Fun fact about the IRS going after the poor people who were given cars. The legal reason they gave was that the people were given “prizes” thus subject to tax. However, as they were given gifts they should have taxed Opra. Sadly Opra has money for lawyers. So the government tried to go after the poor audience. Learn this in one of my first accounting classes. Very sad. Poor form, IRS.
my favorite Stevie joke was in an interview where he was making jokes about being blind but then ended by joking "it could be worse, at least I'm not black"
My parents know a couple who are both blind. One of them commutes across Sydney every day by train. When they stayed with us they asked how many doors down the corridor from their bedroom the toilet was. I told them and offered to leave the doors open so they could hear the echo as they walked past. They said it was fine and it was actually easier to count closed doors as the echo is very different between a closed door and a wall. When my dad walked them around the house they asked what the large new object was beside the house. My dad said he’d bought a caravan since they last visited, which was five years prior. They also raised a daughter, they kept forgetting to turn lights on for her when she was young but she said it was fine and got very used to walking around a dark house most of the time, only turning on lights when she needed to read or do something requiring good vision.
I once had a blind coworker who told me he and some other blind people wear sunglasses for the benefit of sighted people. Since it was impossible for him to make direct eye contact with people, sometimes people would be unsettled by his seemingly wandering eyes in conversation. With sunglasses, he could turn his head to near enough where the person was without needing to worry about having precise eye contact. Also, Stevie Wonder paying for courtside seats could also just be a way to not be stormed by fans in the general seats.
Also, blindness is a spectrum. My mother's best friend is legally blind, even with glasses. But she can see some things. If he has some sight, court side seats might have him close enough to properly enjoy the game
Can confirm. People tend to get real uncomfortable when you can't make eye contact the "Right way". Struggled with that all my life until a MTI straightened me out on it. I still have issues on occasion and you can actually watch people get confused and figidity. I'd imagine it would be far worse blind as you couldn't tell something was off.
Courtside seats are probably much better because he can hear the actual game and not all the idiot drunk uncles around him. Also, hes stevie wonder..... he aint sitting with the peasants.
Excellent point! Watching a game courtside is game courtside is a whole new experience. You are so close you can hear the players talking to each other, setting up plays. For someone without sight, or limited sight, it would give them a much better feel of what's going on
He was a big Detroit sports fan, often attending Pistons games at the Silverdome and Palace. I distinctly remember Dennis Rodman getting tossed from Game 6 of the Eastern finals, and as he ran down the tunnel to the locker room, standing nearby was Stevie. Darryl Dawkins, who played for the Pistons then, said that the way he got his "Chocolate Thunder " nickname because Stevie had a guy sit with him and describe the game to him. Whenever Dawkins dunked, the guy told Stevie 'The chocolate guy got a thunder dunk." After that, Stevie called him Chocolate Thunder.
Honestly, the more I hear, the clearer it becomes that Stevie sounds like an incredibly fun person to be around. Clever folks who enjoy jokes can often be kinda insufferable, but instead it sounds like he squarely falls into the "uses his cleverness for a good time" camp.
My friend Bill had a fantastic experience as Stevie's driver here in Austin awhile back. He told me that unlike most celebs, SW was happy to talk & very earnest and humble.
I'm "legally blind" with just 10% vision field left, zero depth perception. When explaining why a significant visual loss can be called blind I simply tell folks "If you woke up in the morning with my vision I guarantee you the first words out of your mouth would be "I'M BLIND!!"
Same, and the conspiracy that we can't see does not only extend to celebrities. I've been told more than once that I'm faking it for attention even though it's at the very bottom of the list of things I want to get attention for
I was considered legally blind without correction before Lasik, but even with correction they could not fully fix my eyes. Lasik got me as close to perfect vision as I will likely ever have. Cosmetic surgery my butt. Do you know how much it has saved me in eyewear costs and insurance?
My mom's best friend is legally blind. I had to explain that fact to my kids when we recently visited (I moved to a different country). I could tell they were genuinely confused by the need to explain certain things to her, that they felt were fairly obvious. But she can see some things, and can see well enough to avoid sufficiently sized things left inconveniently on the floor. Explaining that yes she is blind, and no, blind doesn't always mean zero sight, there is a legal line drawn for practical purposes was more difficult with the 7 year old than the 12 year old for some reason.
@@SassyGirl822006 That is pretty common developmentally how we think. At 7 you have a more concrete thinker, which is generally more black and white, right wrong, yes no, absolute type of thinking. By 12 you develop abstract thought and it is easier to understand concepts of things aside from all or nothings.
This legally blind thing is not a thing in Europe. You´d be "visually impaired". Here blind really means you can not see a anything. But I do know that "blind" means something different on the other side of the pond.
Not even just that, they underestimate the compensation those without sight develop. Hell I met with a tutor in college for 5 weeks before I even noticed he was blind. And by "notice" I mean he said it to a girl joining us.
Without glasses, my husband is " legally blind." He has full vision with his glasses or contacts. It's just that without his glasses, the only letter not blurred out is the big E on the bottom.
I was half way through writing this- but in a paragraph and not a nice, concise sentence... so I'll just copy paste a reply. Mostly everyone seems to assume being blind means that you have no vision whatsoever and the World just looks black the whole time, but in actual fact blindness comes in many forms, some blind people can see nothing but still perceive motion, some can detect light and dark, theres blindness where you can make out blurry shapes and colours, but can't get any focus. There was a guy in the UK who had no vision but fought the DVLA to retain his drivers license because he could detect enough motion of vehicles around him and never crashed... I mean, they still banned him from driving - but yeah... I'm glad at least one other person understands that blindness isn't a binary condition.
Hell, it’s often not even “eternal darkness”. Do you see darkness behind you? No! You see nothing, no information because you don’t have sight there. Many blind people are like that, but forward.
Sounds like a privilege then.. get resources and special access and help when as you state everyone is blind it’s just what degree. Much like being trans or autistic today.
I've been told that blind people also wear sunglasses to keep themselves from getting poked in the eye by branches and other obstacles. Just because the eye can't see doesn't mean it can't feel.
As someone who is visually impaired, I can promise that if you know a confident blind person, a lot of the time you won’t know they’re blind. Many people I encounter say it’s incredibly hard to tell I’m blind. It’s not rocket science to explain these things. Unfortunately society is a very long way from understanding how to accept blind people as you would anyone else. This was brilliantly written and it makes me so glad to hear how spot-on Simon was with justifying the situations. Great job, boys. ❤️
I don't have a physical disability (although I do have numerous non visible ones...). And it does seem to amaze and frustrate me that we have a cultural bias that people with a disability is somehow incapable of doing things that able bodied people can. The way I perceive it - Stevie grew up at a time where being visually impaired would have meant choosing 1 of 2 routes - give up and basically be on the scrap heap and in some sort of care home or kept at home as a recluse OR learn real hard and real quick tricks and methods to operate on a sighted world. His mother seemed very supportive of him and his music so I would really like to assume that she pushed teaching him to navigate with a cane, to move about the world using sounds and mapping an area etc. As he got more famous an entourage would make it easier to operate as people could check ahead and make sure environments would git his needs, and they could also give him input and guidance on the day knowing his needs. No one would notice as how many stars have requests and riders for gigs, and have people fusing over them while they are at an event? I do really hope that visually impaired people might have got some sort of inspiration from Stevie in the 70s and 80s (when society still had a problem understanding how disabled people did not need the cotton wool treatement). He was showing the world that disabled people had talents and personalities other than their disability and was accepted.
