[Ct-nfb] bionic eye

Trevor Attenberg tattenberg at gmail.com
Sun Apr 27 23:43:02 UTC 2014


Ditto


-----Original Message-----
From: Ct-nfb [mailto:ct-nfb-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Edward
Sent: Sunday, April 27, 2014 2:14 PM
To: 'NFB of Connecticut Mailing List'
Subject: Re: [Ct-nfb] bionic eye

Good analysis of the article.
Edward
 

-----Original Message-----
From: Ct-nfb [mailto:ct-nfb-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Justin
Salisbury
Sent: Sunday, April 27, 2014 3:22 PM
To: NFB of Connecticut Mailing List
Subject: Re: [Ct-nfb] bionic eye

Friends and Colleagues:

 

I have read the responses on this thread, and I see two distinct categories
of responses, as well as two distinct categories of responders.  I will
first define the categories of responders as follows.  Group 1 is those who
have attended and graduated from structured discovery training centers.
Group 2 is those who have not.  I understand the messages from the center
graduates to address the incorrect, dramatic depiction of blindness as
hopelessness, and I understand the messages from the others to yearningly
describe the merits of eyesight.

 

To explain my discontent with the depiction of blindness as hopelessness, I
will walk us through the article and point out where the authors are in
error.

 


Title: 'Bionic eye' offers hope to those with vision loss


I interrupt immediately to ask what kind of hope I need and what miserable
situation I am enduring in order to need such hope.  Back to the article.

 

A "bionic eye" may now help blind patients regain at least a sense of vision
<http://www.freep.com/article/20140423/FEATURES08/304230072/Bionic-eye-Unive
rsity-of-Michigan> .

Linda Schulte, the first patient with the implanted technology since it was
approved by the Food and Drug Administration last year, couldn't be more
thrilled.

Not long ago, her new "eye" homed in on the stripe on her grandson's T-shirt
while he was outside on the driveway at her Ottawa, Ohio, home.

There were flashes of light and movement and - combined with the bounce of a
basketball on pavement - the 66-year-old Schulte said she could "see" her
grandson for the first time.

"To me, it was seeing him," she said. "I know I'll never see his face, but I
could judge how tall he is and everything. I knew where he was moving."

Analysis: The author has chosen a deeply emotional reaction of someone
regaining some sight.  This reaction can only occur in someone who fixates
on the lack of eyesight as a problem.  The person who fixates on the vision
loss itself as a problem in life is in a really rough place, and I'm truly
grateful that the National Federation of the Blind has helped me escape from
that place.  If I were still there, I would be fighting the wrong enemy and
make no progress toward the fulfillment I now pursue.  I understand that
reporters want to strike up emotions and usually harness common
misperceptions in society in order to do it, but it inherently reinforces
those misperceptions. Back to the article.

The Argus II Retinal Prosthesis System, offered at the University of
Michigan's Kellogg Eye Center, was surgically implanted in Schulte's left
eye in January.

It uses a pair of glasses with a small video camera that wirelessly
transmits signals to Schulte's implant, converting them into a series of
small electrical pulses that stimulate her retina's remaining cells.

The result: Flashes of light that signal great contrast - the outline of a
window or the edges of a white plate against a black tablecloth, for
example.

It takes some practice, but "by using those flashing lights as a cue,
(patients) can trace the plate," said Dr. Thiran Jayasundera, a retina
surgeon at Kellogg.

I interrupt to ask how on earth this is useful beyond the tools we now have.
Can I not find my plate with my hands?  Back to the article.

He is scheduled to talk about the procedure during a meeting of the American
Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgery Friday in Boston.

The device is used for those who have retinitis pigmentosa, a degenerative
disease in which patients experience a gradual loss of side vision and night
vision, and later of central vision, which can result in near blindness.

Not all of the 100,000 or so people in the U.S. with retinitis pigmentosa
can benefit from the bionic eye. An estimated 10,000 have vision low enough,
said Dr. Brian Mech, an executive with Second Sight Medical Products Inc.,
the Sylmar, Calif.-based company that makes the device. Of those, about
7,500 are eligible for the surgery.

Schulte was 22 when sunlight began to hurt, she said. Over the next two
decades, her visual world shrank. She began to lose peripheral vision. And
at some point, her tunnel vision was so tight that, when she looked across
the dinner table at her husband, she could see only one of his eyes at a
time.

I interrupt to point out that this is exactly what I see when I look across
the dinner table at my girlfriend.  While the author is hoping that this
will pull at heartstrings again, I can assure you that I do not have any
feelings of self-pity or frustration at the fact that I cannot see more of
her at one time.  If I were to hold these thoughts, I would be stuck in
quicksand and never be free to move on with my life.  Back to the article.

In earlier stages of the clinical trial with the prosthetic retina, many
participants were able to locate lights and windows, follow lines in a
crosswalk, and avoid running into things as they walked. About half were
able to read letters that were about 9-inches high. Some could sort laundry
or determine where other people were located in a room.

Roger Pontz, 55, received his new eye in January as well. He now moves
around his Reed City, Mich., home without having to use his hands to avoid
running into walls. He sees figures move in front of him. His wife asked
whether he could see her empty oatmeal bowl the other day at a restaurant.
He answered by immediately putting his fingers on it.

I interrupt a final time to ask how these tasks cannot be performed by a
blind person, with the only exception being the reading of 9-inch letters, a
skill of nominal practical use.  Is it really that widely believed that
blind people inherently run into things as we walk?  Are there no other ways
to find crosswalks?  Do totally blind people need someone else to sort
laundry for them?  Are we really at risk of running into walls in our own
home, and is using our hands or a cane inferior techniques?  It is obvious
that this author believes that nonvisual techniques are indeed inferior to
visual ones.  Let us finish the article.

