Blind students use 'bat vision' to see
West Bengal News & Yahoo! India - June, 2008This article discusses the instructional progression of a typical workshop. "is echolocation more beneficial for blind children than walking sticks? 'A walking stick is just like spectacles that are a tool to vision but echolocation literally optimises the senses other than vision,' said Kish. 'After learning this technique a blind child will be able to analyse the exact scene or location that he is in. Besides he will be able to detect the height, breadth, contour and solidness of nearby objects,' he added. ... The workshop is being held in three phases. ... 'The final stage is the most crucial where the brain learns the most. It is called self-directed discovery stage. Here the students are taken to an unfamiliar environment and left to test how much they learnt from the earlier steps. They learn by themselves to familiarise with the unknown situation,' Kish explained."
Workshop for visually challenged
The Hindustan Times - June, 2008"The workshop aims to break down barriers and help the children ... discover themselves, and achieve their full physical and psychological potential."
"in most cases, we find that a blind child's brain is asleep, from lack of use and appropriate activity. We shall do certain exercises to awaken them."
Bat Man
ABC Australia, Behind the News - February 28, 2012Children's Program about human echolocation, reporting on two blind children whith whom we have since worked. Article and video: "For blind and visually impaired people there are some common tricks used to get around like canes. ... meet a blind man who uses bat-like sonar skills to be able to 'see'. ... he's holding a series of workshops with blind Australian students to help improve their skills."
Flash Forward
Insight Magazine, United Kingdom - March, 2010by Daniel Kish
One of our most inspirational stories about our work helping a Scottish boy named Danyl learn to walk again after a serious accident. "The last thing I said was: “I’m dying dad, I’m dying dad.” after that I can’t remember anything. ... For the first few weeks, I .. didn’t believe that I was actually blind. ... I was just glad that I was still alive. ... When you first came out to work with us .. I honestly thought you were joking, I didn’t think that it would work. ... When I first came round in hospital and I really wanted to walk and see again, I didn’t think that all of this would be done for me. I didn’t think that there would be help coming from all of Scotland, never mind from America to help me. Now I definitely think I will be able to walk again ... so I am really, really happy with all the help that I’ve received." - Danyl,
Bat School for the Blind
BBC Switched - November, 2010This informative documentary showcases Brian Bushway, one of our Perceptual Mobility Coaches, teaching a course of FlashSonar to a teenaged boy from Wales, England, with verification of his progress by a scientist from U.C. Davis. This video is narrated by the boy himself.
Echolocation: It's Using Your Ears to Help You "See"
VisionAware - November, 2010Maureen A. Duffy, CVRT
"Rowan is an 18-month-old German Spitz dog. Rowan was also born without eyes, a condition known as anophthalmia. ... Owner Sam Orchard, a dog breeder in the United Kingdom, was 'stunned' when she realized that Rowan was using echolocation to navigate his environment – by barking and then listening to the echoes created by his bark to determine his location in relation to his surroundings. ... It's not Rowan I’m primarily interested in however; rather, it is human echolocation that fascinates me."
Children Need Love
Calcutta Mercy Ministries - August, 2010This short but powerful video provides a touching and revealing exposé on our work with students in India, featuring Brian Bushway.
How the blind could be taught to see like a bat using new echo technique
Mail Online - February, 2008World Access for the Blind Finds Visibility
BBC Scotland News - August, 2007Daniel Kish and Brian Bushway are invited to Scotland for 9 days to train the staff of Visibility in FlashSonar and family Mobility Coaching, as well as conduct local seminars, and work with families. This piece features renowned neural Ophthalmologist Prof. Gordon Dutton's appraisal of our approach, as well as a neurological explanation of how it works.