Queue all of the how the hell did you write this comments your bound to receive for daring to mention you’re blind in a RUclips comment section. But lol yeah fully agreed. Most people are convinced. I have some vision left and in fact I got yelled at last week by someone for bumping into them at my house once they had come over for a party even though, the host, me, is blind they had no idea. So they yelled at me for bumping into them and I had to awkwardly explain to them how they were totally wrong about my lack of eye contact throughout the night lol
I'm blind in one eye and I've worked at my job for almost a decade (and my job is mostly giving directions and stopping people from sneaking in) and as far as I know, nobody at my work has ever figured it out. Customers have asked me if I was in the military due to my hyper-vigilance AKA my ability to catch someone trying to sneak in while I'm distracted. I'll be helping a customer, and someone will try to slip past me and my head just turns in that direction. They think I can see them so they back up. But even if I can't see them over there, I can hear them. I've freaked out a classmate in high school because we were talking on the phone and I asked if she was wearing Birkenstocks. She was. I knew because I could hear the buckles jiggling as she walked and talked. I have a friend who is almost fully blind (he has a very tiny spot where he has some vision). He uses a white cane and confuses people on the bus because they'll see him reading a paperback book. It's because he's moving the book across the one spot he can see, one letter at a time. He also uses it to shark people at pool.
That every single person who claims he can see is a) a close friend of Stevie's, and b) has a decent to good sense of humor, I'm gonna go out on a limb and say Stevie Wonder and his friends all have a decades long inside joke going that has gotten way out of hand.
I have thought that was the case pretty much since I first heard about this ridiculous conspiracy. I know for a fact that if I had a blind friend who wanted to prank people I would absolutely be down for assisting them.
I have a friend who is blind, and her friends used to find an empty parking lot and let her driver their car around. Obviously never drove with other cars. It's more common than people think. She also is a concert level pianist, singer, plays guitar, and has multiple college degrees. She is an expert level knitter and crocheter. Her other friends and I joke we sometimes forget she is blind.
There was a Top Gear episode where a blind man *raced* around the test track with verbal instruction, and set a better time than a couple of sighted celebrities had. Many handicapped people find amazing ways to work around their handicap as much as possible and live life to the fullest. Good for them.
@lasagnabeans4656 you would probably surprise yourself, especially if you lost your sight gradually. I learnt as a kid, but as an adult I became a dressmaker/ tailor and stopped doing it after a while. Then I got chronic uveitis so I took it up again even though I hadn't done it for over 25 years. It's all muscle memory. A lot of sighted people can knit and crochet without looking.
My father was friends with a blind mine. He told me a story of when he was visiting him. He was leaving and asked, "Lights on or off?" The blind man said,"surprise me" Blind people have a wonderful sense of humor.
Absolutely love the cameraderie and support on your team. You're so positive about your writers and they seem to back each other up all the time. You all seem so friendly and non competitive with each other. It's lovely to see there are nice people out there in the world!
As an audio engineer, who played in many bands I can attest mic stands often make a noise when the joint is loose and the arm drops. Also Paul bonked his head quiet good on the thing, at least making a bonking noise, maybe even amped over the monitor speakers and probably accomplished by some sort of Paul McCartney "ouf" noise and a loud miss stepping foot step sound. All enough to assume something might fall in that vague direction.
Yeah this one seems obvious to me. Plus mic stand bases can be huge, he could've been touching it with his foot. If he felt it move, he'd be aware that it was tipping and in what direction it was going. I didn't see the mystery here at all.
Didn't even look like he "caught it". The video looks like he heard or felt something over there and put his arm out in case. The stand looked like it hit his bicep, and then rolled down to his hand. I swear he looked very confused when he was holding it, as if "What the hell did I just grab?".
This has been my FAVORITE episode of Decoding the Unknown! The collaborative writing was so brilliantly done, that it deserved a comment. This is my first one after untold hours of listening to Simon's many videos across all his channels👍 Fantastic job by everyone guys ❤
It's sad, not just with blindness, but with all form of disabilities, many expect disabled to act like helpless children, so as soon as somebody disabled is sucessful and independent, they think they can't be disabled. Ironically, I feel like this has been cemented by all those feelgood movies getting awards and praise for depicting disabled people as helpless and only existing for the real protagonists to learn a lesson about appreciating their own lives or similar.
I watch a RUclipsr that is blind. He has a small circle of sight that is often "snowy." He uses his tablet and enlarges portions of what he wants to see. He has written and illustrated 3 children's books. They are absolutely beautiful.
This format was really interesting, I'd love to see more back-and-forth arguments like this. It's especially welcome on DTU where having multiple perspectives could be really beneficial. Thanks Danny and Dave!
Whoever believes in this theory would freak out so much with that man who was blind yet managed to play video games and ride his skate. “Blindness is a spectrum!” someone would say, and yeah, it is, but that man didn't have eyes at all.
This kind of shit bothers me so much. I’m legally deaf, but I do retain some hearing (for now anyways, I have a degenerative disease that will eventually kill all the nerves in my ears) and people will be like “what do you mean you’re hearing impaired? You heard that one thing I said at that party in 1992, and the music was real loud. You can’t possibly be deaf.” It frustrating and frankly just gross.
Fun fact, if blindness relates to a brain issue rather than an eye issue, the blind person may actually be able to catch objects and avoid obstacles even without seeing them at all. The optic nerve mostly sends information to visual area of the brain, but there are some offshoots to other parts of the brain. These offshoots if tgey are intact can trigger responses without the person being aware of having perceived anything at all. (Source: my neuroscience professor)
I nearly lost the sight in one eye and the vision is still suppressed. I have a severe squint and my brain copes by mostly ignoring my right eye. With no correction as a toddler I could have been blind even though the eye was working. I wonder if I’d been like that.
I genuinely hate that all these “xyz person couldn’t really be disabled” conspiracies because it is obvious that ableism and lack of exposure/education lead people to believe that disabled people are incapable of living fulfilling lives. I believe the number is 90% of blind people are unemployed and it’s often because of discrimination and not due to them being incapable. I’ve found people can’t comprehend how disabled people learn to accommodate themselves and whether intentional or not never give disabled people the opportunity to show them or challenge their preconceived beliefs.
Most conspiracies bug the hell outta me, but stuff like this infuriates me. It's so, SO disrespectful. Doubting the moon landing or whatever is one thing, but these are human beings with feelings and emotions, hopes and dreams, IMMENSE TALENT, etc. My next door neighbor is legally blind. She's the sweetest woman in the building and has more friends and thrice the social life of myself, haha. We always talk about sports when we find ourselves waiting for the elevator. She's better at absorbing stats than anyone I've ever met. Just because she can't see the TV worth a damn doesn't mean she's not paying attention. Fortunately, she has a job at the University of Utah, so she doesn't make up part of that particular statistic. Intelligent but blind beats the hell out of imbecile with sight.
