Since we're on the fascinating topic of...

....glasses, and vision - has anyone read a book called "Fixing My
Gaze" by Susan Barry? I'm smack in the middle of it and can't put
it down.

It's a memoir by a woman who was born cross-eyed, and although she
had surgery as a child to correct it, she never learned to focus her
eyes together and therefore never developed steropsis, aka binocular
vision, or depth perception. And then when she was 48, she found out
about a type of vision therapy that could help people with visual
problems related to strabismus, or "eyes that don't focus together".
She worked with a therapist for several months. And then one day, she
was sitting in her car and the steering wheel suddenly seemed to "pop
out" of the dashboard right toward her. She had started to see in 3D,
and that was only the first of many experiences like that.

To me, that's the exciting part - and I have a personal reason for
it, because I also had a crossed eye as a baby, and had corrective
surgery, and I doubt that I ever really learned to coordinate my
gaze so that my eyes worked together. But it never occurred to me
that I might be lacking in stereovision until a few years ago. I
was having a discussion about this subject with a friend of mine
(who has the same issue), and she remarked that she thought maybe I
didn't see in 3D, either. At the time I said, Nonsense! Of course
I can see depth! I can tell when things are closer or further away,
I can feel myself moving through space. But it left me wondering, so
the next time I saw my eye doctor, I asked her about it. She whipped
out a picture that looked like a square filled with a bunch of grainy
nothing, and asked what I saw. "A bunch of grainy nothing." "Nope,
you don't have depth perception." What a shock!!

The other interesting thing about this book is that it addresses the
issue of neuroplasticity, which is a pretty hot topic in neurology
circles these days. You know how we all learned that brain cells never
grow back and once you pass a certain age, your brain doesn't change?
It's turning out not to be true. This affects a lot more than vision,
but for the purposes of this book, it meant that even in her late 40s,
a person could change her brain cells so that the combined images from
two eyes could be interpreted as a single 3D image. The author of the
book is herself a neurologist, so she understands a lot of the science
behind it - but writes for a layperson, so it's not overly technical.

I'm going to find out about this vision therapy. Maybe I can change
my own vision. The parts of the book where she describes what it felt
like to suddenly see the world around her in a totally new way were
enthralling. I want to find out if I can do the same thing!

Joyce
--
There is, incidently, no way of talking about cats that enables one
to come off as a sane person.
-- Dan Greenberg

wrote:
...glasses, and vision - has anyone read a book called "Fixing My
Gaze" by Susan Barry? I'm smack in the middle of it and can't put
it down.

It's a memoir by a woman who was born cross-eyed, and although she
had surgery as a child to correct it, she never learned to focus her
eyes together and therefore never developed steropsis, aka binocular
vision, or depth perception. And then when she was 48, she found out
about a type of vision therapy that could help people with visual
problems related to strabismus, or "eyes that don't focus together".
She worked with a therapist for several months. And then one day, she
was sitting in her car and the steering wheel suddenly seemed to "pop
out" of the dashboard right toward her. She had started to see in 3D,
and that was only the first of many experiences like that.

To me, that's the exciting part - and I have a personal reason for
it, because I also had a crossed eye as a baby, and had corrective
surgery, and I doubt that I ever really learned to coordinate my
gaze so that my eyes worked together. But it never occurred to me
that I might be lacking in stereovision until a few years ago. I
was having a discussion about this subject with a friend of mine
(who has the same issue), and she remarked that she thought maybe I
didn't see in 3D, either. At the time I said, Nonsense! Of course
I can see depth! I can tell when things are closer or further away,
I can feel myself moving through space. But it left me wondering, so
the next time I saw my eye doctor, I asked her about it. She whipped
out a picture that looked like a square filled with a bunch of grainy
nothing, and asked what I saw. "A bunch of grainy nothing." "Nope,
you don't have depth perception." What a shock!!

The other interesting thing about this book is that it addresses the
issue of neuroplasticity, which is a pretty hot topic in neurology
circles these days. You know how we all learned that brain cells never
grow back and once you pass a certain age, your brain doesn't change?
It's turning out not to be true. This affects a lot more than vision,
but for the purposes of this book, it meant that even in her late 40s,
a person could change her brain cells so that the combined images from
two eyes could be interpreted as a single 3D image. The author of the
book is herself a neurologist, so she understands a lot of the science
behind it - but writes for a layperson, so it's not overly technical.

