Sounds reveal things you didn’t know you weren’t seeing.

March 1, 2020 12:01 PM

Earlier, I had walked amidst its crowded stalls, jostled by men’s voices calling prices, radios playing music, and customers bartering for hot peanuts. With so much coming at me at once, I struggled to focus. A specific sound must guide me and my curiosity. As I ate pomegranate seeds and listened, my fixer for the week, Sanad, placed my hand on what felt like a potato. It was actually a desert truffle. To find them, foragers keep track of the rains, watch for lightning, and listen for thunder. They believe that truffles will grow where they hear it. Sounds reveal things you didn’t know you weren’t seeing. ¶ Silences can be just as powerful. As Matthew and I paused at one stall to taste za’atar and smell jars of orange blossoms, the call to prayer suddenly rang across the city. Then, something I had never heard before: The booming, chaotic market fell silent. Instantly. That, to me, was as iconic as I imagine the sight of Amman from its citadel to be. For the Tuned-In Traveler, a Feast for the Ears Awaits in Jordan (Ryan Knighton for Afar)

Sites Unseen: Traveling the World Without Sight

Hadley's Debbie Good sits down with travel author Dr. Wendy David in this latest episode. In part one of this two-part interview, Debbie and Wendy discuss tips for traveling with confidence as a blind or low vision person, advice on picking destinations, considerations for traveling alone and in a group, and more!

Traveling with a Visual Impairment, Part 2

Hadley's Debbie Good sits down to continue a conversation with author and visually impaired world traveler Dr. Wendy David. Together they explore a wide variety of helpful hints covering train, plane, and cruise travel as well as practical information on traveling internationally and navigating hotels.

Previously on BBC 2: Traveling Blind -- Amar Latif sets off to explore Turkey with the comedian Sara Pascoe as his sighted guide (BBC 2 has three clips, and The Guardian has a review).

How to travel with a sight impairment or blindness, from the Society for Accessible Travel & Hospitality, discussing travel in the U.S. and abroad, one of the resources collected in Upgraded Points' Resources for Travelers With a Vision Impairment.

posted by filthy light thief (2 comments total)

I've long enjoyed Ryan Knighton's writing, but hadn't heard from him for a while. Thanks for this.

Related from some bookmarks, so I'll just leave these here: BBC presenter Peter White's radio documentary series Blind Man Roams the Globe and fellow Brit world traveller Tony Giles, and there's As Slow as Possible, a documentary about Knighton's trip to Germany to hear the note change in the 639-year-long As Slow as Possible composition.
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 12:14 PM on March 1, 2020 [1 favorite]

There are two lovely pieces about people without sight on safari. The first titled, “A Blind Man’s Trip Will Change the Way You Think About Safaris,” is written by the traveler himself. The second is a very moving video, “Love With All Your Senses,” recorded by a guide about his experience guiding a women who had lost her sight several years before her trip.
posted by ReginaHart at 4:44 PM on March 1, 2020 [2 favorites]