For the Shaq in the elevator story I can think of another explanation. I imagine if someone as big as Shaq is breathing you can hear it in an elevator, and if the breathing is coming from a couple feet above your head the odds of it not being Shaq are quite small
I would also like to point out that a sighted person would probably have recognised Shaq when the door opened, rather than after walking in and pressing the button.
Yeah, that Saginaw was painful. We need a series of Simon trying to pronounce Midwest city names. I'd enjoy him staring blankly at Ypsilanti, Ixonia, and Weyauwega.
It sounds to me like Stevie is a highly intelligent man who has lived with being blind all of his life and has a penchant for teasing people who think this "disables" him. I get the impression that he knows his "limits" and he knows what people think his limits are.
As a Canadian, Jeff Healey immediately comes to mind as a blind musician. He lost both eyes early on due to cancer, and played guitar with the instrument on his lap. He also played the blind singer in the movie Roadhouse
wait wait, you're trying to name most famous blind people and DIDN'T think of Louis Braille? ... someone reassure me I'm not insane and only know that name because I'm blind!
28:28 this is the greatest set-up for this story ever, i think it's awesome that dave is part of this, and it's so lovely to hear wholesome things about the basement crew and their support of each other
Being blind doesn’t mean blindfolded with an iron mask where nothing penetrates the eyes not even an x-ray. A lot of people who are considered legally blind can see the change in light, motion, and even colors to some degree. Let’s not also forget that advancements in the visual field of medicine have a lot of treatments to recover sight even if it’s just a small amount. Especially if you’re rich and connected like I assume Stevie is. I also find it funny that anyone can look at any reputable website that explains the very basics of blindness and its complexities and variable visual acuity yet still come up with this outrageous theories. It’s the same for the deaf, mute, paralyzed and pretty much every other disability. Shut I’m visually impaired, completely deaf (according to my wife), people wish I was mute, and despite many accidentally by choice attempts am somehow not paralyzed.
These explanations are actually quite plausible to me, as I have both poor eyesight and very high anxiety that makes me take note of ambient sounds and sensations. Over a few years I've also learned quite a bit about different types of blindness and methods of navigating the world. People are accustomed to thinking that the blind are utterly helpless and must require someone to step in unless they're faking or exaggerating, which would greatly fuel witnesses' incredulity.
Basketball is probably one of the most interesting sports you could get into as a blind person. It’s got a really distinctive sound, if you think about it. Squeaking shoes, the ball hitting the ground, the rim and the net. You’re probably getting a pretty decent idea of what’s happening.
Hell yesss. I love that record. Haven't listened to it in ages. My buddy and I saw them at the House of Blues in Vegas in the early '00s. We just stood there, mouths agape, completely mesmerized. Another friend of mine almost fell out of the balcony trying to get Victor Wooten's attention at the end of the show. 😂
My mother was blind. Often her eyes would wander and it would throw people off that she wasnt looking at them even if they knew she was blind. She wore sunglasses not for her but to not hurt the feelings of others she was talking to
That's bizarre, I swear this one didn't show up in my uploads feed. At least it popped up in recommendations I guess... happy to spend another hour with Simon.
Much of this speculation could be resolved by simply speaking with another blind person....unless part of the conspiracy is blindness doesn't exist... which is just bizarre.
Wow, I've scanned through the comments but seem to be the only one who caught the joke with the Atari advert. Stevie said that the graphics must be "uptight and out of sight,", which is a key lyric in his 1966 song " Uptigh! (Everything Is Alright."
My mum had severe cataracts for several years whilst waiting for surgery. She was still working and driving with no issues. When she finally got to the doctor they told her she was fully blind in one eye and only had 25% in the other. She just said things were blurry but legally she was blind.
I can honestly say I've never questioned Stevie Wonder's blindness. Not all blind persons are completely blind. It's not my place to tell a person they aren't blind. That's just ignorant of me who is sighted. I have bigger things to worry about than Stevie's degree of sightedness.
52:41 you might be surprised to know that even fully sighted people can do this. I actually have an example from just a few days ago, when one of my coworkers walked up behind me while we were waiting to clock out. I noticed, based on the sound of his footsteps reflecting off of his body, his approximate size and shape and was able to figure out who was behind me just by sound. There are about 30+ guys in the shop, it could have been any of them, but somehow I could just tell. It's really hard to explain.
Regarding Shaq in an elevator... Picture the scenario in your mind... You, a blind person, are used to gathering many situational cues on the environment around you from sound. You walk into an elevator - a small enclosed space. You hear someone in the elevator shuffle their feet when you get in (a common event as people make room for other people to board). So you know there's someone else there. Then you hear them take a breath, or scratch their nose, or something minor and random like that ... but it happens 2 feet over your head. It's no real stretch to assume feet noises at the floor and mouth noises at the ceiling that you're in there with a large basketball player-sized person. And who do you know staying at this hotel with you that is a large basketball player-sized person?
It was interesting to hear Dave say about the pain he receives from a difference in light. I have a lazy eye, made 3 squint operations and laser eye surgery amongst a multitude of specialists investigating my eyes and I quiet regularly wear sunglasses for self consciousness issues as well as for photosensitivy
I don't remember his name, but there's literally a blind person who learned to echolocate well enough by clicking his tongue to ride a bicycle at full speed through trails and open terrain and such. While not a motorcycle I'm sure a similar properly could be applied to riding a motorcycle. You can learn to get around without being able to see even without a walking stick. The stick itself is an audio tool to help the visually impaired be able to get around. The walking stick is often seen as a Trope in movies where someone bumps into someone with The Walking stick. The clicking of the stick as you walk helps people echolocate where they are. It's even entirely possible that Stevie's perception of the environment through sound is acute enough that he could have known simple by sheer size of the person in the elevator with him that it was Shaq.
Two things: Before the internet, there were telephones. Watching Whitney Houston singing the Star Spangled Banner during the 1991 Super Bowl, the camera panned to Stevie Wonder and my phone blew up. “Why is he there???” Secondly, I’ve read that scent is tied very closely to memory so I don’t doubt any random people can smell others. Three times I’ve smelled a third person’s cologne who had hugged the second person I was standing next to.
YES to the scent comment. I have a crazy-keen sense of smell (which can and often sucks) and could identify almost any of my coworkers, past or present, from their scent alone. Colognes and perfumes, obviously, but also shampoos, deodorants, laundry detergent, breath, hygiene habits, diets (this one's weird and might come off as insensitive, but cultures with particularly specific dietary habits just smell different, simple as that), alcoholic beverage of choice, cat owners, the list goes on and on. I could smell a dead mouse in the wall at least a week before everyone else at work. It was awful. And yes, aromas and memories go hand in hand. My favorite smell in the world is a blooming Russian olive tree. I smell them every May and immediately feel 7 years old again, counting down the days to summer vacation in Ms. Anderson's class, haha.