I'm going to find out about this vision therapy. Maybe I can change
my own vision. The parts of the book where she describes what it felt
like to suddenly see the world around her in a totally new way were
enthralling. I want to find out if I can do the same thing!

Joyce



Thanks for posting this -- I am sending it on to my eldest grandson and
his wife. Their youngest(2 year old) had a crossed eye at birth -- they
said there is an heredity factor). She has had about 3 surgeries so far
but still has to wear glasses. I had a cousin (ten years my senior) who
was born with crossed eyes. She was 37 when she had her first
operation. That was many, many years ago. I am certain Anne will get
that book -- she is a lawyer and is a very smart girl. She has a blog
that she writes for "BRuly.com. Best wishes. MLB

wrote:
...glasses, and vision - has anyone read a book called "Fixing My
Gaze" by Susan Barry? I'm smack in the middle of it and can't put
it down.

It's a memoir by a woman who was born cross-eyed, and although she
had surgery as a child to correct it, she never learned to focus her
eyes together and therefore never developed steropsis, aka binocular
vision, or depth perception. And then when she was 48, she found out
about a type of vision therapy that could help people with visual
problems related to strabismus, or "eyes that don't focus together".
She worked with a therapist for several months. And then one day, she
was sitting in her car and the steering wheel suddenly seemed to "pop
out" of the dashboard right toward her. She had started to see in 3D,
and that was only the first of many experiences like that.

To me, that's the exciting part - and I have a personal reason for
it, because I also had a crossed eye as a baby, and had corrective
surgery, and I doubt that I ever really learned to coordinate my
gaze so that my eyes worked together. But it never occurred to me
that I might be lacking in stereovision until a few years ago. I
was having a discussion about this subject with a friend of mine
(who has the same issue), and she remarked that she thought maybe I
didn't see in 3D, either. At the time I said, Nonsense! Of course
I can see depth! I can tell when things are closer or further away,
I can feel myself moving through space. But it left me wondering, so
the next time I saw my eye doctor, I asked her about it. She whipped
out a picture that looked like a square filled with a bunch of grainy
nothing, and asked what I saw. "A bunch of grainy nothing." "Nope,
you don't have depth perception." What a shock!!

The other interesting thing about this book is that it addresses the
issue of neuroplasticity, which is a pretty hot topic in neurology
circles these days. You know how we all learned that brain cells never
grow back and once you pass a certain age, your brain doesn't change?
It's turning out not to be true. This affects a lot more than vision,
but for the purposes of this book, it meant that even in her late 40s,
a person could change her brain cells so that the combined images from
two eyes could be interpreted as a single 3D image. The author of the
book is herself a neurologist, so she understands a lot of the science
behind it - but writes for a layperson, so it's not overly technical.

I'm going to find out about this vision therapy. Maybe I can change
my own vision. The parts of the book where she describes what it felt
like to suddenly see the world around her in a totally new way were
enthralling. I want to find out if I can do the same thing!

Does that mean all those "Magic Eye" posters and the new 3D movies don't
work for you?

Yowie

Yowie wrote:
wrote:
...glasses, and vision - has anyone read a book called "Fixing My
Gaze" by Susan Barry? I'm smack in the middle of it and can't put
it down.

It's a memoir by a woman who was born cross-eyed, and although she
had surgery as a child to correct it, she never learned to focus her
eyes together and therefore never developed steropsis, aka binocular
vision, or depth perception. And then when she was 48, she found out
about a type of vision therapy that could help people with visual
problems related to strabismus, or "eyes that don't focus together".
She worked with a therapist for several months. And then one day, she
was sitting in her car and the steering wheel suddenly seemed to "pop
out" of the dashboard right toward her. She had started to see in 3D,
and that was only the first of many experiences like that.

To me, that's the exciting part - and I have a personal reason for
it, because I also had a crossed eye as a baby, and had corrective
surgery, and I doubt that I ever really learned to coordinate my
gaze so that my eyes worked together. But it never occurred to me
that I might be lacking in stereovision until a few years ago. I
was having a discussion about this subject with a friend of mine
(who has the same issue), and she remarked that she thought maybe I
didn't see in 3D, either. At the time I said, Nonsense! Of course
I can see depth! I can tell when things are closer or further away,
I can feel myself moving through space. But it left me wondering, so
the next time I saw my eye doctor, I asked her about it. She whipped
out a picture that looked like a square filled with a bunch of grainy
nothing, and asked what I saw. "A bunch of grainy nothing." "Nope,
you don't have depth perception." What a shock!!

