Upon looking for a different way to treat my sight, I found vision therapy, that can apparently treat a multitude of issues. Mine being only one of many more.
Learning disorders, such as ADD or dyslexia can also be treated with vision therapy. In many cases, people with these types of problems, granted the American Optometric Association says that it should be used in conjunction with other treatments, benefit from vision therapy. But learning disabilities can be an issue with the brain not processing what the person sees, which causes them to have trouble focusing on tasks. I have a set of links on this page that, if bored or interested, there are success stories of what has been treated with vision therapy. I think that it may be worth a try, especially for a child with ADD or ADHD, because maybe then, they can avoid medication.
Vision therapy is a series of eye training exercises that teach your brain and eyes to work in conjunction with each other, and teaches your eyes to work together. For people that have problems with eye fatigue, eye strain, focusing on reading, comprehending what they are reading, or understanding math, vision therapy may be something to consider. But if you want, you can let me spend the money and see if it works before you give it a try.
Saturday, November 6, 2010
Socially Awkward
Let me begin by saying, I love meeting new people. My mind and personality has always loved and thrived off of making new friends, no matter how difficult it could get. People are amazing. All of their different stories, and thoughts, and hopes, and feelings. I like social activities. Personally, I really do. I guess this is an example of how my eyesight and it's physical manifestations really grate against my personality.
We went to a great poetry reading last night, held by one of Phil's compatriots in the English Graduate Program, Gina. While I really looked forward to going, meeting groups of new people always makes me nervous. Which makes the chances of me seeing double for most of the night a more likely occurrence. I avoid eye contact. Because I know, that when I'm seeing double, it's because my left eye is not pointed in the same direction as my right. I don't want to look people in the face. I don't want to try to make eye contact. Call it conditioning from childhood if you want. It has a tendency to make a fun, enjoyable event more anxiety ridden than it needs to be.
Phil and a few other people there read some of their work. It was fun to listen to the sounds of people's spark, igniting and burning brightly for everyone in the room to see. Each person's style was different. I listening to a mosaic of words, wrapped up in them. And ukulele music. Phil had told me to bring something, I like to write satirical poetry among other things. But I really don't like to read in front of people. The pressure makes it hard to focus on the words sometimes. Sometimes they swim, like a math exam, and I stumble over the words. Maybe next time, I will have some things memorized. The problem with memorization is that, then you should be albe to make eye contact with people in the room as you speak. I really don't like to make eye contact with new people. Friends that I have had for awhile make it easier, they usually have known me long enough to either like who I am or not, most of the preliminary judgment is over.
It's hard for me to believe that in 36 weeks, I won't have to worry about that any more. I won't have to worry about losing another job interview because my left eye decided that precise moment would be a good time to stroll around the room on its own. It makes people uncomfortable. It's creepy. Not the kind of thing they promote in retail, at Game Stop, even though the kid that they did hire looked nice and normal. He didn't know shit about video games. I know video games. Looks are more important, than knowledge. The lesson I've been taught and re-taught my entire life. And a lot of the time, looks dictate whether you're worth listening to or not.
We went to a great poetry reading last night, held by one of Phil's compatriots in the English Graduate Program, Gina. While I really looked forward to going, meeting groups of new people always makes me nervous. Which makes the chances of me seeing double for most of the night a more likely occurrence. I avoid eye contact. Because I know, that when I'm seeing double, it's because my left eye is not pointed in the same direction as my right. I don't want to look people in the face. I don't want to try to make eye contact. Call it conditioning from childhood if you want. It has a tendency to make a fun, enjoyable event more anxiety ridden than it needs to be.
Phil and a few other people there read some of their work. It was fun to listen to the sounds of people's spark, igniting and burning brightly for everyone in the room to see. Each person's style was different. I listening to a mosaic of words, wrapped up in them. And ukulele music. Phil had told me to bring something, I like to write satirical poetry among other things. But I really don't like to read in front of people. The pressure makes it hard to focus on the words sometimes. Sometimes they swim, like a math exam, and I stumble over the words. Maybe next time, I will have some things memorized. The problem with memorization is that, then you should be albe to make eye contact with people in the room as you speak. I really don't like to make eye contact with new people. Friends that I have had for awhile make it easier, they usually have known me long enough to either like who I am or not, most of the preliminary judgment is over.