A lot of blind individuals are also not seeing "complete darkness". Many can't see anything other than blobs of light, but would have light sensitivity that would make it painful if they don't have a covering.
When he came to my city he was seen at the local grocery co-op walking around buying stuff. He had the glasses on but he wasn't acting blind. So people were saying then he wasn't blind.
how is someone supposed to "act blind" 😭 someone who's been blind most/all of their life are going to navigate things differently to someone who lost their sight a month ago. seems like everyone expects the latter
I can't remember which tv show/talk show where someone made a playfully smartass remark, and Stevie lowered his glasses and told them, "You look like someone I've seen before."😂
Sighted people can also learn the "tricks" blind people use (echolocation, feeling presence, etc). I'm sighted and can do all those things. I also don't know why so many people think blind people are incapable of so many things. Really boggles my mind
Simon, Anthony Anderson is in Transformers. He was the “advisor” to the unrealistically attractive woman who found the decepticon’s “code.” I also remember him from Romeo Must Die. He’s a comedian, I’d love to hear the tone he’s using in his quotes, he’s probably as sarcastic as I usually am😂
On the point of the mic stand I'd like to posit that he benefited from blindsight. The visual cortex is comprised of multiple areas, some of which can recognise stimulus without the person being conscious or aware of that information. This happens with movement a lot where you reflexively move to catch something in less time than it would take for the information to reach the brain, be interpreted, consciously recognise it, then decide on an action, then send a signal to the muscles to move. The brain interprets a 'lower' level of visual information before you become conscious of it and sends a command to the muscles to act. Blind people will often do this and have no explanation for why they moved because it's almost like their body moved without them. There are many forms of blindness, and some of them can still leave the pathways intact which interpret movement information
I agree. To add to that, there's a blind guy who gets around by clicking with his tongue. He teaches other blind people this trick. None of them are world class musicians with trained ears. Pretty sure he has a decent idea what's going on around him most of the time.
I have been told multiple times by random strangers in the world that I was faking being blind because I can confidently and confidently navigate the world.
Go to surfshark.com/DTU for 4 extra months of Surfshark
If he is blind then the earth is flat.
@@chickenwings6172Nope, you’re just ignorant both ways. Sorry, babes.
@@anamkarajoy dumb troll comment. Be a better person.
Fun fact about the IRS going after the poor people who were given cars. The legal reason they gave was that the people were given “prizes” thus subject to tax. However, as they were given gifts they should have taxed Opra. Sadly Opra has money for lawyers. So the government tried to go after the poor audience. Learn this in one of my first accounting classes. Very sad. Poor form, IRS.
@@jamesf.6162 Who's Opra?
my favorite Stevie joke was in an interview where he was making jokes about being blind but then ended by joking "it could be worse, at least I'm not black"
THAT'S GOLD
crowd, “a black sheriff?!”
blinkin, “he’s black???”
ahchoo, “what? …it worked in blazing saddles 🤷🏻♀️”
😂😂😂 .I remember that 😻
Reminds me of the Chapelle Show sketch where he plays a blind klansman who doesn’t know he’s black
@@InfiniCalendar Literally just told my coworker about that skit.
My parents know a couple who are both blind. One of them commutes across Sydney every day by train. When they stayed with us they asked how many doors down the corridor from their bedroom the toilet was. I told them and offered to leave the doors open so they could hear the echo as they walked past. They said it was fine and it was actually easier to count closed doors as the echo is very different between a closed door and a wall. When my dad walked them around the house they asked what the large new object was beside the house. My dad said he’d bought a caravan since they last visited, which was five years prior. They also raised a daughter, they kept forgetting to turn lights on for her when she was young but she said it was fine and got very used to walking around a dark house most of the time, only turning on lights when she needed to read or do something requiring good vision.
I once had a blind coworker who told me he and some other blind people wear sunglasses for the benefit of sighted people. Since it was impossible for him to make direct eye contact with people, sometimes people would be unsettled by his seemingly wandering eyes in conversation. With sunglasses, he could turn his head to near enough where the person was without needing to worry about having precise eye contact.
Also, Stevie Wonder paying for courtside seats could also just be a way to not be stormed by fans in the general seats.
@kayleighlehrman9566 deaf people go to and enjoy concerts. Why do they act like their not real people.
Also just f't I got the money
Also, blindness is a spectrum. My mother's best friend is legally blind, even with glasses. But she can see some things. If he has some sight, court side seats might have him close enough to properly enjoy the game
Can confirm. People tend to get real uncomfortable when you can't make eye contact the "Right way". Struggled with that all my life until a MTI straightened me out on it. I still have issues on occasion and you can actually watch people get confused and figidity. I'd imagine it would be far worse blind as you couldn't tell something was off.
I saw Steve Wonder playing and winning a game of dodge ball , accept he was white could see and used the name Roger 😃😃
Courtside seats are probably much better because he can hear the actual game and not all the idiot drunk uncles around him.
Also, hes stevie wonder..... he aint sitting with the peasants.
Also Courtside seats are already stocked with security for the players. Someone as famous as Stevie probably benefits from having body guards.
Excellent point! Watching a game courtside is game courtside is a whole new experience. You are so close you can hear the players talking to each other, setting up plays. For someone without sight, or limited sight, it would give them a much better feel of what's going on
He was a big Detroit sports fan, often attending Pistons games at the Silverdome and Palace. I distinctly remember Dennis Rodman getting tossed from Game 6 of the Eastern finals, and as he ran down the tunnel to the locker room, standing nearby was Stevie. Darryl Dawkins, who played for the Pistons then, said that the way he got his "Chocolate Thunder " nickname because Stevie had a guy sit with him and describe the game to him. Whenever Dawkins dunked, the guy told Stevie 'The chocolate guy got a thunder dunk." After that, Stevie called him Chocolate Thunder.
It's really no different than listening to a game on the radio.
I think Kevin should do a conspiracy theories on Simon being American with a fake accent ! Then we can all sit back and enjoy the rants !!!
Lol I hadn't heard that one but I'm now deeply invested in it
I'm choosing to believe this is true. It only harms Simon and I'm okay with that.
Or the one where Simon is an AI content farm..😂
This needs to be an April fools episode.
"But who is Simon and does "he" really exist?"
Runtime 05:34:29.
Honestly, the more I hear, the clearer it becomes that Stevie sounds like an incredibly fun person to be around. Clever folks who enjoy jokes can often be kinda insufferable, but instead it sounds like he squarely falls into the "uses his cleverness for a good time" camp.
My friend Bill had a fantastic experience as Stevie's driver here in Austin awhile back.
He told me that unlike most celebs, SW was happy to talk & very earnest and humble.
I'm "legally blind" with just 10% vision field left, zero depth perception. When explaining why a significant visual loss can be called blind I simply tell folks
"If you woke up in the morning with my vision I guarantee you the first words out of your mouth would be "I'M BLIND!!"
