Thread: Can blind people see their dreams?

As I have never talked to a blind person, I cant say for sure. I would assume that a majority of blind people would atleast have basic types of images. Probebly nothing like you or I would see since they can't gather visual information on the real world. I would assume though that if they used their imagination they could form some basic images. Thats not to say that they always have visuals. I suppose its possible that they have dreams with just sound, but without visuals it also makes it harder to tell if your dreaming or not. Once again, this is all based on assumption. I honestly have no clue.

Found some interesting things:

http://van.hep.uiuc.edu/van/qa/section/Eve...s/983040715.htm

http://van.hep.uiuc.edu/van/qa/section/Eve...21229215903.htm

http://answers.google.com/answers/threadview?id=99188

Ive met one blind person who said they dreamed in very vivid colors. Of course any colors to her must seem pretty vivid, but the short answer is yes.

Originally posted by gameover
Ive met one blind person who said they dreamed in very vivid colors. Of course any colors to her must seem pretty vivid, but the short answer is yes.

But was she blind since birth? Read my other post. I don't think the answer is a simple yes.

Originally posted by 7catac7
If a blind person is blind since they were born, then when they dream will all they see is darkness but able to feel and hear things in their dreams?

Yes, that's exactly it.

It's important to note, however, that they don't "see darkness," because they don't see at all. That's subtle but important, considering that some blind people are more aware of their environment, and therefore in less "darkness," than many people who see.

I was listening to Coast to Coast AM one night, back when I used to listen to it, and heard a show where one woman who was blind since birth had a near-death experience in which she claimed she could see houses and people as she was flying over them. She said it was very wonderous and painful. Jesus might have been in there somewhere, or at least some feeling of God and the afterlife, along with a meeting with a dead relative who abused her while she was young...

Who knows? She was audibly shaken, and had to explain some deeply personal events of her life, with a mix of calculated thought and anxiety that said that she had thought through it a million times and had to tell people about a hundred. All very characteristic of an NDE. What a troubled lady, to have the kind of life she's had and then have this event happen to her, that is so unbelievable that even some of the most credulous people would question it.

Originally posted by kichu


But was she blind since birth? *Read my other post. *I don't think the answer is a simple yes.

Right. good point. no she wasnt.

I think this topic is relevant: http://www.dreamviews.com/forum/viewtopic....p=226342#226342

I think it would be fair to make the deduction that the only difference here is that people that aren't blind can reconstruct their dreams (from the form of conceptual thought) into visual imagery and those that are blind cannot, however, in all other aspects, the dreams remain the same for them, I assume.

Here's one way to think of it. If someone has been blind all their life, they've never seen. They don't even know what sight it like. You can try explaining things based purely in the visual world to them, such as colors, but there's no way they can possibly understand what we're talking about, because they have no experience to go on. It would be like a person who can see normally trying to understand another color that exists beyond their range of vision, except harder. Other colors exist, but can you think of any color outside of the normal spectrum, and visualize it? That's what its like for people who have been blind from birth, or from a very young age.

However, there is a sort of compensation. Because they cannot see, other senses are strengthened to compensate; hearing becomes more precise, and can actually give a sense of position. You can see this by standing near a wall, even in a fairly quiet room, and closing your eyes. It's almost as if you can hear the wall's presence. This sense becomes more finely tuned the more it is relied on.