The other interesting thing about this book is that it addresses the
issue of neuroplasticity, which is a pretty hot topic in neurology
circles these days. You know how we all learned that brain cells never
grow back and once you pass a certain age, your brain doesn't change?
It's turning out not to be true. This affects a lot more than vision,
but for the purposes of this book, it meant that even in her late 40s,
a person could change her brain cells so that the combined images from
two eyes could be interpreted as a single 3D image. The author of the
book is herself a neurologist, so she understands a lot of the science
behind it - but writes for a layperson, so it's not overly technical.

I'm going to find out about this vision therapy. Maybe I can change
my own vision. The parts of the book where she describes what it felt
like to suddenly see the world around her in a totally new way were
enthralling. I want to find out if I can do the same thing!

Does that mean all those "Magic Eye" posters and the new 3D movies don't
work for you?

Yowie


When 3D was first introduced in the 30s, I and 3 friends attended the
movie. The three enjoyed it and I saw double the whole time. MLB

Yowie wrote:

Does that mean all those "Magic Eye" posters and the new 3D movies don't
work for you?

Yep. Those magic eye posters drove me nuts! I had no idea why I
couldn't see whatever it was you were supposed to see - I just
thought I was "doin' it rong".

As for 3D movies, recently I went to see a movie with 2 friends,
who happen to share the same visual deficit I have (a coincidence -
we knew each other from a singing group). The theater tried to charge
us $16 for a ticket, which was outrageous (normal prices are more
like $10). Turned out it was because it was a 3D movie, which is
useless to all 3 of us. LOL, what were the odds?

The 3 of us are all good friends and I secretly think of us as
the "monovision triplets".

Joyce

--
If an animal does something, they call it instinct. If we do exactly
the same thing for the same reason, they call it intelligence.
-- Will Cuppy

wrote in message
...
...glasses, and vision - has anyone read a book called "Fixing My
Gaze" by Susan Barry? I'm smack in the middle of it and can't put
it down.

It's a memoir by a woman who was born cross-eyed, and although she
had surgery as a child to correct it, she never learned to focus her
eyes together and therefore never developed steropsis, aka binocular
vision, or depth perception. And then when she was 48, she found out
about a type of vision therapy that could help people with visual
problems related to strabismus, or "eyes that don't focus together".
She worked with a therapist for several months. And then one day, she
was sitting in her car and the steering wheel suddenly seemed to "pop
out" of the dashboard right toward her. She had started to see in 3D,
and that was only the first of many experiences like that.

To me, that's the exciting part - and I have a personal reason for
it, because I also had a crossed eye as a baby, and had corrective
surgery, and I doubt that I ever really learned to coordinate my
gaze so that my eyes worked together. But it never occurred to me
that I might be lacking in stereovision until a few years ago. I
was having a discussion about this subject with a friend of mine
(who has the same issue), and she remarked that she thought maybe I
didn't see in 3D, either. At the time I said, Nonsense! Of course
I can see depth! I can tell when things are closer or further away,
I can feel myself moving through space. But it left me wondering, so
the next time I saw my eye doctor, I asked her about it. She whipped
out a picture that looked like a square filled with a bunch of grainy
nothing, and asked what I saw. "A bunch of grainy nothing." "Nope,
you don't have depth perception." What a shock!!

The other interesting thing about this book is that it addresses the
issue of neuroplasticity, which is a pretty hot topic in neurology
circles these days. You know how we all learned that brain cells never
grow back and once you pass a certain age, your brain doesn't change?
It's turning out not to be true. This affects a lot more than vision,
but for the purposes of this book, it meant that even in her late 40s,
a person could change her brain cells so that the combined images from
two eyes could be interpreted as a single 3D image. The author of the
book is herself a neurologist, so she understands a lot of the science
behind it - but writes for a layperson, so it's not overly technical.

I'm going to find out about this vision therapy. Maybe I can change
my own vision. The parts of the book where she describes what it felt
like to suddenly see the world around her in a totally new way were
enthralling. I want to find out if I can do the same thing!

Joyce
--
There is, incidently, no way of talking about cats that enables one
to come off as a sane person.
-- Dan Greenberg

I hope you can get the help you need. My eyes weren't crossed, but they
didn't track together when I was young. Our optometrist recommended a woman
who taught eye exercises, and my mother used to take me to the woman's home
once a week. I also had exercises to practice at home. I only remember a
couple of them now.

