Sensory disabilities like deafness and blindness are disabling because the world is not oriented to people with sensory disabilities.
I am reminded that the Deaf have their own mythology. American Sign Language is distinct; it's not English. Accordingly it has its own culture, including its own myths. Many of them are fables and stories from the western tradition slightly adapted. But some are original.
One common theme in American Deaf mythology (but I'd bet it's told elsewhere too) is stories about a world which is visually oriented. There's an ASL word for this world but English doesn't have one. Sometimes it's translated as Eyeth a.k.a. "Eye-Earth".
It's more than just a world where everyone is deaf or where everyone communicates in ASL. It has something like spiritual meaning to some of those who tell stories about it; in that world the Deaf are not disabled, not in the social way that matters.
Reminds me of The Country of the Blind by HG Wells.
It’s about a guy who finds his way into a valley in a mountain range where everyone has been blind for generations. At first he thinks that he’ll have “a superpower“ because he’s sighted. Instead the people of the valley view his sight as an illness.
I'm learning ASL. That led me to learn about Deaf culture in North America. The stories that the Deaf have told each other, and have passed down. A world where everyone is deaf is one of the first stories you'll learn about; I'm not even sure when I first encountered it, but it was in that context.
One common modern version of the fable is told with an astronaut who finds that they've landed on a parallel Earth where everyone is Deaf and sign language is the norm.
The book A Study of American Deaf Folklore by Susan D Rutherford is a bit dated now but interesting in exploring the functions and roles of myths here.
No, deafness and blindness are disabling because they provide critical long range data. Being able to see is essentially a superpower if you are blind. Same with hearing.
Maybe, but that isn't really what the GP post is talking about. At the level of mythology, the eye-earth is place where people of that group belong without judgment or limitation. No different from Harry Potter or Narnia or any other fantasy place one might imagine going where they can be with their people.
In any case, I'm not sure this even survives transposing to other senses that humans are weak in, such as smell (like prey animals) or magnetic direction (like migratory birds). A human who randomly had these would indeed be seen as superpowered, but that wouldn't become a statement that all regularly-abled humans are now disabled for missing the "critical" long range sense.
Meh, my formidable powers of foresight aren't really a superpower. Few people listen until things have progressed far enough that they see the things, too, by which point there are rarely many interventions available. And every time we do intervene early, that's "you said this would happen and it didn't happen!", making it harder to convince people the next time. And when things do turn out more-or-less as predicted, I "made a lucky guess" because "there was no way you could have known that".
In the land of the blind, why would anyone pay attention to this weirdo's ramblings about "rain-clouds"? Obviously they're just feeling changes to temperature, pressure, and humidity. Oh, and they know what shapes things are? Wow! So does everyone else who's touched the things. Sure, that "how many fingers am I holding up?" party trick is pretty neat (probably cold reading), but not something we should make policy decisions on the basis of.
Only in that narrow viewpoint. Most people talk about disability in the context of a society because much of what we encounter in our day to day is created by other people. The sights, sounds, smells, and experiences in our world are frequently because of others. So in that context, if the dominant culture makes it a point to create experiences that require hearing or sight to consume, then yes it's a disability. But if we adapt some or all of what we do for people who don't have those senses, then we can make it less disabling.
This is great, but boy I'm glad I took the time to actually read the article.
I assumed it was about someone who took a huge number of standard rectangular LEGO bricks with the 6/8 raised studs, then laboriously shaved them off to create all the necessary braille patterns, and used them on large LEGO boards to quickly assemble messages/notifications for blind readers.
Reality - it's about using lego to help "visualize" architecture.
Your description reminds me of a blind guy I know who is interested in architecture, and began to collect scale models of famous building so he could feel them and experience their architecture. Eventually he took an interest in buildings that were less famous or didn't have high quality models, and started commissioning an artist to model them in CAD and 3D print them. Now he has a business producing and selling these tactics models.
I'm a blind guy. I have a distinct interest in starships -- I have every Eaglemoss model, and many many more.
