“OK, so what the hell did she do?” Flubbed my testimony. My yoga instructors, the defendants, say I did not. Others say they screwed up on the stand. They are all still talking to me. Maybe I really do hold myself to an outrageously high standard. Just the same, I disappointed myself.
Discovered several things from this experience. One of them was how dependent I have always been on face reading.
There are all sorts of crazy articles on face reading as part of Physiognomy. This appears to be related to Phrenology, studying the bumps on your head to determine things about your brain functioning. This is NOT what I am referring to.
What I am talking about is covered in a lesson on Wikihow. The lesson is entitled How to Easily Read Faces and Facial Expressions. It talks about how to use expressions and micro expressions to determine how someone might be feeling or thinking.
I have always known I use nonverbal communication, but I never realized how dependent I am upon it. I can still get a vague idea of people’s nonverbal communication in the office but my clients are generally about three feet away. Across the courtroom? I really felt at a disadvantage!
I went online and looked at least a dozen articles on nonverbal communication and the blind. Every one of them dealt with teaching nonverbal expression to the visually impaired. Not a single one said anything about nonverbal reception!
It was not encouraging to read the statistics quoted in a PDF entitled
Strategies for Enhancing Non-Verbal Communication, either. That document said communication is 55% visual, 37% vocal and only 7% verbal! OMG! I am sunk.
To their credit, the authors of this lesson plan put forth some suggestions for increasing verbal comprehension by using situational comprehension. However, nothing they list has anything to do with increasing understanding in other ways, especially comprehension of thoughts and emotions.
So now what do I do? Damned if I know for sure. Maybe make sure I can use my technology to magnify faces so I can really see the expressions. Beyond that I am at a loss. Suggestions? Let me know if you come up with anything.