Actually, my eyes don't quite track together now, but the doctor has
prescribed a prism into my glasses that make them work.

Joy

On 30 Sep, 04:57, "Yowie" wrote:

Does that mean all those "Magic Eye" posters and the new 3D movies don't
work for you?

I could never work out what was on those posters! Although I can see
3D TV images I can't see them that well. I wonder if this explains
why the test they do for computer users that I had to have as part of
my occupational health assessment for my current job concluded I was
completely blind in my right eye! I had to read the whole of a
Snellen chart with my left eye screwed tightly shut to convince them I
wasn't!

Lesley

Slave of the Fabulous Furballs

wrote in message
...
...glasses, and vision - has anyone read a book called "Fixing My
Gaze" by Susan Barry? I'm smack in the middle of it and can't put
it down.

It's a memoir by a woman who was born cross-eyed, and although she
had surgery as a child to correct it, she never learned to focus her
eyes together and therefore never developed steropsis, aka binocular
vision, or depth perception. And then when she was 48, she found out
about a type of vision therapy that could help people with visual
problems related to strabismus, or "eyes that don't focus together".
She worked with a therapist for several months. And then one day, she
was sitting in her car and the steering wheel suddenly seemed to "pop
out" of the dashboard right toward her. She had started to see in 3D,
and that was only the first of many experiences like that.

To me, that's the exciting part - and I have a personal reason for
it, because I also had a crossed eye as a baby, and had corrective
surgery, and I doubt that I ever really learned to coordinate my
gaze so that my eyes worked together. But it never occurred to me
that I might be lacking in stereovision until a few years ago. I
was having a discussion about this subject with a friend of mine
(who has the same issue), and she remarked that she thought maybe I
didn't see in 3D, either. At the time I said, Nonsense! Of course
I can see depth! I can tell when things are closer or further away,
I can feel myself moving through space. But it left me wondering, so
the next time I saw my eye doctor, I asked her about it. She whipped
out a picture that looked like a square filled with a bunch of grainy
nothing, and asked what I saw. "A bunch of grainy nothing." "Nope,
you don't have depth perception." What a shock!!

The other interesting thing about this book is that it addresses the
issue of neuroplasticity, which is a pretty hot topic in neurology
circles these days. You know how we all learned that brain cells never
grow back and once you pass a certain age, your brain doesn't change?
It's turning out not to be true. This affects a lot more than vision,
but for the purposes of this book, it meant that even in her late 40s,
a person could change her brain cells so that the combined images from
two eyes could be interpreted as a single 3D image. The author of the
book is herself a neurologist, so she understands a lot of the science
behind it - but writes for a layperson, so it's not overly technical.

I'm going to find out about this vision therapy. Maybe I can change
my own vision. The parts of the book where she describes what it felt
like to suddenly see the world around her in a totally new way were
enthralling. I want to find out if I can do the same thing!

Joyce
--
Thank you so much for posting this Joyce. My OH's son was also born with a
turn in his eye. It was corrected with surgery when he was 3 but he has been
left with only 25% vision in his right eye. The doctor said his brain is
gradually "switching off the vision to that eye". He also cannot see 3D
movies and the depth perception images. He is 14 now and does miss out
somewhat on visits to the cinema with his friends who want to see the latest
3D movie etc. My OH saw an article on the net a while back saying it's
never too late to try to correct vision and that in many cases a huge
improvement was made by working with a therapist, but were unable to find
anyone offering it here in the UK. If anything can be done to improve his
vision or even prevent further vision loss it would be a huge bonus to him.
I shall certainly seek out a copy of the book!

Sharon

That's really interesting....I too had strabismus as a child and had surgery
to correct it, but I also had amblyopia too and lost all central vision in
one eye so I'll never 'see' the world as others see it...sad as it would be
nice to experience stereovision/depth perception, it would definitely help
with my problem with heights (Acrophobia).
Shirley

wrote in message
...
...glasses, and vision - has anyone read a book called "Fixing My
Gaze" by Susan Barry? I'm smack in the middle of it and can't put
it down.