If I click this link I am totally going to get sucked into having people design and print me starships -- I need another project like I need another hole in my head.
I'm not at all confident in my ability to take an unknown object, run my hands over it, manipulate it, and even get close to being able to describing / recreating it though it does sound like this has the makings of a fun Cranium board mini-game.
I know the part of Scotland where he has set up shop. There used to be a lot of toy farmers and small holders popping up round there and failing within a few years. Most of them were from big cities and from England, and pretty clueless about farming. They would often try something exotic like quail (if they had little money) and alpacas (if they had more). Mr Duxbury seems to be going down a similar line, although he does have a farming family background.
As the other comment mentions, it might be due to brick size, but also note that many people considered blind still have some non-zero vision (just e.g. extremely blurry, or a tiny field of view etc.). Although this guy had a glaucoma at the age of six, so there would be extremely little left by now.
I was thinking the other day that there should be wearable bangles for blind people with ultrasonic sensors or something that encode a 360 degree view of the world into vibrations.
If each bangle had 40 or so pixels, you’d get 80 pixels with one on each arm.
Was not disappoint when I saw the photos of the models he built. I had expected a hodgepodge of brick colors due to color not being a meaningful constraint on a blind person's Lego build.
Sensory disabilities like deafness and blindness are disabling because the world is not oriented to people with sensory disabilities.
I am reminded that the Deaf have their own mythology. American Sign Language is distinct; it's not English. Accordingly it has its own culture, including its own myths. Many of them are fables and stories from the western tradition slightly adapted. But some are original.
One common theme in American Deaf mythology (but I'd bet it's told elsewhere too) is stories about a world which is visually oriented. There's an ASL word for this world but English doesn't have one. Sometimes it's translated as Eyeth a.k.a. "Eye-Earth".
It's more than just a world where everyone is deaf or where everyone communicates in ASL. It has something like spiritual meaning to some of those who tell stories about it; in that world the Deaf are not disabled, not in the social way that matters.
Reminds me of The Country of the Blind by HG Wells.
It’s about a guy who finds his way into a valley in a mountain range where everyone has been blind for generations. At first he thinks that he’ll have “a superpower“ because he’s sighted. Instead the people of the valley view his sight as an illness.
That think him mentally ill because they do not believe he can actually see and think him deluded.
If he had kept quiet in the face of scepticism he would have had a huge advantage.
I see it as a story about people's unwillingness to believe in something that is outside their own experience and that of their society.
It WOULD have been a superpower if he hadn't told anyone he could see.
That's fascinating, is this explained in detail somewhere? How did you learn about this?
I'm learning ASL. That led me to learn about Deaf culture in North America. The stories that the Deaf have told each other, and have passed down. A world where everyone is deaf is one of the first stories you'll learn about; I'm not even sure when I first encountered it, but it was in that context.
One common modern version of the fable is told with an astronaut who finds that they've landed on a parallel Earth where everyone is Deaf and sign language is the norm.
The book A Study of American Deaf Folklore by Susan D Rutherford is a bit dated now but interesting in exploring the functions and roles of myths here.
No, deafness and blindness are disabling because they provide critical long range data. Being able to see is essentially a superpower if you are blind. Same with hearing.
Maybe, but that isn't really what the GP post is talking about. At the level of mythology, the eye-earth is place where people of that group belong without judgment or limitation. No different from Harry Potter or Narnia or any other fantasy place one might imagine going where they can be with their people.
In any case, I'm not sure this even survives transposing to other senses that humans are weak in, such as smell (like prey animals) or magnetic direction (like migratory birds). A human who randomly had these would indeed be seen as superpowered, but that wouldn't become a statement that all regularly-abled humans are now disabled for missing the "critical" long range sense.
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Meh, my formidable powers of foresight aren't really a superpower. Few people listen until things have progressed far enough that they see the things, too, by which point there are rarely many interventions available. And every time we do intervene early, that's "you said this would happen and it didn't happen!", making it harder to convince people the next time. And when things do turn out more-or-less as predicted, I "made a lucky guess" because "there was no way you could have known that".
