When blindness occurs whether it from birth or from disease, the other senses seem to aid the brain in making do without vision. It may seem like there is a compensation for the lack of one sense, but researchers have found this not to be the case. According to the research, there is no apparent specific compensation of the visual sense by the other senses because with the lack of the central sense of vision, the other senses are newly focused on. Even with this new awareness of the other senses, the results of tactual perception and the learning of motor skills are relatively equal to that of people with no visual impairment.
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The new awareness of other senses by a blind individual would make it seem like a compensation of the other senses for the lack of vision, but due to research into this subject some researchers have concluded that it is this awareness of other senses that allows for a blind person to function in everyday life, not a heightening of those senses.
When a person becomes blind he/she will come to rely on their other senses to the best of those senses abilities. The ability of the senses will not increase in compensation for the loss, though the brain may become more reliant and efficient at using those senses for its purposes.
"Tactual perception" or touch perception is a key to a blind person's ability to live out their daily life. An experiment was created to test the ability of the blind and the ability of partially sighted people in their capability to learn a tactual chore with or without visual input. Groups were made up of both kinds of visually impaired. The control group was not blindfolded, whereas the experimental group was. According to the research, results showed that, "the blind proved to be either equal or markedly inferior to the partially sighted in that area." This meant that whether visual input were present or not, there really was no difference in the tactual perception of a blind or partially sighted.