It's hard for me to believe that in 36 weeks, I won't have to worry about that any more. I won't have to worry about losing another job interview because my left eye decided that precise moment would be a good time to stroll around the room on its own. It makes people uncomfortable. It's creepy. Not the kind of thing they promote in retail, at Game Stop, even though the kid that they did hire looked nice and normal. He didn't know shit about video games. I know video games. Looks are more important, than knowledge. The lesson I've been taught and re-taught my entire life. And a lot of the time, looks dictate whether you're worth listening to or not.
Friday, November 5, 2010
In the begining...
That is usually the best place to start. Well, I have Amblyopia Strabismus. Amblyopia is also known as "Lazy Eye." It is when the eye looses it's ability to see detail while the eye itself is in perfect condition. Strabismus is the technical term for "Crossed Eyes." I have been this way as long as I can remember. I was wearing glasses, before most children had even had their first eye exam. (This is where I tell parents that it is vitally important to get your children eye exams by the age of 1. There are doctors that will do it, you just have to find them. Doctors are apparently afraid of children...The American Optomentric Association recommends the first exam by 6 months.)
When I was little, little enough that these are my first memories, all I remember is the world looking like a jumbled mess. I never knew where to step or if what I was seeing in front of me was really there. I hit my head and fell down a lot. I was not a graceful child. I ran into things, tripped over stuff that may or may not have been there. I was made fun of often by other children, family members, adults. I was called retarded, stupid, blind. No kid wants to play with someone that can't catch a simple ball.
As I got older, my vision improved a little over time, mostly because my brain started to shut down what my left eye saw. There was less confusion, less objects that weren't there. I remember when my eye doctor first patched my dominant eye, the eye that allowed me to see. It was terrible, a nightmare. It was like trying to navigate a world that had invisible things in it. I was back to tripping and falling into things. I used to cheat, I'd go in the other room and take the patch off or I'd peel a corner up so I could look out it. Wearing the patch used to make me feel physically sick. Everything was distorted. But had I realized what I was doing, I'd like to think I would have just sucked it up and dealt with it. As far as I can tell, this was around age 4.
Life went on. The eye doctor from my young childhood told my parents to forget the eye patch, and that by the time I was an adult they would be able to do surgery to fix the problem. So I continued to grow up, peers gradually stopped making fun of me so much towards high school, and I slowly learned tricks to deal with my vision, stopped falling down stairs all the time. All the while, waiting until I was old enough for my father and I to look into surgery. When we finally did, we found out that surgery would only fix my eye "cosmetically" At least I could look like everyone else, was what the doctor seemed to be saying. I didn't feel that was worth the cost and pain of eye surgery, so I never had it done.
Then I learned about vision therapy while I was looking online, desperately searching for an answer because I was sick of the head aches, the random double vision, the eye fatigue. And then, I found my hope, after years of being told that I had none. Vision Therapy was proven to fix people like me, older than me, in ways that I had never even imagined. But, more of that later...
When I was little, little enough that these are my first memories, all I remember is the world looking like a jumbled mess. I never knew where to step or if what I was seeing in front of me was really there. I hit my head and fell down a lot. I was not a graceful child. I ran into things, tripped over stuff that may or may not have been there. I was made fun of often by other children, family members, adults. I was called retarded, stupid, blind. No kid wants to play with someone that can't catch a simple ball.
As I got older, my vision improved a little over time, mostly because my brain started to shut down what my left eye saw. There was less confusion, less objects that weren't there. I remember when my eye doctor first patched my dominant eye, the eye that allowed me to see. It was terrible, a nightmare. It was like trying to navigate a world that had invisible things in it. I was back to tripping and falling into things. I used to cheat, I'd go in the other room and take the patch off or I'd peel a corner up so I could look out it. Wearing the patch used to make me feel physically sick. Everything was distorted. But had I realized what I was doing, I'd like to think I would have just sucked it up and dealt with it. As far as I can tell, this was around age 4.
Life went on. The eye doctor from my young childhood told my parents to forget the eye patch, and that by the time I was an adult they would be able to do surgery to fix the problem. So I continued to grow up, peers gradually stopped making fun of me so much towards high school, and I slowly learned tricks to deal with my vision, stopped falling down stairs all the time. All the while, waiting until I was old enough for my father and I to look into surgery. When we finally did, we found out that surgery would only fix my eye "cosmetically" At least I could look like everyone else, was what the doctor seemed to be saying. I didn't feel that was worth the cost and pain of eye surgery, so I never had it done.
Then I learned about vision therapy while I was looking online, desperately searching for an answer because I was sick of the head aches, the random double vision, the eye fatigue. And then, I found my hope, after years of being told that I had none. Vision Therapy was proven to fix people like me, older than me, in ways that I had never even imagined. But, more of that later...
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