At the beginning of the workshop, participants immediately took part in an experiment. Ezgi then shared more insights about the cognitive abilities of blind people.
During the experiment, participants were confronted with different scenarios, such as someone quickly walking away from an elevator. Some paid close attention to the events, while others only listened to the sounds. After the experiment, participants shared their impressions, and what became clear was that the absence of certain senses, like sight or hearing, influences how we describe events.
People who only listened to the sounds mostly talked about the movement of the person – whether they were getting closer or walking farther away – instead of how they moved specifically. On the other hand, participants who were watching focused mainly on the way of movement, such as running or limping.
It was striking that everyone who shared what they had seen used hand gestures to clarify the path or way of movement. Fun, of course, if you can see, but if you can't see, these movements add little value.
It’s interesting how we tell events differently depending on what we see or hear. Our eyes and ears give us different types of information. What we see is always there, but what we hear comes sequentially. Understanding movements is therefore harder if we only listen. That’s why how we move becomes more important when you only hear sounds.
Research has shown that listening and feeling, instead of seeing, can help with learning the route to a particular destination. However, it’s more difficult to understand how to navigate from a broader perspective if you can’t see. Therefore, blind people often rely on their exact position to learn how to go, breaking the route into smaller segments to make navigation easier.
The workshop ended with a lively discussion, led by one of muSEEum’s blind guides. This guide provided valuable insights into how blind people perceive and navigate the world.
