Re: Does a Deaf person's audio part of the brain work for the visual part?

An interesting question.
It is certainly true that deaf people seem to have enhanced visual skills. 
I have worked with deaf pupils for many years and their use of periferal 
vision, for example if they are playing fotball, is great.
However, whether this is through honing the visual skills through 
necessity or by the audio parts of the brain compensating is difficult to 
say.
Most "deaf" people in fact do have some usable hearing - it is not that 
the audio parts of the brain are not needed, but that the messages are not 
getting there well. So they still need this part to work on hearing, 
albeit impaired.
Having said that, someone who is completely deaf or chooses not to use 
hearing aids, may be able to train the audio parts to work on vision, 
rather like a person after a stroke retraining parts of their brain for 
speech or mobility.
You may like to write to Tony Shaw, Mary Hare School, Snelsmore Common, 
Newbury, Berkshire, United Kingdom. RG14 3BQ