Sep 24, 2020
What if I told you that you don’t need eyes to see? Today’s thought leader is the ‘real-life-Batman’ Daniel Kish. Daniel is an expert in human echolocation and President of World Access for the Blind and one of the world’s foremost inspirational speakers. Blind since he was 13 months old, Daniel has learned to “see” using a form of echolocation.
Let’s jump right into this episode and learn from Daniel how anyone, blind or sighted, can learn to repurpose their brain and conquer fears of the unknown.
[00:01 - 09:49] Opening Segment
- Let's welcome our guest for today, Daniel Kish
-
- ‘The real-life Batman’
- President of World Access for the Blind
- Daniel talks a bit about himself
-
- Known in part for having trained his brain to see without eyes
- Lost his eyes to Retinal Cancer as a baby
- Repurposing the brain
- The concept of image is just a compilation of sensory data
- Daniel talks about making the most of ‘real estate’ for the brain
-
- Forge connections actively
- I mention a video you can see Daniel in action
-
- Video link below
[09:50 - 19:27] Borrowing Eyes
- Daniel talks about alternative solutions
-
- Different doctors have different acceptance of different areas
- Blindness is associated with a lack of mobility
- Being blind is a challenge but the challenges can be addressed
- The approaches used to be very ‘sight-centric’
- Getting access to visual information
- Typically and traditionally people use sighted people to obtain visual information
- There was a problem, but now people have choices about how to approach it
- ‘Use it or Lose it’
- The issues surrounding blindness have produced a marginalization
[19:28 - 26:55] Repurpose the Brain
- Daniel talks about how this work pertains to sighted people
-
- This goes beyond just echolocation
- It’s about repurposing the brain
- Build more brain connections to creativity and innovation
- 3 things needed to teach the brain something new
-
- Motivation
- Regular Opportunity for Application
- Challenging circumstances
- Daniel talks about the psychology of what he teaches
-
- Mastering your capacity as a person
- Neutralizing fear
- Darkness is the construct of the brain
- People assume blindness is simply a lack of eyesight
[26:56 - 35:05] Overcoming the Fear of the Unknown
- Daniel addresses how to overcome this fear
- Are you firstly motivated?
-
- Fear leads to curiosity
- Where are you allocating your energy to?
- Next is learning how to develop a healthy relationship with darkness
-
- Challenge your assumptions and rethink what you think you know
- Establish what you DO know
-
- These are tools you can use to charge through
- We should be willing to find a new foundation when fear comes
[35:06 - 43:19] The Seed of Creating Community
- Daniel talks about different people who have learned this technique
- Daniel shares how this work looks like in practice
-
- Working with a lot of kids with a lot of different stories
- Daniel tells an amazing story of one of his students
-
- Teaching a kid to play soccer with sound
- Creating a community
- Connecting to things bigger than yourself
[43:20 - 52:56] Closing Segment
- How to help and support Daniel on his mission
-
- Creating a vision academy with a virtual and outreach component
- Donate
- What reminded you every day that it’s still an amazing world?
-
- Watching people grow into greater freedom - especially children
- I want to add that Daniel is a great public speaker
- How can we find you?
-
- See links below
- Final words from me and Daniel
Tweetable Quotes:
“For us to forge connections in our brain, those connections have to actually be used, we have to conduct energy actively through those connections.” - Daniel Kish
“Fear of the unknown is man’s most primal fear… as a blind person you are the unknown personified, which I believe is a fear that lies at the root of all of our fear.”’ - Daniel Kish
Resources Mentioned:
You can learn more and support Daniel on https://waftb.net/
Articles with Daniel:
https://everwideningcircles.com/2019/07/31/daniel-kish-blind-seeing-with-sound/
https://everwideningcircles.com/2017/10/29/daniel-kish-life-beyond-expectations/
Ever Widening Circles Link:
https://everwideningcircles.com/
EWC Ed:
https://ed.everwideningcircles.com/
Conspiracy of Goodness Summit Oct 4th:
Donate!
EWC APP:
https://everwideningcircles.com/good-news-app-ever-widening-circles-app/
Dr. Lynda's Book: