aphantasia
Iâm always bewildered when I see people saying they donât think aphantasia is real. Itâs so dismissive. Every time, itâs some variation of âWell, who are we to say that we arenât both seeing or thinking the same thing? We probably all see the same thing but choose to describe it differently or have different standards.â
Imagine saying that about variations of color blindness or myopia, it would be absolutely ridiculous to deny those are real based on âyou can totally see red, we just choose to describe red differently from each otherâ or âitâs normal to not see things that are far away as detailed as the things you see up close, doesnât mean you have a conditionâ. Is it so weird and outlandish to some to just listen and believe people about their own rich inner life and experiences in their body? Their struggles and limits or talents?
I believe it when people say that they can see things in detail in their minds eye and even rotate the item freely. I believe people who say they can briefly see it but not rotate it. It makes sense to me, despite being one of the people who doesnât see anything at all and cannot rotate. I believe them because I can somewhat do it while falling asleep, and I can still dream, and I am so good at imagining music that it feels like I am listening to it with headphones. And I can imagine smells and touch the same intense and realistic way - so they must have the visual variety of this skill. If I take time each day to specifically train my minds eye, I can see flashes of small details of an object briefly for a second or two, but that goes away again if I donât.
The audacity of some people online to just go âWell actually, I think youâre all lying.â is so brazen at times - about something thatâs actually being studied. Itâs one thing to never have heard of it before, recognizing something you have that you thought everyone experienced but is actually not the case for everyone, so youâre going âwait, you can/canât do this?â But dismissing people talking about it with downplaying the issue and claiming to know their inner experience better than them.. I can only recommend spending time with someone aphantasic to know itâs real.
If you do, at some point youâll realize how it all fits together and affects them in ways you donât experience: They might have face blindness, and/or harder time with orientation in a lesser known place, maybe theyâre worse at remembering where they put stuff (because they cannot conjure up the mental image where they saw it last), need more references for drawing, have a harder time with puzzles and Legos (because they cannot rotate the piece in their mind), and so on.
I remember one time I was reading a thread like this and someone was writing along the lines of: âThat canât be real, how would you work, how would you solve problems, enjoy a book or be creative?â Yes, thatâs the entire point! Thatâs how youâll notice it is real, because either aphantasic people suck these things or need more help and developed more coping mechanisms around it to keep up with everyone else. I struggle with sewing because the flat pieces on the table and the 3D thing itâs supposed to be once sewn together donât connect for me or make much sense. I canât imagine how it all wraps around or rotate the pieces. I canât imagine how stuff fits together - I need patterns or people to observe me and step in if I am being stupid. When I make art, I make it up as I go because I will only know if what I try to make works if I already have it in front of me. I donât have a mental reference to follow loosely. I canât imagine what that next paint stroke will make the image look like without actually committing to it. When I read a book, I see nothing, I imagine nothing, I just have a word list of how things look like, like remembering a recipe. Same with roleplaying in pen and paper adventures. No inner movie. I have no opinion what it all looks like. Iâm never saddened by how things look like in movie adaptations because thatâs the first time I even get a chance of seeing that stuff.
Itâs all a spectrum of course, and I do believe itâs a matter of training to be able to somewhat undo this if yours is an acquired aphantasia - like orionsvoid did - and I have a theory on why I stopped being able to do this at some point. But to deny one end of the spectrum makes absolutely no sense. I beg people to grow some curiosity and respect for other peopleâs capabilitiesâŚ
Published , edited 1Â year, 2Â months ago