Posted on 10/09/2009 7:26:38 PM PDT by Free ThinkerNY
Born without sight, 7-year-old Lucas Murray used to be so afraid of walking he wouldn't take a step without his parents by his side.
"He would walk, but he would hold our hands. Always," said his mother, Sarah Murray of Dorset, England. "When he was younger, he wouldn't even walk on a bumpy surface."
But now Lucas has become more mobile than his parents ever imagined, running with friends, playing basketball and jumping on a trampoline -- all on his own.
The incredible change, his mother said, is owed to a technique called echolocation, similar to the method used by dolphins and bats, that allows Lucas to paint a picture of his surroundings using sound he creates himself.
To "see" the world around him, he clicks his tongue on the roof of his mouth and listens to the echo that bounces back. From the sound, he can make out the location, depth and shape of objects around him, allowing him to navigate even unfamiliar areas.
(Excerpt) Read more at abcnews.go.com ...
Congratulations Young’un
You have a lot to overcome and have overcome a lot
So, who’s going to send him to Colombia for Law School?
Just shows how little we really understand about the human brain and our ability to adapt. Thanks for posting.
An amazing young man!
Great story. While I’m not visually impaired, I have experimented many times with echolocation. It’s a very easy thing to do. All you need do is to close your eyes for a few hours and decide you’re going to relearn the inside of your house as if you were blind. There needs to be a source of sound, such as a radio playing. Do not open your eyes for at least an hour or three, and go on an expedition around your own house. Pretty soon you’ll see the obvious different echo coming from a wall verses drapes. Concave thing verses convex. Round things verses flat things.
It really does work, but your sensitivity level must be raised by orders of magnitude, which only occurs during long immersion practice.
You’ve got wayyy too much time on your hands. J/K
...Obama is jealous.
And in the words of Ross Perot: "I'm all ears Larry..."
I tried that myself one day......I knocked over the aquarium and fell down the basement steps.
What about the woman that sees with her eye tooth? Really!
It was important to me at the time to walk a mile in someone's shoes. I lived alone and had a Saturday off... so I made the time. And I learned things I'd have never known any other way.
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