He realised that to have control
over his movements his eyes would
have to tell his brain what his limbs
were doing. Seeing his hands he
could control them, but if his gaze
wandered then his hands had a
mind of their own, knocking glasses
off tables or clumsily knocking into
things. With his resolute and serious
willpower he began learning to walk
again, looking at his feet all the time
to see their exact location. Most of
us might have been overjoyed at
this and start to build a new life
around our newly reacquired skills
of movement. But not Waterman.
23
He wanted to look and present himself as naturally as possible to others. To do this, he would have to
master gesture. When we talk with
friends our body language and our
gestures are an integral part of the
conversation even though we may
not realise it. Waterman wanted
this back. It took years of practice
for him to capture gestures again,
although for the rest of his life they
would be more staged than natural.
Waterman’s ability to take control of
his gestures once more had piqued
the interest of numerous scientists