Be Smart
How Blind People See With Sound… with @MollyBurkeOfficial!
I met Molly Burke a few months ago. She’s awesome. I absolutely love what she’s done on YouTube to bring awareness to living with disability, and turning it into ability. And her guide dog Gallop is awesome too! When Molly and I first...
TED Talks
TED: Blindness isn't a tragic binary -- it's a rich spectrum | Andrew Leland
When does vision loss become blindness? Writer, audio producer and editor Andrew Leland explains how his gradual loss of vision revealed a paradoxical truth about blindness -- and shows why it might have implications for how all of us...
SciShow
Treating Blindness With Light (and Gene Therapy) | SciShow News
We have the first published example of using light and gene therapy to restore someone's vision! And in heavier (metal) news, a recent study found surprisingly high levels of mercury in meltwater from the Greenland Ice Sheet.
SciShow
When Your Brain Can’t Accept Reality: Anosognosia
If patients seem to be unaware of their obvious conditions and symptoms, it might not be that they're in denial, but their brain might actually prevent them from realizing their disabilities.
TED Talks
Ron McCallum: How technology allowed me to read
Months after he was born, in 1948, Ron McCallum became blind. In this charming, moving talk, he shows how he reads -- and celebrates the progression of clever tools and adaptive computer technologies that make it possible. With their...
SciShow
Eyeball Licking: Please Don't
So you think eye licking (also known as worming) is just a harmless bit of foreplay? Think again.
SciShow
When Blindsight is 20 20
We tend to think of physical blindness like a blindfold, but it’s much more complicated than that, and in some instances, people who have lost their vision can still "see" subconsciously.
TED Talks
Andrew Bastawrous: Get your next eye exam on a smartphone
Thirty-nine million people in the world are blind, and the majority lost their sight due to curable and preventable diseases. But how do you test and treat people who live in remote areas, where expensive, bulky eye equipment is hard to...
TED Talks
TED: What reality are you creating for yourself? | Isaac Lidsky
Reality isn't something you perceive; it's something you create in your mind. Isaac Lidsky learned this profound lesson firsthand, when unexpected life circumstances yielded valuable insights. In this introspective, personal talk, he...
TED Talks
Chris Downey: Design with the blind in mind
What would a city designed for the blind be like? Chris Downey is an architect who went suddenly blind in 2008; he contrasts life in his beloved San Francisco before and after -- and shows how the thoughtful designs that enhance his life...
SciShow
The Bizarre Link Between Blindness and Schizophrenia
You might have heard that supposedly, no one who was born blind has ever been diagnosed with schizophrenia. But if that’s true, how those two conditions so closely related to each other?
TED Talks
TED: Clues to prehistoric times, found in blind cavefish | Prosanta Chakrabarty
TeD Fellow Prosanta Chakrabarty explores hidden parts of the world in search of new species of cave-dwelling fish. These subterranean creatures have developed fascinating adaptations, and they provide biological insights into blindness...
TED Talks
TED: What if we eliminated one of the world's oldest diseases? | Caroline Harper
Thousands of years ago, ancient Nubians drew pictures on tomb walls of a terrible disease that turns the eyelids inside out and causes blindness. This disease, trachoma, is still a scourge in many parts of the world today -- but it's...
TED Talks
TED: How a blind astronomer found a way to hear the stars | Wanda Diaz Merced
Wanda Diaz Merced studies the light emitted by gamma-ray bursts, the most energetic events in the universe. When she lost her sight and was left without a way to do her science, she had a revelatory insight: the light curves she could no...
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: A curable condition that causes blindness - Andrew Bastawrous
An estimated 20 million cases of blindness worldwide are caused by cataracts, a curable condition affecting the lens that focuses images onto the eye's retina. But how are cataracts formed, and how can we prevent them? Andrew Bastawrous...
TED Talks
Dennis Hong: Making a car for blind drivers
Using robotics, laser rangefinders, GPS and smart feedback tools, Dennis Hong is building a car for drivers who are blind. It's not a "self-driving" car, he's careful to note, but a car in which a non-sighted driver can determine speed,...
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: Could a blind eye regenerate? - David Davila
We tend to think of blindness as something you're born with, but with certain genetic diseases, it can actually develop when you're a kid, or even when you're an adult. But could blind eyes possibly regenerate? David Davila explains how...
SciShow
How Many Colors Can We See?
Quick Questions cracks the code of color vision, color blindness, and even newly discovered sort of technicolor vision!
SciShow
How Some People Echolocate Like Bats
Animals like bats and dolphins navigate the world using echolocation, but there’s also another animal capable of such a feat: humans.
TED Talks
TED: How I use sonar to navigate the world | Daniel Kish
Daniel Kish has been blind since he was 13 months old, but has learned to "see" using a form of echolocation. He clicks his tongue and sends out flashes of sound that bounce off surfaces in the environment and return to him, helping him...
TED Talks
TED: How new technology helps blind people explore the world | Chieko Asakawa
How can technology help improve our quality of life? How can we navigate the world without using the sense of vision? Inventor and IBM Fellow Chieko Asakawa, who's been blind since the age of fourteen, is working on answering these...
Curated Video
A Doctor's Mission to Solve Preventable Blindness in Ethiopia
After four days and 200 surgeries, Dr. Bora prepares to return to Addis Ababa. Thanks to his efforts, Weizero Thadeledge's life has been transformed. She can now work, provide for her family, and reconnect with friends. Dr. Bora work...
Curated Video
High Demand for Cataract Surgery in Konchi, Ethiopia
Before finishing setup, a line of patients forms at the Konchi eye camp, where many will camp overnight to secure a spot for vision-restoring surgery. Within an hour, the week's waiting list is nearly full, with patients traveling from...
Curated Video
Examining Causes and Impact of High Rates of Cataracts in Rural Ethiopia
Dr. Larry Thomas visits Sir Eldryd Parry at the Royal Society of Medicine in London to understand the high rate of cataracts in rural Ethiopia. Dr. Parry emphasizes that clean water is crucial for preventing various health issues,...