Pontz, a dishwasher at a bowling alley, said he is convinced that his
training exercises will continue to grow his visual abilities.

"But if it doesn't, I'm happy with what I've got so far," he said.

Excellent.  We conclude with a happy blind person who can smile despite all
of the horrors to which blindness inherently subjects him.  He clearly has
seen his life improve by acquiring just a little bit of sight.  Let us all
feel like there is a glimmer of hope for the otherwise hopeless blind.

 

Does anyone really benefit from what little sight this product currently
offers?  It encourages people to use visual techniques for tasks that are
still completely possible nonvisually.  It encourages people to focus on
regaining vision instead of acquiring the proper training for confidence and
independence as a blind person.  This training will really free them.
Someone who functions visually with this small amount of vision is not going
to have the fulfilling life of a center graduate.  This article goes back to
the status quo where blind people are patients instead of people.  Patients
have something wrong with them and must be cured.  We know that the real
problem of blindness is not the lack of eyesight; it is the lack of
understanding and misperceptions which exist in society.  This lies at the
core of our movement, and it is vital that the leaders at the core of our
movement understand this and not endorse these depictions.

 

Finally, I want to address the argument about seeing children's faces.  We
need to understand each other in order to work together.  I do not have
children, but I do have basic human ability to reason.  If we cannot see our
loved ones' faces and no medical cure for our medical conditions causing
blindness currently exist, it is not productive to wish that we will.  My
Granddad died in 2003, and I would love to see him again, but I do not
fixate on missing him.  I cherish the memories of him teaching me about old
farm equipment and starting blueberry-throwing fights with all of my
cousins, and my grandmother gave me his wallet when I graduated from
college, still including his Blockbuster card and all.  I do not long to see
him again, at least on this side, because doing so will not improve my
quality of life.  There is a matter of closure in how some of us deal with
blindness.  It is most unfortunate, but some of the low-end rehabilitation
programs, such as the Carroll Center for the Blind, actually preach a loss
model, where losing vision is a dying.  Before the Federation found me, I
attended the Carroll Center, and I was taught to mourn my blindness.  Those
of us who have fallen victim to these misperceptions suffer because they
mourn blindness; they do not suffer from the blindness itself.  I remember
the days when I mourned blindness and hope that we can all work toward the
day when nobody does.

 

Sincerely yours,

 

Justin Salisbury

From: Ct-nfb [mailto:ct-nfb-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of
Blindhands at aol.com
Sent: Saturday, April 26, 2014 1:16 PM
To: ct-nfb at nfbnet.org
Subject: Re: [Ct-nfb] bionic eye

 

You want me to put a price on seing my Grand children that I have never
seen?  or my children that I haven't seen in almost 17 years?  You can  not
put a price on that, but it would be worth it for me.

 

I can live without sight and manage well enough.  I have traveled near and
far[all the way to India], but to see my family once again, well maybe you
don't have children or Grandchildren and can't understand.

 

Joyce Kane
www.KraftersKorner.org <http://www.krafterskorner.org/> Blindhands at AOL.com 

 

In a message dated 4/25/2014 10:54:17 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time,
tattenberg at gmail.com writes:

	What if they really hurt and were expensive?

	T

	 

	 

	From: Ct-nfb [mailto:ct-nfb-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Hamit
Campos
	Sent: Friday, April 25, 2014 7:51 PM
	To: 'NFB of Connecticut Mailing List'
	Subject: Re: [Ct-nfb] bionic eye

	 

	Yeah. Sure being blind isn't the end of rthe world, but hell if I
had a future chance at new retnas you best believe I'd take it Why not?

	 

	From: Ct-nfb [mailto:ct-nfb-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of
Blindhands at aol.com
	Sent: Friday, April 25, 2014 10:45 PM
	To: ct-nfb at nfbnet.org
	Subject: Re: [Ct-nfb] bionic eye

	 

	    WowI have nothing wrong with my eyes and I have nothing wrong
with my brain.  It is the optic nerve, so I need a new cable wire to connect
to the eye and brain.  I would do anything almost to see my Grand children,
kids and Mom.  It is too late to see John, but when I pass over that bridge
I will see him and all my doxies and Seeing Eye dog, Corey.

	 

	Joyce Kane
	www.KraftersKorner.org <http://www.krafterskorner.org/> 
	Blindhands at AOL.com 

	 

	In a message dated 4/25/2014 6:52:07 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time,
hamitcampos at gmail.com writes:

		I'd say epic man, but it's out lines again. Sigh. Oh well,
at least they are trying. Man I need need new retnas man. Lol. No but
seriously, if they could do that for some one like me who's retnas are
essentially walls, but for the parts that do work cause I can see lights,
that would be just so epic man.

		 

		From: Ct-nfb [mailto:ct-nfb-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of
Elizabeth Rival
		Sent: Friday, April 25, 2014 10:28 AM
		To: 'NFB of Connecticut Mailing List'; info at crisradio.org
<mailto:info at crisradio.org> 
		Subject: [Ct-nfb] bionic eye

		 

		 

		Subject: 'Bionic eye' offers hope to those with vision loss

		 

		Check out this article from USA TODAY:

		 

		'Bionic eye' offers hope to those with vision loss

		 

		http://usat.ly/1igAgoi

		 

		 

		Sent from my iPad

		 

		
		
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