Same, and the conspiracy that we can't see does not only extend to celebrities. I've been told more than once that I'm faking it for attention even though it's at the very bottom of the list of things I want to get attention for
I was considered legally blind without correction before Lasik, but even with correction they could not fully fix my eyes. Lasik got me as close to perfect vision as I will
likely ever have. Cosmetic surgery my butt. Do you know how much it has saved me in eyewear costs and insurance?
My mom's best friend is legally blind. I had to explain that fact to my kids when we recently visited (I moved to a different country). I could tell they were genuinely confused by the need to explain certain things to her, that they felt were fairly obvious. But she can see some things, and can see well enough to avoid sufficiently sized things left inconveniently on the floor. Explaining that yes she is blind, and no, blind doesn't always mean zero sight, there is a legal line drawn for practical purposes was more difficult with the 7 year old than the 12 year old for some reason.
@@SassyGirl822006 That is pretty common developmentally how we think. At 7 you have a more concrete thinker, which is generally more black and white, right wrong, yes no, absolute type of thinking. By 12 you develop abstract thought and it is easier to understand concepts of things aside from all or nothings.
This legally blind thing is not a thing in Europe. You´d be "visually impaired". Here blind really means you can not see a anything. But I do know that "blind" means something different on the other side of the pond.
Ahhh people not understanding blindness is a spectrum not always just eternal darkness lol
Not even just that, they underestimate the compensation those without sight develop. Hell I met with a tutor in college for 5 weeks before I even noticed he was blind. And by "notice" I mean he said it to a girl joining us.
Without glasses, my husband is " legally blind." He has full vision with his glasses or contacts. It's just that without his glasses, the only letter not blurred out is the big E on the bottom.
I was half way through writing this- but in a paragraph and not a nice, concise sentence... so I'll just copy paste a reply. Mostly everyone seems to assume being blind means that you have no vision whatsoever and the World just looks black the whole time, but in actual fact blindness comes in many forms, some blind people can see nothing but still perceive motion, some can detect light and dark, theres blindness where you can make out blurry shapes and colours, but can't get any focus. There was a guy in the UK who had no vision but fought the DVLA to retain his drivers license because he could detect enough motion of vehicles around him and never crashed... I mean, they still banned him from driving - but yeah... I'm glad at least one other person understands that blindness isn't a binary condition.
Hell, it’s often not even “eternal darkness”. Do you see darkness behind you? No! You see nothing, no information because you don’t have sight there. Many blind people are like that, but forward.
Sounds like a privilege then.. get resources and special access and help when as you state everyone is blind it’s just what degree. Much like being trans or autistic today.
Great video for sure, but my fav part was the anecdote about Dave becoming a writer and Danny helping him get started. It's so heart warming 🫂
I've been told that blind people also wear sunglasses to keep themselves from getting poked in the eye by branches and other obstacles. Just because the eye can't see doesn't mean it can't feel.
It definitely helps. I do deliveries, and the number of times my glasses have helped me from tree branches is in the double digits
He also has the obvious real blind eyes
As someone who is visually impaired, I can promise that if you know a confident blind person, a lot of the time you won’t know they’re blind. Many people I encounter say it’s incredibly hard to tell I’m blind. It’s not rocket science to explain these things. Unfortunately society is a very long way from understanding how to accept blind people as you would anyone else. This was brilliantly written and it makes me so glad to hear how spot-on Simon was with justifying the situations. Great job, boys. ❤️
I don't have a physical disability (although I do have numerous non visible ones...). And it does seem to amaze and frustrate me that we have a cultural bias that people with a disability is somehow incapable of doing things that able bodied people can.
The way I perceive it - Stevie grew up at a time where being visually impaired would have meant choosing 1 of 2 routes - give up and basically be on the scrap heap and in some sort of care home or kept at home as a recluse OR learn real hard and real quick tricks and methods to operate on a sighted world. His mother seemed very supportive of him and his music so I would really like to assume that she pushed teaching him to navigate with a cane, to move about the world using sounds and mapping an area etc. As he got more famous an entourage would make it easier to operate as people could check ahead and make sure environments would git his needs, and they could also give him input and guidance on the day knowing his needs. No one would notice as how many stars have requests and riders for gigs, and have people fusing over them while they are at an event?
I do really hope that visually impaired people might have got some sort of inspiration from Stevie in the 70s and 80s (when society still had a problem understanding how disabled people did not need the cotton wool treatement). He was showing the world that disabled people had talents and personalities other than their disability and was accepted.
Queue all of the how the hell did you write this comments your bound to receive for daring to mention you’re blind in a RUclips comment section. But lol yeah fully agreed. Most people are convinced. I have some vision left and in fact I got yelled at last week by someone for bumping into them at my house once they had come over for a party even though, the host, me, is blind they had no idea. So they yelled at me for bumping into them and I had to awkwardly explain to them how they were totally wrong about my lack of eye contact throughout the night lol
It always throws people off when i tell them my mom is blind and they are like no way.... Bro its her house she knows where all the shit is lol
I'm blind in one eye and I've worked at my job for almost a decade (and my job is mostly giving directions and stopping people from sneaking in) and as far as I know, nobody at my work has ever figured it out. Customers have asked me if I was in the military due to my hyper-vigilance AKA my ability to catch someone trying to sneak in while I'm distracted. I'll be helping a customer, and someone will try to slip past me and my head just turns in that direction. They think I can see them so they back up. But even if I can't see them over there, I can hear them.
I've freaked out a classmate in high school because we were talking on the phone and I asked if she was wearing Birkenstocks. She was. I knew because I could hear the buckles jiggling as she walked and talked.
I have a friend who is almost fully blind (he has a very tiny spot where he has some vision). He uses a white cane and confuses people on the bus because they'll see him reading a paperback book. It's because he's moving the book across the one spot he can see, one letter at a time. He also uses it to shark people at pool.
@ that’s so awesome. You sound like a super hero. 😂❤️
That every single person who claims he can see is a) a close friend of Stevie's, and b) has a decent to good sense of humor, I'm gonna go out on a limb and say Stevie Wonder and his friends all have a decades long inside joke going that has gotten way out of hand.
This is what I want the truth to be. He's pranking, and his friends are playing along.
@@JH-vo4ts you and me both. That would be a legendary long play!
I have thought that was the case pretty much since I first heard about this ridiculous conspiracy. I know for a fact that if I had a blind friend who wanted to prank people I would absolutely be down for assisting them.
I have a friend who is blind, and her friends used to find an empty parking lot and let her driver their car around. Obviously never drove with other cars. It's more common than people think. She also is a concert level pianist, singer, plays guitar, and has multiple college degrees. She is an expert level knitter and crocheter. Her other friends and I joke we sometimes forget she is blind.
There was a Top Gear episode where a blind man *raced* around the test track with verbal instruction, and set a better time than a couple of sighted celebrities had.
Many handicapped people find amazing ways to work around their handicap as much as possible and live life to the fullest. Good for them.
