Do Blind People Dream?????

Question

I can see just fine but have always wondered if a person who has been blind their entire life dreams and if they do, what do they dream about????

Answer 1

Dreams have nothing to do with eyes. it s all in your mind. so yes they can dream

Answer 2

This is an interesting question -- and one that piques more than just
human curiosity. There have a been a couple of academic studies made
on precisely this subject, particularly amongst those concerned with
developmental psychology, and the general conclusion is that people
who have been blind from birth, or from a very young age, tend to have
no visual component to their dreams.

One page on the internet which discusses this in simple terms is
http://www.rommes.org/blind/dreams.html, which also references some of
the earlier studies done on this subject.

Most of the studies done (as opposed to anecdotal evidence) on this
subject appear to be unavailable on the internet, although a number of
sources cite Hunt H "The Multiplicity of Dreams: Memory, Imagination
and Consciousness" as a thorough and worthwhile read, if you're
interested in an in-depth investigation. This book is available to
order through Amazon and presumably other online or real-world
booksellers (although it's priced at US$20 so is maybe not ideal if
you're completely penniless!)
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0300049854

A recent paper (1999) by Hurovitz C, Dunn S, Domhoff G W, and Fiss H
entitled "The dreams of blind men and women: A replication and
extension of previous findings" aimed to perform further research on
this subject. The entire paper is available online at
http://psych.ucsc.edu/dreams/Articles/hurovitz_1999a.html

The conclusion of the researchers in the above paper pretty much bears
out the traditional thinking, although there were a couple of slight
surprises including two congenitally blind subjects reporting seeing
objects in their dreams. The researchers however concluded that this
was merely a metaphorical use of vision, especially as one of the
subjects said that she could tell silver objects were beautiful when
she touched them because the silver "felt pretty". Those of us with
sight would almost always ascribe the beauty of silver to its
appearance, yet evidently those who have no sight can still use the
same language terms in a different context.

In general, it appears that those who have been blind from birth or
very early childhood have just as vivid dreams as the rest of us.
However their dreams centre upon the non-visual senses: particularly
smell and sound, but also to a surprisingly large degree the sense of
touch. Whilst most of us usually view things before we feel them, the
blind often "see" with their fingertips and hence tactile dreaming is
not uncommon.

I hope this is sufficient to answer your question, however if there is
anything that you are unsure about or that seems unclear, please feel
free to ask me for a clarification.

Answer 3

While there may be exceptions, in general the dreams of the congenitally blind contain no visual elements and consist predominantly of sound plus smell, touch and the sense of movement.

Plotwise they tend to to be reality-based--e.g., a reprise of the events of the day--with less of the fantasy you find in the dreams of sighted people. There's also more conversation.

Persons who become blind after birth often see in their dreams, although it depends on (a) how old they were when they became blind and (b) how long it's been since. If you're blinded before the age of six or seven you generally see little or nothing in your dreams.

Dreams of people who become blind when older are often indistinguishable from those of the sighted, but as time goes on many "see" less and less.

To some extent, I gather, the lack of visual elements in the dreams of the blind can be counteracted by force of imagination. Helen Keller, who became blind at the age of 19 months, claimed to have "visions of ineffable beauty." These ran to things like pearls.

To my mind this betrays a certain want of ambition. A man's reach should exceed his grasp, right? So I'd want to see what I could work up along the lines of Jacqueline Bisset. But at least we know there's hope.

Answer 4

Like a fetus inside their mothers womb, most humans have the capability to dream. However, dreams arent always in the same dimension as one person may think--dreams can come in all sorts of ways. Remember, dreams are mostly the result of brain processes throughout the day or their subconcious People with handicap of their senses may have a dream but of a different sense. Since in most handicaps, the rest of the senses are enhanced--so they may create images of some kind in their minds. sounds, tastes, smells, touch--may create a certain realm of colors unknown to people themselves...so yes blind people may have dreams, just not in the same sense

Answer 5

People who were born without sight have dreams(no images), but rather dreams of their other senses; touch, taste, smell for example. Those who have gotten blind still have dreams with images. However these images in which are associating with their dreams may only be reoccurring or with past events which the person has seen before.

Answer 6

People with lifelong, and total, blindness don't dream in the same sense as you or me. They have never seen any of the shapes or colours of the world so how can they invision what red or green looks like? The others senses, however, become more acute and their dreams take on a different style - more auditory or tactile

here is a study for you http://members.tripod.com/~o45tu/blind.htm

Answer 7

maybe they dream of what they want to see? or idk...another thing do blind ppl have an imagination? and this is not a stupid question because dreams come from what we see and blind ppl dont see anything so how can they come up of what to dream?

Answer 8

Hmmm. . .I never thought about that, I suppose so and if they dream then I would think that they would like their dreams more than reality because that is the only place they can see the wonders of creativity

Answer 9

Everyone dreams. You dream when you go into the state of sleep called REM Rapid Eye Movement. I've heard if we didn't dream we would be dead. We don't always remember our dreams but we all dream.

Answer 10

Of course they dream just like you! Just beacause they can't see doesnt mean they cant dream! They probobley dream about things they barely can see or darkness, thay can think about happy thoughts!

Answer 11

Depends on level of blindness. Pitch black to light fields. You learn to make do. I'd spend even more time with Bach.