... you'd have to buy the books in print/Braille form, which costs extra (because you're getting too copies interleaved), and anything you wanted to read would be huge. Braille takes up space... Braille books are large. A typical adult novel comes in two huge boxes through the mail. On plastic, it'd be even larger. So, alas, Braille is not a practical bathroom reading choice. But you could read kid's books, as they wouldn't be too large.

Oh, and all of that is grade two Braille, if you could only read grade one (uncontracted Braille) things would be even huger. Grade one is really easy to learn. You could probably be reading grade one Braille kid's books within about a month of on and off effort and spending about $25 on the project. But it would have limited use. It is, however, really good for reading when you're sharing a room and someone wants to sleep.

[kibbles.livejournal.com]

re-read it, it was my poor sentence structure.

[leora.livejournal.com]

Enh, if you go blind, you spend about one year readjusting. You lose one year of doing other stuff to learn to use a cane, maybe a dog, to read Braille, etc. Maybe another year to get good at Braille. I'm going more slowly because I'm insufficiently motivated. There are plenty of audiobooks, and you can borrow them for free. You can get almost anything Brailled. Computers are easy.

With balance, it depends how you lose it. If you just lose the sense of balance, that's okay. If it gets distorted, then you're horribly immobilized. Damage to the sense of balance can be very bad.

The worst sense to lose though is probably the kinesthetic. It doesn't usually make the list, because nobody thinks about it. But there has been a case of the loss of kinesthetic sense. The kinesthetic sense is the sense of where your own body parts are. It's the sense you use when you close your eyes and touch your nose. It's what you use without thinking about it to walk, to scratch an itch, etc. You can substitute a lot of this with constant visual checks, but it's incredibly difficult, and a disability that almost no one will understand. So, you're about as handicapped as a blind person, except that people don't give you the time you need and you can't easily explain it.

Touch would be an absolutely horrible sense to lose.

Taste is fairly annoying to lose. It's hard to make yourself eat without a sense of taste. But it's not certainly do-able. As to smell, I've spent most of my life with only limited sense of smell due to constant colds and allergies. But I do like having a sense of smell. But if I had to lose a sense, I'd probably give up either taste or smell... maybe taste, since if you can still smell, you can still get some of the enjoyment from food. And smell can be useful a lot of the time in ways that taste just isn't as vital. And I'm no good at telling what food is bad from taste anyway.

[xmorningxrosex.livejournal.com]

growing up in rural farm-filled Wisconsin, I'd go with smell. P-U! :P

my bf's sister can't smell, so she's got it easy when it comes to changing diapers.

[lakidaa.livejournal.com]

Hmm.

I'm so much of a A/V person that I'd go neither. Serously. screw them other senses, I need sight/sound.

However, I'd give up sight first out of that binary, as I can always get audiobooks, but I can't get picturemusic.

I have good hearing-- but that's because I know what to listen for. My hearing is actually normal (pretty much), but since I'm paying attention for certain sounds (fex: mom's wheelchair moving, garage doors opening, feetsteps in the hallways), I hear them first. It's useful.

And I need vision just because I can't really type. *sorta-peckpeck*. Or do some things without watching my hands.

I guess this makes my kinesthetic sense not so hot. But I can play games without looking at my hands perfectly fine. Controllers? dude, cool *combo!* Keyboards? wtflol no. *pekpek*

[meryls-corner.livejournal.com]

I'd rather lose hearing than site. I have a lot of trouble making sense of what I hear, but if I read the same think I'm able to understand it right away.

[lizziey.livejournal.com]

you lost your sense of balance long before i met you, m'dear.

[conuly]

*stares*

Lizziey, you can't walk backwards.

[lizziey.livejournal.com]

not true. i can't walk backwards AND talk. and you can't catch, so hush!

[mortaine.livejournal.com]

I would rather lose my hearing than my vision. My vision is crucial to me-- I use it to READ, dangit. And deaf people can still drive.

My great-aunt lost her vision and died within a year. Granted, she was elderly, but nobody can convince me that she didn't die in part because she could no longer settle in to read a good book.

[conuly]

I can't drive. Never will, either. That's why I live in a city where I don't have to (I mean, other than the fact that NYC is the world).

As for reading... you know what? If my friends and family can't be bothered to read to me for hours on end like they do for Ana, I don't want any part of them! Hmph! :P

[kibbles.livejournal.com]

My sight, too. Not to read, not to see the faces of those I love? The faces would hurt me even more. I could look at people for hours. And things. Well, I'm a photographer so...

And as I am aging, a bit of that is going with age. I believe I need glasses now, and asking people to repeat themselves is annoying.