I’ve been crocheting for 8 years I can’t imagine being able to do it blind
@lasagnabeans4656 you would probably surprise yourself, especially if you lost your sight gradually. I learnt as a kid, but as an adult I became a dressmaker/ tailor and stopped doing it after a while. Then I got chronic uveitis so I took it up again even though I hadn't done it for over 25 years. It's all muscle memory. A lot of sighted people can knit and crochet without looking.
This is what happens to a person when they can't waste their time watching television.
"Yeah so my blind friend that drives cars"...
My father was friends with a blind mine. He told me a story of when he was visiting him. He was leaving and asked, "Lights on or off?" The blind man said,"surprise me"
Blind people have a wonderful sense of humor.
The basketball thing seemed pretty simple to me. If he's in floor seats he can feel the vibrations more.
lol
Absolutely love the cameraderie and support on your team. You're so positive about your writers and they seem to back each other up all the time. You all seem so friendly and non competitive with each other. It's lovely to see there are nice people out there in the world!
I’m not so sure about this! Seems they are getting a bit too friendly and chummy down in the blazement!🤔🤔🤔🤣🤣Collabs? What’s next? Escape attempts??
As an audio engineer, who played in many bands I can attest mic stands often make a noise when the joint is loose and the arm drops. Also Paul bonked his head quiet good on the thing, at least making a bonking noise, maybe even amped over the monitor speakers and probably accomplished by some sort of Paul McCartney "ouf" noise and a loud miss stepping foot step sound. All enough to assume something might fall in that vague direction.
Yeah this one seems obvious to me. Plus mic stand bases can be huge, he could've been touching it with his foot. If he felt it move, he'd be aware that it was tipping and in what direction it was going. I didn't see the mystery here at all.
Didn't even look like he "caught it". The video looks like he heard or felt something over there and put his arm out in case. The stand looked like it hit his bicep, and then rolled down to his hand. I swear he looked very confused when he was holding it, as if "What the hell did I just grab?".
He caught it in the crook of his arm, and the man next to him guided it to his hand
@@Plaprad yeah, he heard something and was putting his arm out, the mic dropping on it. Nothing sus there.
This has been my FAVORITE episode of Decoding the Unknown! The collaborative writing was so brilliantly done, that it deserved a comment. This is my first one after untold hours of listening to Simon's many videos across all his channels👍 Fantastic job by everyone guys ❤
It's sad, not just with blindness, but with all form of disabilities, many expect disabled to act like helpless children, so as soon as somebody disabled is sucessful and independent, they think they can't be disabled.
Ironically, I feel like this has been cemented by all those feelgood movies getting awards and praise for depicting disabled people as helpless and only existing for the real protagonists to learn a lesson about appreciating their own lives or similar.
I watch a RUclipsr that is blind. He has a small circle of sight that is often "snowy." He uses his tablet and enlarges portions of what he wants to see. He has written and illustrated 3 children's books. They are absolutely beautiful.
MR MAPLE?
@@alishaw2454 yep, they are a great team
@@alishaw2454strictly Mr Maple’s human
This format was really interesting, I'd love to see more back-and-forth arguments like this. It's especially welcome on DTU where having multiple perspectives could be really beneficial. Thanks Danny and Dave!
Fantastic episode, Dany & Dave are an amazing duo (and it was wonderful of Dave to share so many personal insights)
The plasma TV thing. There's a concept called "described video". When listening it describes what's going on.
Whoever believes in this theory would freak out so much with that man who was blind yet managed to play video games and ride his skate. “Blindness is a spectrum!” someone would say, and yeah, it is, but that man didn't have eyes at all.
Hilarious cause im getting ready for a Stevie Wonder concert a hour after this posted
Wave at him when you see him and see what he does.
This kind of shit bothers me so much. I’m legally deaf, but I do retain some hearing (for now anyways, I have a degenerative disease that will eventually kill all the nerves in my ears) and people will be like “what do you mean you’re hearing impaired? You heard that one thing I said at that party in 1992, and the music was real loud. You can’t possibly be deaf.” It frustrating and frankly just gross.
Fun fact, if blindness relates to a brain issue rather than an eye issue, the blind person may actually be able to catch objects and avoid obstacles even without seeing them at all. The optic nerve mostly sends information to visual area of the brain, but there are some offshoots to other parts of the brain. These offshoots if tgey are intact can trigger responses without the person being aware of having perceived anything at all.
(Source: my neuroscience professor)
This may sound sarcastic, but I'm dead serious when I say thank you for the citation. I wish more folks would do that.
I nearly lost the sight in one eye and the vision is still suppressed. I have a severe squint and my brain copes by mostly ignoring my right eye. With no correction as a toddler I could have been blind even though the eye was working. I wonder if I’d been like that.
OMG this was so much fun! 😂 Also great to hear about Danny and Dave's history. ❤
Jeff Healey is my favourite blind musician, he was a legend and had a unique way to play guitar too
Love the dual writing.
Good to know Danny has company in the basement.
Fantastic episode!
1:50 - Mid roll ads
3:20 - Back to the video
5:15 - Chapter 1 - The 12 years old genius... live !
20:25 - Chapter 2 - The writing is on the wall
26:50 - Chapter 2.1 - Dave's view
34:30 - Chapter 3 - Conversation peace
43:05 - Chapter 3.1 - Dave's view
54:00 - Chapter 4 - I'm afraid the masquerade is over
57:15 - Chapter 4.1 - Dave's view
1:01:20 - Chapter 6 - Signed, sealed, delivered
I genuinely hate that all these “xyz person couldn’t really be disabled” conspiracies because it is obvious that ableism and lack of exposure/education lead people to believe that disabled people are incapable of living fulfilling lives. I believe the number is 90% of blind people are unemployed and it’s often because of discrimination and not due to them being incapable. I’ve found people can’t comprehend how disabled people learn to accommodate themselves and whether intentional or not never give disabled people the opportunity to show them or challenge their preconceived beliefs.
Most conspiracies bug the hell outta me, but stuff like this infuriates me. It's so, SO disrespectful. Doubting the moon landing or whatever is one thing, but these are human beings with feelings and emotions, hopes and dreams, IMMENSE TALENT, etc.
My next door neighbor is legally blind. She's the sweetest woman in the building and has more friends and thrice the social life of myself, haha. We always talk about sports when we find ourselves waiting for the elevator. She's better at absorbing stats than anyone I've ever met. Just because she can't see the TV worth a damn doesn't mean she's not paying attention. Fortunately, she has a job at the University of Utah, so she doesn't make up part of that particular statistic. Intelligent but blind beats the hell out of imbecile with sight.
For the Shaq in the elevator story I can think of another explanation. I imagine if someone as big as Shaq is breathing you can hear it in an elevator, and if the breathing is coming from a couple feet above your head the odds of it not being Shaq are quite small
I would also like to point out that a sighted person would probably have recognised Shaq when the door opened, rather than after walking in and pressing the button.
As someone who lives in the Mitten, hearing Simon's drawn out pronunciation of Saginaw made me chuckle
KZOO REPRESENT.
@@Bilow_Selhi I love Kalamazoo! I'm from Grand Rapids, so we're practically neighbors.
