TEDxPioneerValley - Sue Barry - Fixing My Gaze

Susan R. Barry, Professor of Biological Sciences at Mount Holyoke College, South Hadley, Massachusetts talks about "Fixing My Gaze."
"For most of my life, the last place I wanted to be was an eye doctor's office. I had been cross-eyed since infancy, and despite three surgeries, remained cross-eyed and stereoblind. Scientific dogma indicated that my visual deficits resulted from changes in brain circuitry that occurred in infancy and could not be reversed in adulthood. So, when I finally consulted a developmental optometrist and began optometric vision therapy at age 48, I took a significant risk. I had to think beyond the conventional wisdom, abandon old visual habits, and master skills that most children acquire within the first six months of life. As I began to straighten my eyes and see in 3D, I learned that the adult brain is indeed capable of significant plasticity. Rewiring in the adult brain requires the presence of novel and behaviorally relevant stimuli, the conscious abandonment of entrenched habits, and the establishment, through intense practice, of new ones."

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[hgsnk333]

Just out of curiousity, have you ever had eye surgery to correct the strabismus? I too have strabismus (since birth) and it developed into amblyopia but have never had surgery to align my eyes, I want to know whether vision therapies would still work even on uncorrected eyes.

[tobie9000]

(cont from below). After years of hearing Stereo Sue's "wow" story...it's all but lost its novelty now, and I would hope to see her, as a figurehead who has brought widespread awareness to stereoblindness, become involved in democratizing and making readily available the treatment, developing therapies in conjunction with new technologies based on recent research to help those who suffer. Vision therapy is not magic. It's been years since her publications (New Yorker, her book). What's next now?

[tobie9000]

(cont. from below). I believe the guidance and structure of professional vision therapy is perhaps overemphasized today, and that thousands are going untreated due to a) lack of awareness regarding the plasticity of adults in retraining, and b) costs involved for professional VT. With the groundbreaking new study from McGill (April 2013), it's becoming clear that new technologies can vastly simplify and more effectively treat stereoblindness. I would like to see new approaches made available.

[tobie9000]

I have mild strabismus (turning in of one eye) which developed into amblyopia (the brain essentially shutting off input from the one misaligned eye in order to prevent seeing two disparate images), similar to Dr. Barry. Her story has been familiar to me and many since it first appeared in the New Yorker 8 years ago, and then we read her book. Vision therapy of course requires diligence, and compliance is where most who attempt it fall short. It's also quite costly. The concepts are simple, so...

[Catherine Shaw]

"A research team led by Dr. Robert Hess from McGill University and the Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre (RI-MUHC) has used the popular puzzle video game Tetris in an innovative approach to treat adult amblyopia, commonly known as “lazy eye”. By distributing information between the two eyes in a complementary fashion, the video game trains both eyes to work together, which is counter to previous treatments for the disorder (e.g. patching). Published in Current Biology."

[mblaksley]

I am a big fan of Dr. Barry and what she has brought to the vision community. I am presently undergoing vision therapy and it's is just like she says you have to train your eyes to point at the correct space of an object. Having had strabismus since birth I did not know this could be changed. Let me tell you it CAN, but it takes literally an open mind and lots of hard visual therapy focus on achieving binocularity. It has changed my life and for this I am thankful to Dr Barry and Dr Hillier

[MrXzenonx]

well, believe it or not guys !!! i am a medical graduate who aspire to specialize in surgery ..... and i have amblyopia :D .... until now i had no problems with it, i will start training my eye ....

however i am still researching ... anyone with experience no the difference between dr.sue method ( involving both eyes ) and other patching or eye covering methods ?

i will try both .... good luck every one !

[AGH331]

I wished I could see the world in 3D. I don't really 'suffer' from stereoblindness as it does not cause any kind of pain or strong deprivation, but there are so many situations where I recognise what's missing. I practice fencing and getting into the right distance to attack is absolutely vital in this sport, I'm crap at it. Then there are the incredibly fast moving blades, sometimes saddens me to see how disadvantaged I am compared to other people, even if they have less experience.

[Giorgio tsoukalos]

Was the surgery a succes? Did you get stereo vision?

[Olivia W]

This is really inspiring to me, as a young scientist with strabismus. While I plan to go into microbiology rather than neuroscience, I really identify with her story. I hope one day I will be able to make this life improvement too!