• Question: How do people who are born blind dream?

    Asked by becca0612 to Laura, Nicola, Norman, Sandra, Thanasis on 14 Mar 2013.
    • Photo: Nicola Wardrop

      Nicola Wardrop answered on 14 Mar 2013:


      That’s a really interesting question! If they were not born blind, but became blind at some point in their life, then they would have dreams like you or I would. If they were partially sighted, and then became blind, they would probably have dreams based on how much they could see before they were completely blind. If they were blind from birth however, then their dreams may be only sounds with no pictures, or perhaps it might be light and dark, or colours if they have partial sight.

    • Photo: Laura Soul

      Laura Soul answered on 14 Mar 2013:


      People who are born completely blind and stay blind don’t have the working parts in their brain (the main one is called the visual cortex) that people who can see do. These parts of the brain are also working when we see things in our dreams, so blind people don’t have this. Lots of blind people can describe how they dream and they say that they dream in sounds and smells, and very often of motions. If you think about your dreams you probably have all these things too.

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