My sense of smell is pretty bad, I have a few theories why, but I'll deal with it.

[leora.livejournal.com]

Blind people read.

[kibbles.livejournal.com]

I know, that's what I meant when I said that part wouldn't bother me (as much).

[leora.livejournal.com]

... we just don't comprehend that well. *G*

Ah okay then. I misunderstood your statement. Although looking back at it, I think it was a little ambiguous. Probably one of those things where it'd be clear with the right tone of voice or somesuch. Anyhow, that's good. I just don't want people jumping to this whole - ack blind, can't read anymore, that's it forever idea.

[kibbles.livejournal.com]

Hey if knowing braille means I can read in the bathtub, sounds like a skill I need to learn, with or without an immediate need to know. :)

[leora.livejournal.com]

Not practically... you'd have to buy the books in print/Braille form, which costs extra (because you're getting too copies interleaved), and anything you wanted to read would be huge. Braille takes up space... Braille books are large. A typical adult novel comes in two huge boxes through the mail. On plastic, it'd be even larger. So, alas, Braille is not a practical bathroom reading choice. But you could read kid's books, as they wouldn't be too large.

Oh, and all of that is grade two Braille, if you could only read grade one (uncontracted Braille) things would be even huger. Grade one is really easy to learn. You could probably be reading grade one Braille kid's books within about a month of on and off effort and spending about $25 on the project. But it would have limited use. It is, however, really good for reading when you're sharing a room and someone wants to sleep.

[kibbles.livejournal.com]

re-read it, it was my poor sentence structure.

[leora.livejournal.com]

Enh, if you go blind, you spend about one year readjusting. You lose one year of doing other stuff to learn to use a cane, maybe a dog, to read Braille, etc. Maybe another year to get good at Braille. I'm going more slowly because I'm insufficiently motivated. There are plenty of audiobooks, and you can borrow them for free. You can get almost anything Brailled. Computers are easy.

With balance, it depends how you lose it. If you just lose the sense of balance, that's okay. If it gets distorted, then you're horribly immobilized. Damage to the sense of balance can be very bad.

The worst sense to lose though is probably the kinesthetic. It doesn't usually make the list, because nobody thinks about it. But there has been a case of the loss of kinesthetic sense. The kinesthetic sense is the sense of where your own body parts are. It's the sense you use when you close your eyes and touch your nose. It's what you use without thinking about it to walk, to scratch an itch, etc. You can substitute a lot of this with constant visual checks, but it's incredibly difficult, and a disability that almost no one will understand. So, you're about as handicapped as a blind person, except that people don't give you the time you need and you can't easily explain it.

Touch would be an absolutely horrible sense to lose.

Taste is fairly annoying to lose. It's hard to make yourself eat without a sense of taste. But it's not certainly do-able. As to smell, I've spent most of my life with only limited sense of smell due to constant colds and allergies. But I do like having a sense of smell. But if I had to lose a sense, I'd probably give up either taste or smell... maybe taste, since if you can still smell, you can still get some of the enjoyment from food. And smell can be useful a lot of the time in ways that taste just isn't as vital. And I'm no good at telling what food is bad from taste anyway.

[xmorningxrosex.livejournal.com]

growing up in rural farm-filled Wisconsin, I'd go with smell. P-U! :P

my bf's sister can't smell, so she's got it easy when it comes to changing diapers.

[lakidaa.livejournal.com]

Hmm.

I'm so much of a A/V person that I'd go neither. Serously. screw them other senses, I need sight/sound.

However, I'd give up sight first out of that binary, as I can always get audiobooks, but I can't get picturemusic.

I have good hearing-- but that's because I know what to listen for. My hearing is actually normal (pretty much), but since I'm paying attention for certain sounds (fex: mom's wheelchair moving, garage doors opening, feetsteps in the hallways), I hear them first. It's useful.

And I need vision just because I can't really type. *sorta-peckpeck*. Or do some things without watching my hands.

I guess this makes my kinesthetic sense not so hot. But I can play games without looking at my hands perfectly fine. Controllers? dude, cool *combo!* Keyboards? wtflol no. *pekpek*

[meryls-corner.livejournal.com]

I'd rather lose hearing than site. I have a lot of trouble making sense of what I hear, but if I read the same think I'm able to understand it right away.

[lizziey.livejournal.com]

you lost your sense of balance long before i met you, m'dear.

[conuly]

*stares*

Lizziey, you can't walk backwards.

[lizziey.livejournal.com]

not true. i can't walk backwards AND talk. and you can't catch, so hush!