@@tylerleggett5088 Howdy Neighbor! Lol. Have a great day.
Made me giggle too.
Yeah, that Saginaw was painful. We need a series of Simon trying to pronounce Midwest city names. I'd enjoy him staring blankly at Ypsilanti, Ixonia, and Weyauwega.
It sounds to me like Stevie is a highly intelligent man who has lived with being blind all of his life and has a penchant for teasing people who think this "disables" him. I get the impression that he knows his "limits" and he knows what people think his limits are.
I would like to propose a motion to the court that we have more videos that follow this format. This was one of the most fun videos.
Back in the day. Up Tight was slang for well put together and maintained. Usually in reference to attractive people. Every thing is UP and Tight.
As a Canadian, Jeff Healey immediately comes to mind as a blind musician. He lost both eyes early on due to cancer, and played guitar with the instrument on his lap. He also played the blind singer in the movie Roadhouse
I remember seeing Steve using a camera. Idk if he's blind or not. Maybe he's Spiderman
Dave and Danny, the two greatest legends of this channel working together. What a great episode!
wait wait, you're trying to name most famous blind people and DIDN'T think of Louis Braille? ... someone reassure me I'm not insane and only know that name because I'm blind!
I think people didn't consider a blind person created it.
@@SoManyRandomRamblingsi genuinely hadn’t
I remember Braille was invented by a man who got blind from an infection as a child, I didn't remember that the writing was named after him.
@@SoManyRandomRamblings Huh. Well I learned something today.
I mean, his invention is definitely famous, but I wouldn't say he himself is or ever was. I doubt most, myself included, even knew his first name.
28:28 this is the greatest set-up for this story ever, i think it's awesome that dave is part of this, and it's so lovely to hear wholesome things about the basement crew and their support of each other
Being blind doesn’t mean blindfolded with an iron mask where nothing penetrates the eyes not even an x-ray. A lot of people who are considered legally blind can see the change in light, motion, and even colors to some degree. Let’s not also forget that advancements in the visual field of medicine have a lot of treatments to recover sight even if it’s just a small amount. Especially if you’re rich and connected like I assume Stevie is. I also find it funny that anyone can look at any reputable website that explains the very basics of blindness and its complexities and variable visual acuity yet still come up with this outrageous theories. It’s the same for the deaf, mute, paralyzed and pretty much every other disability. Shut I’m visually impaired, completely deaf (according to my wife), people wish I was mute, and despite many accidentally by choice attempts am somehow not paralyzed.
*Another reason he would buy a large tv is that blind people also have friends, and they might want to watch tv while over*
Doesn't Wonder also has many kids? They might want to watch tv.
9 kids, but they are with 5 different women so im not sure how many would be over at a time
'Uptight, out of sight' is a Stevie Wonder lyric. I'm hoping Danny does actually know that, but Simon clearly doesn't.
It’s not out of sight! It’s Outasight! Great and unbelievably cool!
Canadians collectively all yelled "Jeff Healey!" when Simon couldn't think of another blind musician lol
He was the one who I thought of too!
Steve Wonder would be the one to spread the rumor that he's not blind 😂
I like to think he has low key encouraged this crazy theory over the years for his own amusement.
These explanations are actually quite plausible to me, as I have both poor eyesight and very high anxiety that makes me take note of ambient sounds and sensations. Over a few years I've also learned quite a bit about different types of blindness and methods of navigating the world.
People are accustomed to thinking that the blind are utterly helpless and must require someone to step in unless they're faking or exaggerating, which would greatly fuel witnesses' incredulity.
Basketball is probably one of the most interesting sports you could get into as a blind person. It’s got a really distinctive sound, if you think about it. Squeaking shoes, the ball hitting the ground, the rim and the net. You’re probably getting a pretty decent idea of what’s happening.
Fantastic episode! Loved the dual writer concept! Well done Dave and Danny ❤
Unrelated, would love to see a Decoding episode on the suspicious death of the "Original Superman" George Reeves.
I loveee this idea, Simon the judge and the writers being the defendant and prosecutor. So cool
Famous blind people:
There’s also the blind surfer on RUclips.
Pete Gustin.
I’m sure there are more.
I love that guy!
Loved the collaboration!
Stevie Wonder, Ray Charles, Ronnie Milsap, Jeff Healey...
My first thought was of the Oracle Theresias, which I guess just goes to show how out of the loop I am with celebrities.
Roy Orbison...
@@FurtiveSkeptical not actually blind. Just dug sunglasses
Those are all the exact ones I could think of. Lol
I was struggling to remember Ronnie Milsap's name, thank you!
Dear Simon,
Love the harmonica?
Sinister Minister
Bela Fleck and the Flecktones
Live Art
Your welcome 🤗
Hell yesss. I love that record. Haven't listened to it in ages. My buddy and I saw them at the House of Blues in Vegas in the early '00s. We just stood there, mouths agape, completely mesmerized. Another friend of mine almost fell out of the balcony trying to get Victor Wooten's attention at the end of the show. 😂
@@MikeP2055 welp. Now I'm jealous, lol. Never seen them live, and a big fan since '92.... Damn, I'm feeling old.
Simon's arms lookin bigger lately, the gym paying off
nah camera angle
I noticed the guns right away.
@@SCSilk i hope he's got a license to carry
@@adamhousden6349 nope, if you been watching his videos for years, he's clearly just bigger now, plus he talks about how he goes to the gym.
Let’s not forget the Volkswagen commercial from when the bug was reintroduced.
Dan and Dave?! Is this a 1992 Reebok olympics commercial?
...Dionne Warwick...
The name pronunciations in this one are killing me!!
Stevie Wonder is not blind, it's his eyes that are actually blind.
He's just lazy
Are his eyes not part of him?
@@terrynixon2758it's a joke
@@themischief420 it is not
@@terrynixon2758 No, for they have betrayed him the gift of sight of the natural world
My mother was blind. Often her eyes would wander and it would throw people off that she wasnt looking at them even if they knew she was blind. She wore sunglasses not for her but to not hurt the feelings of others she was talking to
Why does Andrea Bocelli get no love? I actually thought of him right before I remembered Ray. And he just did the duet Ed Sheeran, powerful voice.
That's bizarre, I swear this one didn't show up in my uploads feed. At least it popped up in recommendations I guess... happy to spend another hour with Simon.
Much of this speculation could be resolved by simply speaking with another blind person....unless part of the conspiracy is blindness doesn't exist... which is just bizarre.
Wow, I've scanned through the comments but seem to be the only one who caught the joke with the Atari advert. Stevie said that the graphics must be "uptight and out of sight,", which is a key lyric in his 1966 song " Uptigh! (Everything Is Alright."
Ludwig van Beethoven composed his best music after becoming deaf
Noone has ever questioned that
My mum had severe cataracts for several years whilst waiting for surgery. She was still working and driving with no issues. When she finally got to the doctor they told her she was fully blind in one eye and only had 25% in the other. She just said things were blurry but legally she was blind.