It's a memoir by a woman who was born cross-eyed, and although she
had surgery as a child to correct it, she never learned to focus her
eyes together and therefore never developed steropsis, aka binocular
vision, or depth perception. And then when she was 48, she found out
about a type of vision therapy that could help people with visual
problems related to strabismus, or "eyes that don't focus together".
She worked with a therapist for several months. And then one day, she
was sitting in her car and the steering wheel suddenly seemed to "pop
out" of the dashboard right toward her. She had started to see in 3D,
and that was only the first of many experiences like that.

To me, that's the exciting part - and I have a personal reason for
it, because I also had a crossed eye as a baby, and had corrective
surgery, and I doubt that I ever really learned to coordinate my
gaze so that my eyes worked together. But it never occurred to me
that I might be lacking in stereovision until a few years ago. I
was having a discussion about this subject with a friend of mine
(who has the same issue), and she remarked that she thought maybe I
didn't see in 3D, either. At the time I said, Nonsense! Of course
I can see depth! I can tell when things are closer or further away,
I can feel myself moving through space. But it left me wondering, so
the next time I saw my eye doctor, I asked her about it. She whipped
out a picture that looked like a square filled with a bunch of grainy
nothing, and asked what I saw. "A bunch of grainy nothing." "Nope,
you don't have depth perception." What a shock!!

The other interesting thing about this book is that it addresses the
issue of neuroplasticity, which is a pretty hot topic in neurology
circles these days. You know how we all learned that brain cells never
grow back and once you pass a certain age, your brain doesn't change?
It's turning out not to be true. This affects a lot more than vision,
but for the purposes of this book, it meant that even in her late 40s,
a person could change her brain cells so that the combined images from
two eyes could be interpreted as a single 3D image. The author of the
book is herself a neurologist, so she understands a lot of the science
behind it - but writes for a layperson, so it's not overly technical.

I'm going to find out about this vision therapy. Maybe I can change
my own vision. The parts of the book where she describes what it felt
like to suddenly see the world around her in a totally new way were
enthralling. I want to find out if I can do the same thing!

Joyce
--
There is, incidently, no way of talking about cats that enables one
to come off as a sane person.
-- Dan Greenberg

i will be praying this works for you, Lee
wrote in message
...
...glasses, and vision - has anyone read a book called "Fixing My
Gaze" by Susan Barry? I'm smack in the middle of it and can't put
it down.

It's a memoir by a woman who was born cross-eyed, and although she
had surgery as a child to correct it, she never learned to focus her
eyes together and therefore never developed steropsis, aka binocular
vision, or depth perception. And then when she was 48, she found out
about a type of vision therapy that could help people with visual
problems related to strabismus, or "eyes that don't focus together".
She worked with a therapist for several months. And then one day, she
was sitting in her car and the steering wheel suddenly seemed to "pop
out" of the dashboard right toward her. She had started to see in 3D,
and that was only the first of many experiences like that.

To me, that's the exciting part - and I have a personal reason for
it, because I also had a crossed eye as a baby, and had corrective
surgery, and I doubt that I ever really learned to coordinate my
gaze so that my eyes worked together. But it never occurred to me
that I might be lacking in stereovision until a few years ago. I
was having a discussion about this subject with a friend of mine
(who has the same issue), and she remarked that she thought maybe I
didn't see in 3D, either. At the time I said, Nonsense! Of course
I can see depth! I can tell when things are closer or further away,
I can feel myself moving through space. But it left me wondering, so
the next time I saw my eye doctor, I asked her about it. She whipped
out a picture that looked like a square filled with a bunch of grainy
nothing, and asked what I saw. "A bunch of grainy nothing." "Nope,
you don't have depth perception." What a shock!!

The other interesting thing about this book is that it addresses the
issue of neuroplasticity, which is a pretty hot topic in neurology
circles these days. You know how we all learned that brain cells never
grow back and once you pass a certain age, your brain doesn't change?
It's turning out not to be true. This affects a lot more than vision,
but for the purposes of this book, it meant that even in her late 40s,
a person could change her brain cells so that the combined images from
two eyes could be interpreted as a single 3D image. The author of the
book is herself a neurologist, so she understands a lot of the science
behind it - but writes for a layperson, so it's not overly technical.

I'm going to find out about this vision therapy. Maybe I can change
my own vision. The parts of the book where she describes what it felt
like to suddenly see the world around her in a totally new way were
enthralling. I want to find out if I can do the same thing!

Joyce
--
There is, incidently, no way of talking about cats that enables one
to come off as a sane person.
-- Dan Greenberg