Yes, blind people do dream, and they can experience visual sensations while dreaming. However, the visual dream experiences of blind people are not necessarily of people and places they saw prior to going blind. While dreaming, they see things that have entered their life since they’ve become blind. This suggests that while we dream, our minds construct a world rather than replicating one we are familiar with, since someone with complete sight loss doesn’t truly know what something they’ve never seen visually looks like.
Although their visual dream content is reduced, other senses are enhanced in dreams of the blind. A dreaming blind person experiences more sensations of sound, touch, taste, and smell than sighted people do. Blind people are also more likely to have certain types of dreams than sighted people. For example, blind people seem to experience more dreams about movement or travel and more nightmares.
In summary, blind people do dream, and their dreams can include visual sensations, but their visual dream content is reduced, and other senses are enhanced.