Me, reading the title: Hmmm I see
Stevie Wonder: *shifts uncomfortably in his seat*
Hearing Simon called Berry Gordy "Gordon" over and over killed me.
This is the most absurd thing I ever heard, who even writes this stuff?
Danny and Dave 😂
hell there was a not so long ago conspiracy that hellen keller wasnt real either
Love it
ruclips.net/video/IrvIq6M9HrI/видео.html
Who indeed
This was the episode that I did not know that I needed! Danny and Dave together at last! Yay!
I can honestly say I've never questioned Stevie Wonder's blindness. Not all blind persons are completely blind. It's not my place to tell a person they aren't blind. That's just ignorant of me who is sighted.
I have bigger things to worry about than Stevie's degree of sightedness.
3:20 Bocelli and Feliciano are both legends. I can almost guarantee that Simon knows at least one song by each.
52:41 you might be surprised to know that even fully sighted people can do this. I actually have an example from just a few days ago, when one of my coworkers walked up behind me while we were waiting to clock out. I noticed, based on the sound of his footsteps reflecting off of his body, his approximate size and shape and was able to figure out who was behind me just by sound. There are about 30+ guys in the shop, it could have been any of them, but somehow I could just tell. It's really hard to explain.
Regarding Shaq in an elevator... Picture the scenario in your mind... You, a blind person, are used to gathering many situational cues on the environment around you from sound. You walk into an elevator - a small enclosed space. You hear someone in the elevator shuffle their feet when you get in (a common event as people make room for other people to board). So you know there's someone else there. Then you hear them take a breath, or scratch their nose, or something minor and random like that ... but it happens 2 feet over your head. It's no real stretch to assume feet noises at the floor and mouth noises at the ceiling that you're in there with a large basketball player-sized person. And who do you know staying at this hotel with you that is a large basketball player-sized person?
Jose Feliciano, Jeff Healey and Doc Watson to name a few blind guitarists.
Simon Whistler is not bald.
It's a ploy to sell manskaped and keeps
Hahaha!
Oh me, I'm just here to give this a like and a comment. I'll be back to actually listen to this when I go to bed tonight
It was interesting to hear Dave say about the pain he receives from a difference in light. I have a lazy eye, made 3 squint operations and laser eye surgery amongst a multitude of specialists investigating my eyes and I quiet regularly wear sunglasses for self consciousness issues as well as for photosensitivy
I don't remember his name, but there's literally a blind person who learned to echolocate well enough by clicking his tongue to ride a bicycle at full speed through trails and open terrain and such. While not a motorcycle I'm sure a similar properly could be applied to riding a motorcycle. You can learn to get around without being able to see even without a walking stick. The stick itself is an audio tool to help the visually impaired be able to get around. The walking stick is often seen as a Trope in movies where someone bumps into someone with The Walking stick. The clicking of the stick as you walk helps people echolocate where they are. It's even entirely possible that Stevie's perception of the environment through sound is acute enough that he could have known simple by sheer size of the person in the elevator with him that it was Shaq.
Two things:
Before the internet, there were telephones. Watching Whitney Houston singing the Star Spangled Banner during the 1991 Super Bowl, the camera panned to Stevie Wonder and my phone blew up.
“Why is he there???”
Secondly, I’ve read that scent is tied very closely to memory so I don’t doubt any random people can smell others. Three times I’ve smelled a third person’s cologne who had hugged the second person I was standing next to.
YES to the scent comment. I have a crazy-keen sense of smell (which can and often sucks) and could identify almost any of my coworkers, past or present, from their scent alone. Colognes and perfumes, obviously, but also shampoos, deodorants, laundry detergent, breath, hygiene habits, diets (this one's weird and might come off as insensitive, but cultures with particularly specific dietary habits just smell different, simple as that), alcoholic beverage of choice, cat owners, the list goes on and on. I could smell a dead mouse in the wall at least a week before everyone else at work. It was awful.
And yes, aromas and memories go hand in hand. My favorite smell in the world is a blooming Russian olive tree. I smell them every May and immediately feel 7 years old again, counting down the days to summer vacation in Ms. Anderson's class, haha.
Oh god! I'm blind. this is gonna feel real personal isn't it
A lot of blind individuals are also not seeing "complete darkness". Many can't see anything other than blobs of light, but would have light sensitivity that would make it painful if they don't have a covering.
When he came to my city he was seen at the local grocery co-op walking around buying stuff. He had the glasses on but he wasn't acting blind. So people were saying then he wasn't blind.
how is someone supposed to "act blind" 😭 someone who's been blind most/all of their life are going to navigate things differently to someone who lost their sight a month ago. seems like everyone expects the latter
Berry “Gordon,” and “Diane Warwick.” 😂😎
That hurt my soul.
To quote Michael Che “I think Stevie wonders blind. I just think it’d be funny if he’s not”
I'm so amazed at Dave, he has done something that nobody else has ever done. He has told me about something that an iPhone can do, that impressed me.
Pleeeeeeeeese tell me Dave wrote this.
Edit: YEEEEES, it’s dave
And Danny.
I can't remember which tv show/talk show where someone made a playfully smartass remark, and Stevie lowered his glasses and told them, "You look like someone I've seen before."😂
Q. Have you seen Stevie Wonder’s house?
A. Neither has he!
Sighted people can also learn the "tricks" blind people use (echolocation, feeling presence, etc). I'm sighted and can do all those things. I also don't know why so many people think blind people are incapable of so many things. Really boggles my mind
did not see this coming
Simon, Anthony Anderson is in Transformers. He was the “advisor” to the unrealistically attractive woman who found the decepticon’s “code.” I also remember him from Romeo Must Die. He’s a comedian, I’d love to hear the tone he’s using in his quotes, he’s probably as sarcastic as I usually am😂
Saw Stevie Wonder 5 days ago. He's still blind.
Excellent. Please offer regular updates. My money’s on “still blind… “
@BodhiCalypso ill go check now.
Yup. Still blind
@@Nick-v7b3l Huh. And now?
But he didn’t see you.
21:33 TI99/4A (granted, in 1981, 4 years later): “Hold my beer”.
41:08 “I've never driven forward before!” (Michael in ET).
On the point of the mic stand I'd like to posit that he benefited from blindsight. The visual cortex is comprised of multiple areas, some of which can recognise stimulus without the person being conscious or aware of that information. This happens with movement a lot where you reflexively move to catch something in less time than it would take for the information to reach the brain, be interpreted, consciously recognise it, then decide on an action, then send a signal to the muscles to move. The brain interprets a 'lower' level of visual information before you become conscious of it and sends a command to the muscles to act. Blind people will often do this and have no explanation for why they moved because it's almost like their body moved without them. There are many forms of blindness, and some of them can still leave the pathways intact which interpret movement information
I agree. To add to that, there's a blind guy who gets around by clicking with his tongue. He teaches other blind people this trick. None of them are world class musicians with trained ears. Pretty sure he has a decent idea what's going on around him most of the time.
I have been told multiple times by random strangers in the world that I was faking being blind because I can confidently and confidently navigate the world.
He isn’t blind he just can’t see