The Boy Who Sees Without Eyes

The Boy Who Sees Without Eyes
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Channel 5 (UK)
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I thought this documentary was brilliant, and is slightly different for me to upload :) It shows how amazing the human brain really can be when nurtured in the right way

Ben Underwood lives with his family in the suburbs of Sacramento, California where he attends his local high school. Like any other 14-year-old boy, he loves to play with his friends and chat to girls his age, with whom he seems popular. He looks like any other boy, until he removes his $4,600, hand-crafted eyes.

Ben is blind and, like other blind people, relies on some specialist equipment to survive. He uses talking computer software and a Braille machine to help with his homework. Ben does not have a guide dog, uses no stick, and does not even use his hands to aid his mobility.

Instead, he has developed something of a supersense: he is the only person in the world who navigates using clicks. As he walks, he makes a continuous clicking noise with his tongue. As these clicks echo around him, he is able to draw up a detailed mental plan of his surroundings and adjust his direction accordingly. So accurate is his technique that he is even able to go rollerblading on the street, negotiating narrow gaps between parked cars that even sighted children might find challenging. In fact, Ben’s mother, Aquanetta, finds that her son is far more attentive to the dangers of the road than his friends, always the first to move onto the pavement when a car approaches.

Ben first noticed his talent at the age of seven, when at summer camp. While it began as just a habit, Ben explains, he soon realised that it had potential benefits for navigation. He began to practise every day and developed the system to the point it is at today. It is the fact that Ben is entirely self-taught that is perhaps most astonishing and has led people to use the term ‘genius’ when referring to the boy.

Dr James Ruben, an ophthalmic surgeon who has worked with Ben for some time, could not believe what he saw when he first met the patient. “This can’t be possible,” he thought on spotting the blind boy sitting in his waiting room playing video games. But it was possible and Dr Ruben found himself working with a unique talent. Once he had accepted that Ben was truly blind, Dr Ruben was “flabbergasted” and shared the remarkable story with the local press. It was not long before the news rippled throughout national press and Ben soon found himself featuring in a photoshoot with America’s People magazine and appearing on the popular chat show, ‘Oprah’.

Throughout his experiences, Ben has found that everyone who meets him cannot believe their eyes. When he first joined his current school, most people did not even notice that he was blind. There appears to be nothing that his friends can do that Ben will not attempt and conquer. As one of his friends puts it: “It is shameful, being beaten by a blind man on a video game!”

According to Dr Ruben, one of the secrets behind Ben’s talent is his remarkable mother. Along with the rest of the family, Aquanetta makes no allowances for Ben’s blindness and treats him as if he can see. She also maintains a “no-limits” philosophy and grants her son the space and the freedom he needs to excel. Refusing to allow Ben to see her afraid or crying, Aquanetta believes that if she never appears to be feeling sorry for her son, he will never feel sorry for himself. But perhaps the most important factor in the development of Ben’s talent is the attitude of the boy himself. “Ain’t nothing wrong with me”, he insists.
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They are his "fake" eyes he puts in, just in case you wonder.

Info - http://www2.five.tv/programmes/extraordinarypeople/theboywhoseeswithoute...

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Update from user misterx:

19 January 2009

A blind Sacramento teen, whose talents turned him into a worldwide phenomenon, died Monday morning from the cancer that robbed him of his vision. Ben Underwood was 16.

Ben gained national and world attention after he learned to "see with sound," but his family is celebrating his life and the happiness he brought to those around him.

Ben's room still has his favorite things -- his Nintendo Wii, his music -- and it's hard to believe he couldn't see at all, at least in the way we do. From skating to his bull's-eye pillow-fight skills to his knack for video games, Ben used his other senses to see.

Since he was six years old, Ben "clicked" with his mouth, allowing him to see the world around him with a form of human echolocation. Ben could easily navigate the world around him by listening for the echos of his clicks.

"Ben would go off jumps on the bike, and all I would say is, 'Go play, watch for cars, look where you're going and you better not come in here crying,'" said Ben's mother, Aquanetta Gordon.

Watch for cars -- that's what she would tell her blind son. "Ben's purpose here was something different," Aquanetta said.

She's known that all along, almost ever since cancer caused Ben to go blind when he was two years old, two weeks before his third birthday.

"I went to my aunt and said, 'Bee, Ben's gonna see again,'" Aquanetta said. Her aunt told her she was crazy, but she was adamant. "I said, 'You watch. You watch.'"

Aquanetta believes in miracles, and she thinks Ben proved her right.

"If you can just touch one life, you've done a lot," she said. "But he's touched millions."

Ben's story went worldwide, and the world responded with widespread support and admiration for the blind boy who did so many things so many people thought impossible.

An unflinching faith in God guided Ben and Aquanetta these past few months as cancer spread to Ben's brain and spine.

"I said, 'Ben, it's okay, you can let go,'" Aquanetta said. "'You don't have to hold on for mommy. Just remember, when you get there, tell Jesus to have that place right beside you for your momma when my time comes.'"

Ben died peacefully on Monday morning. Family and friends have gathered at his house, but there is one rule: no tears. The gathering is a true celebration of life.
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Enjoy Con|Cen.

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