# Why didn't the guy on 'the diving bell & the butterfly' use morse code **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 18, 2010, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-didnt-the-guy-on-the-diving-bell-the-butterfly-use-morse-code/529550 "2010-02-18T22:47:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2010, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-didnt-the-guy-on-the-diving-bell-the-butterfly-use-morse-code/529550/1 "2010-02-18T22:47:57Z")
It would’ve saved him a lot of time rather than reciting the whole alphabet each time. I didn’t like the movie anyway, but that part bothered me. Blink, blink & hold, blink = R. etc ---
**Author:** ![GilaB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8e7dd6/32.png) [@GilaB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GilaB)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2010, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-didnt-the-guy-on-the-diving-bell-the-butterfly-use-morse-code/529550/2 "2010-02-18T23:09:39Z")
You could ask **Blinkie** in his ‘Ask the Guy with Locked-In Syndrome’ thread [here](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=539322). That’s how they did it in real life. The movie is based on an incredibly beautiful autobiography (I haven’t seen the movie, but highly recommend the book), and that’s how he communicated with everybody around him. I don’t know why they opted for that rather than Morse code, but one possibility is that this way, his family and friends didn’t need to learn Morse in order to communicate with him. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2010, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-didnt-the-guy-on-the-diving-bell-the-butterfly-use-morse-code/529550/3 "2010-02-19T01:10:35Z")
Did he know Morse Code in the first place? I doubt it’d be easy for him to learn it. ---
**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2010, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-didnt-the-guy-on-the-diving-bell-the-butterfly-use-morse-code/529550/4 "2010-02-19T01:18:18Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > Did he know Morse Code in the first place? I doubt it’d be easy for him to learn it. Why? I can’t think it’d be any harder to learn than for anyone else - and he has a WHOLE lot more spare time. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2010, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-didnt-the-guy-on-the-diving-bell-the-butterfly-use-morse-code/529550/5 "2010-02-19T01:26:12Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > Did he know Morse Code in the first place? I doubt it’d be easy for him to learn it. I assume in Morse code you don’t always spell out each word but use abbreviations. IIRC in braille the letter “T” means “the” and things like that just to speed the process along. I assume that’s what you’re getting at, but there’s no reason why they couldn’t have just put up a chart for what each letter is and let him spell everything out, is there? It might not be the correct way to do it, but it would beat the hell out of waiting a for the nurse to get to z when you wanted that letter. ---
**Author:** ![koeeoaddi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/koeeoaddi/32/408_2.png) [@koeeoaddi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/koeeoaddi)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2010, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-didnt-the-guy-on-the-diving-bell-the-butterfly-use-morse-code/529550/6 "2010-02-19T02:57:25Z")
I’d think it would be unusual for family and friends to know morse code and confusing and difficult for him to learn in his condition. There are [communication boards](http://www.eyelife.org/CommBasics.html) that split the alphabet up, but they’re only useful if vision isn’t compromised, which, from what I understand, it often is. I have a family member struggling with this and what I’m hoping for is for him to eventually be able to use a blink, tongue or chin controlled mouse input to a computer.