Some of the best known disabilities are sensory disabilities that affect the sense of vision, hearing, touch, and proprioception. Speech impairment is closely related in that these conditions tend to be highly visible to the community and may severely challenge the disabled individual in a world that assumes the senses are “abled.” A less-visible sensory condition, “sensory processing disorder,” describes a person who is overly (or underly) sensitive to sensory stimuli like bright light, loud sound, or motion.
The most common visual disability is, of course, near- and far-sightedness, but that is so well corrected by glasses, it is often ignored. The next most common is color blindness, affecting around 10% of boys and less than 1% of girls. A teacher can expect a classroom of 25 students to have at least one color-blind boy. A 1000- student school would have over 100 color-blind students who have difficulty correctly identifying common colors. There are three types of color blindness: red-green, blue-yellow, and total colorblindness. In severe red-green, those colors are indistinguishable. A severe form of the less-common blue-yellow makes blue and green indistinguishable or yellow and red. The very rare total colorblind person can see only shades of grey, no color at all.
The Plight of a Color-Blind Student
During our century-and-a-half education emphasis on black-and-white text, color blindness was rarely mentioned as a problem. BUT, now with ubiquitous color text images, web pages, and instructional software, color blindness is a huge problem, but still rarely mentioned. Here’s a color-blind designer’s plea to STOP USING RED AND GREEN together because color blind students can’t tell them apart. Think of all the “red” markers for errors or missing items and the “green” markers for “go,” “good,” and “success.” It’s an impassionate 5-min read that you won’t forget! “From a Colourblind Designer to the World: PLEASE stop using Red and Green Together!” https://uxdesign.cc/from-a-colourblind-designer-to-the-world-please-stop-using-red-and-green-together-b311f321832c
A unique approach to total colorblindess. Meet Neil Harbisson, the “EyeBorg,” the first person recognized by a government as a “cyborg.” Watch his 9-min, 2012 TED talk whe he explains how he LISTENS to color, actually creating a different sense! https://www.ted.com/talks/neil_harbisson_i_listen_to_color
The Enchroma Miracle – Assistive Technology at its BEST.
Would you believe that a pair of glasses, usually costing less than normal prescription glasses, can give essentially full color vision to most colorblind kids and adults? Watch the video to see red-green colorblind people seeing normal color for the first time in their lives:
First Time seeing our colors (10-min – from age 10 to 60):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pJ6YV9-qxmg
Want more (5-min – a young woman and 80-yr old man):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=urh9t6jOyM0
Here’s how Enchroma glasses work. Read down the page to see the cause of red-green colorblindness and how Enchroma remedies this disability: https://enchroma.com/pages/how-enchroma-glasses-work
Take a color blindness test. You can even give a test to a young child! (for your infomation and experience only; this does not replace a professional test)
for adults: https://enchroma.com/pages/test
for kids age 5 and above: https://enchroma.com/pages/kids-color-blind-test
Hearing disabilities are most commonly a loss of hearing certain frequencies in one or both ears. Hearing aids have been a successful assistive technology from very young children (my grandniece received her pink hearing aids at age 3 or 4) to senior citizens. Hearing aids work by amplifying certain frequencies. But what if your ears don’t work at all, if amplification doesn’t work? The most common and successful “Brain-Computer Interface” is the cochlear implant. The microphone, computer, and battery is worn behind the ear. This assembly plugs into a socket implanted in the skull that has wires entering the brain and communicating directly to the auditory nerves. Watch the reactions from children to adults who are hearing for the first time in their lives! Imagine hearing YOUR OWN voice for the first time in your life:
first time for men & women, age 12-50: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CnMIYzU99yg
What’s Newest in Sensory Restoration? How about changing your DNA!
Many sensory disorders are at least partially genetic, as opposed to losing a leg to amputation. We’re used to thinking of DNA as the raw material of ourselves, given at birth, and unchangeable except for mutation caused by radiation or chemicals. Through “Gene Replacement Therapy,” literally replacing the DNA WITHIN your own living cells, dramatic changes are happening in the lab and emerging on the horizon.
Here’s the story of a young boy with a genetic condition of degenerative blindness. DNA replacement therapy inserted copies of a normal gene into the cells of the retina in the back of each eyeball. Watch A Miracle Tech Could Reverse Blindness (2020, 10-min): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o8ymjSE_W0E
One of the most interesting elements of DNA replacement therapy is HOW do you replace your own DNA that is inside the nucleus of every cell in your body?
Pursuing a Successful Life WITHOUT assistive technology for physical or sensory disabilities, two motivating examples:
- Avett Ray is a 7-yr old blind boy who taught himself to play the piano and sing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IOrqLME1CFY
- Nick Vujicic is a professional motivational speaker and religious evangelist born with neither legs nor arms. Google him if you’d like to see and hear a powerful voice from a man without arms, legs, or prostheses of any kind.