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Thursday, November 19, 2009

I Can't Read Braille With My Eyes Closed

I made an interesting observation last night that I felt like I had to share. I was trying to relax myself while reading my braille book, so I thought I would just close my eyes. Much to my dismay and shock, my reading slowed down and my eyes started twitching. I couldn't believe it, it appears that I can't read braille if I have my eyes closed.

I have a hypothesis about why this happened. It is known that reading braille activates the same parts of the brain that reading print does, so my thought is that my brain was telling my eyes that I wouldn't be able to read if my eyes were closed because my visual cortex was being activated.

Am I crazy? Do any of you read braille with your eyes closed? If so, have you ever experienced your eyes twitching while doing so?
Posted by at 5:00 AM
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8 comments:

  1. This is a very interesting question. I have enough sight I can actually SEE the braille if I have the right glasses on and the light is just right. So I have had to force myself to read it by touch at all and to deliberately practice since I mostly use print. To that end, I generally choose to read braille at night in bed with the lights off... and my eyes closed. It's just the way I have always done it and I find it hugely relaxing. In fact when I brought my book out in the daylight the other day, the sight of my hands traveling across the page was incredibly distracting and I had to close my eyes again. Guess it's all about what you get used to.
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  2. That's fascinating, although if seeing your hands would distract you, then closing your eyes makes sense. I didn't mention this, but sometimes I can see the braille in my head when I'm reading. Even though I have very little usable vision, I guess my brain is just used to my eyes being open when I read.
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  3. This phenomenon might diminish over time, with practice. The brain is highly plastic :)
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  4. It's definitely harder for me to read Braille with my eyes closed, because that means I'm using my hands. But when I do read Braille with my hands I usually keep my eyes open and stare blankly, usually at the TV out of habit. I have closed my eyes before and it's definitely less comfortable for me, but I don't know about slower, as I'm not sure I could get any slower.
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  5. I'm sighted and just tried closing my eyes and "reading" text in my head -- I can visualize someone's mouth moving, and a few letters trying to form, but text eludes me.

    I think you may be on to something with the brain mapping.
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  6. actually it's said that it takes 15 days (usually) for the body to assimilate a new habit or break a pattern.

    I find it's true, it takes me about 2 weeks to really get used to something or break a bad pattern

    I've even been applying a "15" rule to lots of things lately, like if i want to digest a harsh, negative news or thought i would take up to 15 minutes relaxing and accept it. It's a way to keep your mind open.

    hope this helps someone it has really helped me.

    Well i can't really comment about the braille. I still can see with glasses, but am very nearsighted and suffer from really bad dry eyes (and i know it might actually get worse...)

    am really hoping to learn Braille, always been fascinated by it. Also would like to keep using a computer without having to use my eyes to read all time (is really painful for me after just a few minutes and have to close them and get cold water in my face...)

    i wonder if anyone here or Alena could give me some tips on how to learn braille and what screen reading software to use.

    thanks all and great blog :)
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  7. Manny, you have a similar condition to myself. Seeing is possible and also very uncomfortable. Currently I read braille for the "fun stuff" and use it daily. For screen reading, I tried ZoomText's free trial, did not care for it and am now trying a freeware program called Thunder Screenreader. If you google, there are quite a few different screen readers that don't cost thousands of dollars. Good luck and if you want tips on learning braille, send me a message from my profile page. Maybe Alena will have some great advice too. :)
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  8. That's really fascinating. Have you practiced much with your eyes closed? Does it get easier? I'd be willing to bet that it does have something to do with your brain associating open eyes with the activation of the visual cortex. Thanks to the interesting posts!
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