Science, The Power of Perception: How Human Echolocation Is Being Put Into Practice
Abilities Magazine - Spring, 2011 ©By Liz Brown
This article is an exquisite overview of our approach, the science behind it, what students have said about it, and a personal touch of how the approach was developed. The only thing is ... Daniel doesn't reside in England. "Kish describes his ability as something akin to having a conversation with his environment. “The clicking is like asking two questions, ‘What are you?’ and ‘Where are you?’” he says. According to Kish, echolocators hear distinct answers from different objects. ... “Echolocation can be divided into passive and active types,” he explains. “I’d say about 50 percent of people who are blind use some form of passive echolocation, often unaware that they are doing it. Perhaps about 10 percent use some form of active echolocation [where the user is producing his or her own signal], but only a small percentage, maybe three percent, use it to an advanced degree.” While many people use echolocation, most have trouble articulating how they do it, so it’s historically been difficult to teach it to others in a systematic fashion. ... “Hitherto, it was believed that human biosonar was so crude as to not be worth studying. However, this is shown to be not true, so scientists are waking up to the interest.” ... There are two ways that people who are blind can use echolocation to navigate environments. One is to use clicks to maintain orientation—that is, to identify surroundings and one’s position in relation to those surroundings. The other is to use clicks to target a specific object—to identify the backboard of a basketball net to make a shot, for example. According to Kish, active echolocation is always more effective than passive echolocation. “You want a sharp tongue click, and you want to be scanning with your head, much as people scan through eye movement,” he explains. “You also want to vary the amplitude of the click with the requirement of the situation, generally louder for noisy environments or for targets that are further away.”"
Moving On: A Hard Road, and Blind Beginnings
CBC TV - February, 2007in this full length documentary, Shawn Marsolaiss, President of Blind Beginnings, tells her story about how she learns FlashSonar from Daniel Kish, with an aim to learn to ride her bike to work. A lot of the instructional process is followed closely. This is her thought provoking journey.
Echolocation: Seeing with Sound
Fox News L.A. - April, 2007By Christina Gonzalez
This documentary is an excellent overview of our work, showcasing our instructional and recreational programs.
Bat Man in Action
Spiegel TV - May, 2004Amai Haukamp
Excerpts from a documentary about how our approach is implemented and its impact. Even though it was produced in 2004, it is still a good representation of our work, and it shows some of our blind instructors when they were still learning their craft. It was originally aired in Germany, but the German commentary has been removed.
Learning and Living with FlashSonar
by Austin SeraphinA series of eloquent articles and radio interviews detailing a three day training Austin received from our Junior Perceptual Navigation Coach, J Louchart, and how he proceeded to further develop and apply his skills.
Clip of Devin
Excerpt from Not By Sight - 2009Our Work With Kimburley
Excerpted from Arte - 2003About our work with an 8 year old girl named Kimberley. Includes a heart-felt interview with her Mother, and some words from her Mobility Specialist.
Erik Weihenmayer's Training
December, 2013Detailed Accounts in Erik's own words detailing our work with him. Includes video.
Dan Chomycia: What a sighted Self-Defense Instructor gained from our work
Autumn, 2013A fully sighted self defense instructor's detailed account of his work with us, in his own words. "Thank you for an unforgettable experience,... I was amazed at the amount of things I could hear and how precise I could be. ... This experience has been very good for my brain and I have a new way to experience the world. I can see that there are things that crossover the to the sighted world as well."
Cathy's Detailed Account
Sydney, AustraliaA detailed account of Cathy's journey, told in her own words with a case study contributed by her Mobility Instructor from Vision Australia.
"learning flash sonar is one huge incredible adventure for me. I must admit I'm loving every minute of it. What I am discovering most of all is that it is allowing me to break down many boundaries and barriers that I didn't even realise I had. By that I mean Flash sonar was giving me back confidence initially in the area of mobility. However overtime like many things the confidence that is growing is creeping into other parts of my life. Where I use to say 'I can't do that' or 'I don't think my vision will allow me to be able to achieve that' etc my thinking has changed, that's for sure."
The Art and Benefits of Asking Questions over Giving Answers
OandM Listserve - Feb. 2009Posted by Daniel Kish
This is a detailed example of how to use a simple but effective, strategic questioning approach to help clients address intense anxiety. It is based on rational-emotive psycho-therapy and cognitive brain science. It also includes a post from a parent whose son benefited directly just by reading Daniel's post.
