TED Talk on Adapting to Blindness

TED Talk: Daniel Kish

Daniel Kish has been blind since he was 13 months old, but has learned to “see” using a form of echolocation.

When he was 13 months old, Daniel Kish lost both eyes to retinal cancer. He taught himself to navigate by clicking his tongue and listening for echoes — a method science calls echolocation, and that Kish calls flash sonar.

In 2000, Kish founded World Access for the Blind as a platform to teach flash sonar, along with other methods that blind people can use to “see” and that seeing people can use to expand their awareness. Kish and many researchers believe that echolocation produces images similar to sight, and allows the visually impaired to transcend the expectations of society.