Hi,
I am just starting a psychology course and I am doing a lot of reading at the moment, and I have to say nothing I've read so far have fascinated me quite as much as the brilliant writings of Oliver Sacks (except possibly V. S. Ramachandran, on a level with him), it's truly amazing to see how complicated the brain is and what an incredible job it performs most of the time. I look forward to reading your book also and learning your story and how profoundly the change in your vision has affected you!

Thank you for sharing this little piece of your life with us :)

~Toby

Thank you so much for sharing your story with the world!

I had several surgeries as an infant to correct my lazy eyes. When I was 12, a new pair of glasses with a weaker prescription brought out the double-image from my right eye I had been suppressing. I then learned all about my lack of depth perception, and the ways I had learned to compensate to get around in the world. Reading your story about Sarah reminds me very much of my own experience. It was the first time I heard someone else describe the world the way I see it!

I came to see you at OHSU when you spoke about your experience to a group of teachers. I am very excited to read your new book, and am hoping to start vision therapy soon. I too had always thought I could imagine the 3-D world I was missing. It sounds like I have no idea!

Thank you again for sharing your experiences. You continue to give hope and opportunity to people like me, who had always been told there was no hope for seeing in 3-D.

-Sommer

Words cannot describe the suffering my son endured in living in the world of 'special ed' for all of his school years. My husband and I could not counteract the psychological damage. The diagnosis given to us as 'his eyes jump' when he tried to read was discovered in an eye exam when he started school and was never referred to an eye specialist but a program of physical therapy. We were told the eye problem was corrected but 30 years later as I read the LA Times Opinion piece of 6/22/09 by Dr. Susan Barry out loud to him - he said - "that's me." The years of tutors, special reading programs, meetings with Special Ed people, IEP's, aftr school programs, biofeedback, and I can't even remember what else - it all came down to his vision. He couldn't participate in sports, wouldn't ride a bicycle. I watched him as a 5 year old at bat in T-ball and saw the sweat break out on his face as he tried to hit the ball. Looking back I think it was his first panic attack brought on by his own expectation to perform when in reality it was his inability to actually 'see' the ball.
We finally are on the path with a Developmental Optometrist but the lack of knowledge by so-called educators is astounding. If you can read my anger in between these lines - you are right. He was cheated, his Dad and I were cheated. In high school a student needed a C average to participate in sports - Special Ed kids were never included. We watched our only child excluded so often that it was painful. Shame on all the so-called 'educators' in the school system - I wonder how many kids in special programs are not 'dumb' as he was called but have a vision impairment.

Dear anonymous,
One of the reasons I wrote my book and the LA Times opinion piece was to alert people to the possibility that a child's struggles in school result from problems with vision. Even a child with 20/20 acuity may have trouble coordinating his or her eyes for reading and sports. We have to find ways to prevent what happened to your son from happening to other children as well. Thank you for your comments and good luck to you and your son.
Sue Barry