What does a blind person see?

[sanctus]

What does a blind person see? The answer seems obvious, black. However, what happens if that person has been blind from birth. Since they cannot conceive of light can they conceive what it is to have the absence of light? This is similar to comparing the number zero with null, the absence of any number, these are two different things, and surely a blind person from birth experiences null rather than zero?

This question is not purely philosophical since they are people who have been blind from birth and experienced a knock which has allowed them to see. What did they 'see' before the knock?

A closely related question is can they really see anything immediately after the knock, doesn't the visual cortex take time to form connections and make sense of the patterns and colours of light coming in? If so could an older person whose brain capacity for change is limited ever see anything even if the eye and optic nerve were fully restored?

 

[iARTthere4iam]

My brother-in-law is blind (since he was 3 years old) and I have asked about this. He says that he does not see black as you would when you close your eyes, he simply has no perception of that sense as you have no sense of radio wave or the infrared spectrum, you do not see it's absence it simply isn't there.. He forms mental images when you describle things and even says that he dreams in colour.

 

[#juan]

There are a lot of legally blind people out there who have some vision, or partial vision. More than any other sense, I value vision the most.

I have lost 90 percent of my hearing. Hearing aids bring back a good part of it. The problem with hearing aids is that they amplify everything....babies crying, people talking, vehicle noises, kitchen noises......and it is very hard to separate the sounds you want to hear. Nevertheless, I am very glad I have my sight.