Brain training

Last weekend, I tripped and fell quite spectacularly during a leisurely jog around the block. Five stitches and a cracked rib later, one of the nurses at the hospital asked if I was training for something. I haven't signed up for a marathon but I suppose I am doing training of sorts - training my brain to rely less heavily on visual information and to 'feel' my way around. 

Sensory compensation is a well-known phenomenon amongst the congenitally blind but what does it mean for beginners like me? My feet and my brain clearly weren't in the mood to connect last Saturday, but is it possible to experience and process the world using different senses?  Can I really rewire my brain? 

Until recently, I have been able to plug the gaps in my vision with lots of useful visual memory. Give me a visual clue and I'll fill in the rest. Lately, however, the gaps have become larger and the guessing game more challenging.

It's not quite time to learn how to use a white cane or to switch to screen reading software, but it's definitely time to find ways to prepare for my future while making life a little easier in the meantime.

Here's what I've learnt so far: 

...that it's possible to hear when a person is smiling, frowning or raising an eyebrow even when you can't see their face 

...that being organized and ordered is really important. If I don't put my keys, phone, wallet etc. down in the same place each time, then it's unlikely that I'll find them again

... that toddlers and tidiness don't mix. Said keys, phone and wallet may well end up in the fridge

... that sometimes, the simplest solutions are the best. Putting raised stickers on the dials of all our appliances has saved no end of frustration, shrunken clothes, burnt food...

...that the right lighting makes all the difference. And it can become quite an obsession as I turn lights on or off or angle them this way or that simply to chop a carrot...

... that pretending to look at a toddler's pretend spider is okay, but that pretending to read the words of a story won't be okay for much longer...

... that while I may feel stupid asking for help, most people are amazingly willing to read the things I can't see

... that it's actually quite interesting to 'see' the world through other people's eyes

...that none of these things truly compensate for not being able to see, but they're a jolly good start.