Using Emotional Intelligence to Improve Communication

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George Anderson wrote:• Why is sight the most effective means of communication?
It most often gives a common/general interpretation of what is being communicated.
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George Anderson, BCD, CAMF

I have noticed that with elderly people who have eyesight problems such as cataracts or macular degeneration their ability to communicate becomes impaired even though their minds are still sharp; i.e. no dementia or alzhiemer's. If you can't see the facial expressions of the person you are talking with, all you have is sound, and if you haven't had a lifetime of blindness to learn compensating skills, what can you do? My husband has failing eyesight and has become less interested in socializing because of it. This pattern of social withdrawal seems to be the norm. This same thing happened to my mother and my friend's mother. These women were very extroverted until their sight failed.
Fortunately my husband can still see the computer screen, and has a large group of cyber-friends he corresponds with every day. But he really detests any face to face encounters because he can't see the face unless he gets within a foot of it, which makes everybody uncomfortable. My husband is an mildly introverted, so he is not as bothered by the lack of socializing, but he does tend to foist off any social duties onto me (the resident schizoid introvert with excellent eyesight!)