Julee-anne's Story
Daniel Kish began work with Julee-anne in Australia, 2012. Julee-anne had voluntarily raised money to bring Daniel out, and also booked a month's worth of engagements. She now works as our Administrative Manager, and serves as the Managing Director of our sister company, World Access for the Blind - Australia. This is her detailed account, told in her own words. Includes an Australian TV News Clip, and an NPR broadcast from Morning Addition about what she and her family had to say.
How To Become Batman, According To NPR's "Invisibilia"
BuzzFeed - Jan. 28, 2015by Kasia Galazka
Spells out a five step program to becoming Bat Man, as cleverly derived from the Invisibilia episode. Includes audio and video.
Daniel Kish at TED, Vancouver
AccessibleMedia (AMI) - May 15, 2015By John Harris and Grant Hardy
Show-cases Daniel's arrival at the TED2015 conference, how he learns his way around, and his thoughts about his up-coming talk.
"Daniel Kish is completely blind and uses a cane to get around, However, he also uses a different method to learn about his surroundings. AMI's Grant Hardy learns more about echolocation."
Includes interview with TED's Kate Torgovnick May.
The Blind Individuals Who See By Sound
DiscoverMagazine - May, 2015Berit Brogaard, Kristian Marlow
"How the human brain adapts to blindness and allows us to see our world through echolocation."
Humoody Learns to See Again
Australian Broadcast Network - Autumn, 2015Show-cases 12-year-old Humoody's story, and how Daniel and Brian are teaching him to see his world in a different way.
Human Echolocation in Belize
By Carol and Richard Foster - August, 2015This is a personally produced documentary by two film makers detailing Brian's work with three students in Belize.
Part 1:
Part 2:
You Can't Lick Your Own Elbow - Brian Bushway
National Geographic TV - April, 2015Explores how the human brain can make possible what seems impossible.
My Name is Ryo
Eight-year-old Lewisville boy destined for blindness learns some new tricks
Dallas Morning News - June, 2011By MARC RAMIREZ
A touching article documenting 8 year old Zack's journey toward blindness, and our work with him. Includes what he and his parents have to say, as well as an additional blind gentleman with whom we also worked, and who came to assist us in our work with Zack.
Johnny Tells his Story
From: Beyond Chance: Echoes in the Dark - 1999About one of our first students, now deceased. With warm remembrance.
Taking control
Insight U.K. - September/October, 2009"Daniel Kish ... recently presented a series of two-day workshops for RNIB where he taught his techniques of independent movement through sound and touch to selected blind students in front of mobility and education professionals. The following email exchange charts the impact of his work on the life of one of these students."
Our Work with Dewald van Deventer From South Africa
2010A detailed account of Dewald's experiences told in his own words.
Little Connie's Mum - A touch of the Perks
Eighteen month old Connie learns to use a cane - includes photos.
Extraordinary People: The Boy Who Sees Without Eyes (Excerpts)
Channel 5, United Kingdom - February, 2007Excerpts from a documentary about Ben Underwood featuring Daniel Kish and several of our Perceptual Navigation Coaches working with Ben to refine his skills. View the full documentary here. With fond remembrance -
The blind leading the blind – an eye opening experience
Orange County Register - August, 2010By SUKI REED - president, OC Hiking Club
A touching and informative commentary on one of our hikes with the O C Hiking Club, where our blind instructors taught many of their sighted members how to hike blind.
Account of Mobility instructors first FlashSonar Lesson given to a student
Workshop For Vermont Association for the Blind and Visually Impaired
May, 2013News reports and media about a well received, three day professional development workshop conducted by Daniel Kish and Brian Bushway in Vermont.
Date: Mon, 6 May 2013
From: "Norris, Daniel E"
Subject: Thank you for Your Training
We’d like to thank you for your training this past weekend. All who were involved truly enjoyed it and got a lot out of it. Please send our regards and thanks to Brian as well for his training in Rutland. Jeff told us it went very well and all the participants enjoyed their time with Brian.
Bill, we definitely heard you when you emphasized that you and Daniel wish to be a resource for us and that we can come to you for answers to questions, problem solving, etc. We will be sure to do that. We look forward to finding ways to use your training as another tool in our client’s tool belts.
Again, thank you! Safe travels in Iceland, Daniel!
Dan Norris