How do you explain to a blind person what colour is ?

Question

If someone was blind all their life ... how would you explain what a colour is ? It's not something that you can compare to anything in the physical world or the aural enviroment which they know.... so how would you explain something which is completely abstract like that to someone who can't see it ?

Answer 1

the blind person should press his fingertips gently against his closed eyelids then quickly take the fingers away. everything he sees will be color. blind people do not necessarily have an inability to understand the concept of color.just an inability to see it reflected from anything.you might find it interesting to ask a blind person questions like this. i do...

Answer 2

i've ALWAYS wondered that myself! look up helen caller/kaller (not sure on last name). she was a deaf, blind mute and her tutor managed to get through to her by feeling, and penetrate by sound waves (not too sure). helen ended up being an author! pretty amazing.

Answer 3

To someone congenitally and completely blind, you can't in any useful way. Color is not something that exists in their world. You can talk about emotional associations and evocations that go with the color, but there is nothing that will give them a grasp of what red is for example. Well, I guess you could describe the frequency of the EM wave corresponding to a particular color :P

Answer 4

Have you read the book ; The Giver by Louis Lowry?

Well, you can say;

The color Red;

Smells like roses,

Tastes like apples,

Feels like natures warmth...

etc etc.

Answer 5

You don't....why would they need to know???

Answer 6

It's like different tastes or textures.

Answer 7

watch the movie mask with cher the guy explains it to a blind girl pretty good in that movie.

Answer 8

1. a property of things that results from the particular wavelengths of light which they reflect or give out, producing a sensation in the eye

2. a colour, such as a red or green, that possesses hue, as opposed to black, white, or grey

3. a substance, such as a dye, that gives colour

4. the skin complexion of a person

5. the use of all the colours in painting, drawing, or photography

6. the distinctive tone of a musical sound

7. details which give vividness or authenticity: I walked the streets and absorbed the local colour

8. semblance or pretext: under colour of

Answer 9

well, i heard open special computers that give out a weird sound and color, this appears blue to the blind man... amazing isn't it? this was proved by a man who wasn't blind all his life that knew the colors, he said that it was blue.,.. they are trying to change the light from the comouter to appear diffrent colors to the blind person...

well, unfortunatley some poeple just dont got these technologies so the only explaination is simple.

"if you wanna see white think the opposite of the black your seeing, for grey think in between.

Answer 10

if they are blind from birth i don't think they would register the importance of it since they never experienced it but would be curious at most.

but im curious to know if people blind from birth dream in colour or at all so they could already know from this

Answer 11

Helen Keller Method

Answer 12

Omg, difficult q ie.My cousin is blind... You could explain through something they know, something like sound. Make her listen to different sounds, let her know that sight is like sound, colours in sight are analogous to the pitch and feel of sound.Although a blind person will neva b able to fully grasp the idea, it will certainly go a long way in restoring the balance of power to do things.. like "m blind so what, i just got 2 ears less than others".