In the land of the blind, why would anyone pay attention to this weirdo's ramblings about "rain-clouds"? Obviously they're just feeling changes to temperature, pressure, and humidity. Oh, and they know what shapes things are? Wow! So does everyone else who's touched the things. Sure, that "how many fingers am I holding up?" party trick is pretty neat (probably cold reading), but not something we should make policy decisions on the basis of.
You underestimate the extent to which humans are social creatures. See also: H. G. Wells's story The Country of the Blind. https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Country_of_the_Blind
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Only in that narrow viewpoint. Most people talk about disability in the context of a society because much of what we encounter in our day to day is created by other people. The sights, sounds, smells, and experiences in our world are frequently because of others. So in that context, if the dominant culture makes it a point to create experiences that require hearing or sight to consume, then yes it's a disability. But if we adapt some or all of what we do for people who don't have those senses, then we can make it less disabling.
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This is great, but boy I'm glad I took the time to actually read the article.
I assumed it was about someone who took a huge number of standard rectangular LEGO bricks with the 6/8 raised studs, then laboriously shaved them off to create all the necessary braille patterns, and used them on large LEGO boards to quickly assemble messages/notifications for blind readers.
Reality - it's about using lego to help "visualize" architecture.
EDIT: Apparently this already exists!
https://www.lego.com/en-us/product/play-with-braille-english...
Your description reminds me of a blind guy I know who is interested in architecture, and began to collect scale models of famous building so he could feel them and experience their architecture. Eventually he took an interest in buildings that were less famous or didn't have high quality models, and started commissioning an artist to model them in CAD and 3D print them. Now he has a business producing and selling these tactics models.
https://evengrounds.com/about/
Oh no.
I'm a blind guy. I have a distinct interest in starships -- I have every Eaglemoss model, and many many more.
If I click this link I am totally going to get sucked into having people design and print me starships -- I need another project like I need another hole in my head.
8 replies →
This is super cool. Apparently he also creates tactile topographical maps with various landmarks, terrain, etc.
https://evengrounds.com/3d-tactile-maps
I'm not at all confident in my ability to take an unknown object, run my hands over it, manipulate it, and even get close to being able to describing / recreating it though it does sound like this has the makings of a fun Cranium board mini-game.
The "lego for architecture" already exists too, though it was branded and then spun off as a separate company.
https://brickipedia.fandom.com/wiki/Modulex
Lego created a specific series of bricks in the 1960's for this exact purpose, called Modulex.
Originally designed for architects etc, it's still going. https://youtube.com/watch?v=I_OUxVuoxjk
I know the part of Scotland where he has set up shop. There used to be a lot of toy farmers and small holders popping up round there and failing within a few years. Most of them were from big cities and from England, and pretty clueless about farming. They would often try something exotic like quail (if they had little money) and alpacas (if they had more). Mr Duxbury seems to be going down a similar line, although he does have a farming family background.
My son is very interested in this. I am building an application to create designs online. Mainly to keep him away from video reels :)
https://app.brixox.com/
I wonder how the non-random color patterns in the pictured LEGO build came to be. Maybe he’s not 100% blind?
As the other comment mentions, it might be due to brick size, but also note that many people considered blind still have some non-zero vision (just e.g. extremely blurry, or a tiny field of view etc.). Although this guy had a glaucoma at the age of six, so there would be extremely little left by now.
From what I can tell in the image:
2x6: white
2x4: blue
2x2: grey
This makes interesting patterns, since you are more likely to use certain bricks in certain positions.
Lego retail stores have the odd habit of stocking Pick-A-Brick this way.
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I was thinking the other day that there should be wearable bangles for blind people with ultrasonic sensors or something that encode a 360 degree view of the world into vibrations.
If each bangle had 40 or so pixels, you’d get 80 pixels with one on each arm.
Ggf
Was not disappoint when I saw the photos of the models he built. I had expected a hodgepodge of brick colors due to color not being a meaningful constraint on a blind person's Lego build.