[Ct-nfb] bionic eye

Al Sylvestre al.geographe at gmail.com
Mon Apr 28 18:40:10 UTC 2014


Excellent commentary, Justin.  Your observations were more informative and
comforting--assuming that intent--than the article.

Al Sylvestre


On Sun, Apr 27, 2014 at 6:46 PM, <Blindhands at aol.com> wrote:

>  Well Justin,
>
> I saw perfectly well for 47  years and poof woke up from surgery in total
> darkness alive almost 17 years ago.  I have been determined that blindness
> would not get the best of me and I believe I have lived my life in that way
> to the fullest and have done things and gone places no blind person might
> never think of.
>
> I am not looking for any pitty or any help from people or you, but until
> we can walk in another one's shoes I don't think any one has the right to
> make comments about how someone's opinion.
>
> My husband died 3 weeks ago and we were married for 42 years longer then
> you have lived.    I lost my sight twice, once 16 years ago and again 3
> weeks ago.  Don't feel sorry for me as I will get beyond this.
>
> I feel sorry for you that you don't take the time to consider what others
> feel about their blindness and the folks here are not all in a mess of
> feelings over their blindness and for those of you who have recently lost
> their sight or in the process of loosing their sight I understand their is
> all levels of feelings both good and bad and if you have a "Blind moment"
> or "blind day", where you get frustrated or hate that you can't see or hate
> that you have to ask for help, I understand and you are welcome to give me
> a call.  203 378 8928.  I will not cry with you or sympathize  , but I am a
> good listener and will encourage you.  Don't call Justin as he just doesn't
> understand that.
>
> Joyce Kane
> www.KraftersKorner.org
> Blindhands at AOL.com
>
>  In a message dated 4/27/2014 3:22:01 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time,
> PRESIDENT at alumni.ecu.edu writes:
>
>  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.
>
> 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
> 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
> 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
> *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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