He's blind, but he can see.

May 18, 2007 8:33 PM

Meet Ben Underwood, otherwise known as the boy who sees without eyes. Using a technique similar to the echolocation used by dolphins and bats, he navigates the world without any visual assistance. Want to see how hard it is? Here are a few experiments to try.
posted by miss lynnster (7 comments total)

Double in concept, if not exact links. But still an interesting story.
posted by booksherpa at 8:47 PM on May 18, 2007

I did so many searches! Dang it. I couldn't believe he hadn't been on here before but nothing came up.
posted by miss lynnster at 8:50 PM on May 18, 2007

In checking out the last post, the documentary wasn't there. So in my defense, that's totally new. Plus I featured experiments! Wheeeeee!
posted by miss lynnster at 8:52 PM on May 18, 2007

I only watched the first part of the doc. Do they actually test his ability? Like holding up different shapes and asking him to name them? This all seems like denial of a disability.

Letting him play in the streets is just asking for him to get hit by a car.
posted by stavrogin at 8:59 PM on May 18, 2007

Indeed, miss lynnster, the documentary was only added a few days ago, and the Ellen DeGeneres interview spot (too short, though, that interview!), and, like you say, the experiments, so it's basically a new post altogether. As the poster of the first FPP, you have my blessing on this one! Go in peace, my child.

That first comment, from another blind person ('Yolanda') on the Ellen blog is interesting. Worth reading for an alternate take on this guy and the whole clicking thing. "I’m embarrassed that he is making the blind community look stupid and weird. "
posted by flapjax at midnite at 9:07 PM on May 18, 2007

The documentary is actually pretty interesting because in the end he struggles with his dislike of using a cane. In the fifth part of the documentary, they show that his echolocation alone might not always be the safest thing. He has to kind of rethink things a little and consider that a cane might help him. So the blind woman who posted on Ellen's site actually did have a valid point about its benefits.
posted by miss lynnster at 9:19 PM on May 18, 2007

And thanks for the support there, flapjax! :)
posted by miss lynnster at 9:21 PM on May 18, 2007