# What do blind people dream? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 19, 2003, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-blind-people-dream/183004 "2003-06-19T20:57:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Mini-Thud](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/779978/32.png) [@Mini-Thud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mini-Thud)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2003, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-blind-people-dream/183004/1 "2003-06-19T20:57:32Z")
Now, I’ve never had the chance to ask this to an actual blind person. But my question is, What does a person who has been blind since birth (in other words NEVER EVER seen anything in his/her life) dream about? I mean, I guess we describe things to them so they have something to go off of for dreams, but they couldn’t possibly be near the same as the dreams people with vision have… could they? Not only that but they can’t dream in color can they? Or does the brain automatically know these types of things at birth? Like colors, I mean you don’t remember seeing a color for the first time in your life, you might remember learning the NAMES for the colors, but not the colors themselves. Anyone have an idea? ---
**Author:** ![gypsymoth3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/85e7bf/32.png) [@gypsymoth3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gypsymoth3)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2003, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-blind-people-dream/183004/2 "2003-06-19T22:33:57Z")
i’m soryy, but that is a STUPID question. they probably dream about their life, like, we do, but without the picture part. in other words, they dream about smell, taste, touch, and hearing. big deal. ---
**Author:** ![J\_String](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ce73a5/32.png) [@J\_String](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/J_String)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2003, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-blind-people-dream/183004/3 "2003-06-19T22:47:08Z")
Jeez, that was a swell way to welcome a newbie… By the way **Welcome to the boards**. ---
**Author:** ![aaslatten](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f14d63/32.png) [@aaslatten](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aaslatten)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2003, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-blind-people-dream/183004/4 "2003-06-19T23:16:02Z")
I don’t think it’s such a stupid question. It allows me to explain that people who are legally defined as blind have varying degrees of blindness. Some can see shadowy shapes; others may have been sighted at birth but lost their sight along the way. Many blind people have accompanying hearing loss. And it’s certainly not true that the other senses automatically become stronger because of loss of sight. So it would depend on many things … I would imagine a totally blind person would have very auditory dreams, but that would assume this person did not also have some kind of hearing loss. ---
**Author:** ![Joe\_Random](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e8c25b/32.png) [@Joe\_Random](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joe_Random)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2003, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-blind-people-dream/183004/5 "2003-06-19T23:25:28Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Jukaal \* > **What does a person who has been blind since birth (in other words NEVER EVER seen anything in his/her life) dream about?** If they’ve been blind since birth, then their dreams will have no visual component. I mean, someone who was born blind has no idea what "seeing"actually is. It would be like you having a dolphin’s sonar in a dream. Ain’t gonna happen. ---
**Author:** ![3waygeek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/3/e95f7d/32.png) [@3waygeek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/3waygeek)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2003, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-blind-people-dream/183004/6 "2003-06-19T23:26:02Z")
It’s not that stupid – [Cecil](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a2_310.html) has already answered it. ---
**Author:** ![gypsymoth3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/85e7bf/32.png) [@gypsymoth3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gypsymoth3)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2003, 2:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-blind-people-dream/183004/7 "2003-06-20T02:38:04Z")
sorry, i didn’t realise the thread-starter was a newbie. > [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by aaslatten \* > \*\*It allows me to explain that people who are legally defined as blind have varying degrees of blindness. \*\* like me? well, “legally blind” isn’t always as severe as you described it. it starts at 20/200. i would imagine people who are bl ind and deaf would dream in touch, taste, and smell. ---
**Author:** ![Alien](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/57b2e6/32.png) [@Alien](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alien)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2003, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-blind-people-dream/183004/8 "2003-06-20T03:02:30Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by 3waygeek \* > \*\*It’s not that stupid – [Cecil](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a2_310.html) has already answered it. \*\* Actually, Cecil is not necessarily correct about this one. People that is born blind or became blind before the age of about **3** dream with the senses they got, smell, touch etc. People that became blind after the age of 3 still are still able to dream in pictures. Not at the age of 6 as Cecil said. Sorry no cite, it was a quite extensive study released a few months ago and it’s not available on the net. ---
**Author:** ![lorinada](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/b5e925/32.png) [@lorinada](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lorinada)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2003, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-blind-people-dream/183004/9 "2003-06-20T03:05:02Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by gypsymoth3 \* > \*\* > > well, “legally blind” isn’t always as severe as you described it. it starts at 20/200. > > \*\* [nitpick & hijack] This is a common misperception. “Legally blind” is defined as having vision _that can only be corrected to no better than 20/200_. It also includes anyone with a visual field less than 20 degrees. My sight is 20/500 but can be corrected to 20/20 so I am not legally blind in any shape, form, or fashion. [/nitpick & hijack] ---
**Author:** ![pool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pool/32/4152_2.png) [@pool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pool)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2003, 4:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-blind-people-dream/183004/10 "2003-06-20T04:31:23Z")
I didnt feel like starting another thread but I wonderedabout people who are not blind at birth when your blind is like black or not even that is it nothing whatever that looks like? ---
**Author:** ![Ice\_Wolf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/dfb087/32.png) [@Ice\_Wolf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ice_Wolf)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2003, 5:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-blind-people-dream/183004/11 "2003-06-20T05:49:36Z")
Cecil’s written about this, and so have other Dopers in the past year, right here in GQ. [Colors and blind people.](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=190531) [What do blind people dream?](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=187954) [What do blind people dream?](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=174812) [What are blind people’s dreams like?](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=167904) [What do blind people dream?](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=157686) [Can blind people “see” in their dreams?](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=151153) Uh … enough, already? ---
**Author:** ![Keeve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/f07891/32.png) [@Keeve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Keeve)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2003, 12:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-blind-people-dream/183004/12 "2003-06-20T12:18:09Z")
Why are sighted people so curious about how the blind _dream_? Did it never occur to them to wonder about how the blind _remember_? I’m satisfied to know that whatever processes the blind use in remembering while awake, the same processes are involved in imagining, whether while awake or asleep.