"A Woman Perpetually Falling..." Relate and Review

In "A Woman Perpetually Falling", we meet Cheryl, a woman who was born without a vestibular system that controls balance. It allows us to have a sense of orientation by taking in sensory information from the eyes, ears and touch. She was unable to stand freely, until a doctor was willing to work with her. Through practice and brain reorganization, Cheryl learned to stand on her own without a vestibular system at all. This chapter describes how powerful and resilient the brain is, despite common belief of permanent disability.

"These electrical patterns are the universal language "spoken" inside the brain--there are no visual images, sounds, smells, or feelings moving inside our neurons" (18).
-We have always associated senses to body parts like hearing to eyes. However, I think it is incredibly interesting that the brain does not recognize these electrical signals as senses, and rather uses the body parts as a vehicle. So hypothetically, if the brain does not receive this information with knowledge of the location, these signals could be sent from any part of the body.

"When Cheryl's brain learned to respond to the artificial receptor that replaced her damaged one, it was not doing anything out of the ordinary," (26).
- The body is incredibly resilient organ, beyond what we may think. It has the ability to adapt to damage, and constantly works to compensate. We take the brain for granted because we cannot see the work that it does. However, like in Cheryl's case, her brain has learned to respond to artificial receptors but no longer recognizes it as artificial.

"But I think part of the problem is that the vestibular sense-- just like hearing, taste, eyesight, and other other senses--starts to weaken as we age," (7).
-I think it's incredibly how modern technological advances allow doctors to help patients compensate for so many defective senses. There are glasses for weak eyesight, hearing aids for impaired hearing, so why shouldn't there be a device that can help the vestibular system, that ages just like the other senses.